Catching up on for the year. (Sorry)

 So I have found that I am not very good at blogging without photos. So I am going to catch up using some photos.

This is Jake man riding his new "overhauled" skute Batman bike. For Christmas,  Sam refinished his bike with batman decals (put on upside down, but no worries, Jake doesn't  know) for Christmas.

We kicked off the New Year with a trip to Suncadia, Washington with some friends to celebrate our friend, Rob's 40th Birthday. Suncadia is a little resort in the mountains with lots of snow, pools, and watersides, sledding, and good times with friends.

Here's Jayne and I getting ready to brave the tubbing hill.

Here is Sam and Dallin Hammond with the steep and icy sledding hill behind them.

Below is me and my NINE closest little friends stuffed in the back of the Hammonds sequoia coming from our first event of the day-Sledding. 

2nd Event of the Day 

Ice Skating

The girls and I braved the ice. Disney on Ice called for me because I got some major skills! Ha! It was both of the girls first time skating and they rocked it! Jayne started with this ice walker and then ditched it. But sometimes she and I would grab one and I would push her around fast and crazy. We called it the crazy grandma (because of the walker). 

Here are some crazy sisters. They make me laugh. Especially Jayne rockin' the one piecer snow suit. 

This is my friend, Katie Hammond. She and I said we were competing in a winter triathlon. Sledding in the morning, ice skating in the after noon, and the 3rd event was swimming. Katie took first and I took a close second. Fun to have friends to play hard with.

The day after returning from Suncadia, I hopped in the car and drove to Seaside,OR to listen to my sister, Sher, defend her Master's Thesis for Fine Arts in Writing. She looked nervous, excited, and beautiful. She told her story of how she became a writer. It was beautiful and entailed her many struggles that she overcame to get to this point in her life. I was with my parents in the back of the room and we all sat and cried. We knew how lucky we were to have her in our lives, especially to have her where she was. Not many can overcome what she did. I was so happy to be with her and I am so excited for her to continue in her PHD.

This is beautiful Seaside, OR. The first field trip that Seth and I took when moved to Oregon with our baby Sam. 

Right before my birthday, on January 15th, was the little man's big 3rd Birthday!!!!The greatest part of 3 yr old birthdays is that they don't really know what day is their birthday, and since I was out of town on his birthday, we moved his Tuesday birthday to Friday(he didn't even notice) and threw him a party then! He first wanted a "Landon Birthday Party." Landon is one of his best friends and Jake didn't quite understand that he could have Landon come to his party instead of having a Landon Party. Below is a picture of Jake and Landon. We figured we could make little cut outs of Landon's face and put them on popsicle stick and all be Landons, and have a Landon piñata, but instead.....

we convinced him to have a Batman Party.

 Here is Batman himself. 

Batman and his sidekick, Cat Women! The tights are Ellie's zombie tights from Halloween, but they are all I had, and so Jayne told people she was in a cat catfight!

Love this happy little face.

Batman Piñata Center Piece 

His super simple Batman Cake!

   

Love this kid! So happy and content. He loves blowing out candles, so we lit them twice.

              

And the best part of all was that Grandpa and Grandma Hale showed up for party! Grandpa held the piñata, Grandma served the cake, and Grandpa the ice cream. 

Thanks for being there Mom and Dad!

Shortly after returning from Oregon, my sister, Sher called me. Her husband's only brother passed away. It came as a shock. Although Rick's brother Randy was not in very good health, it was not expected. Seth and I returned to Oregon to take our families love and support to Sherri and Rick. My parents and siblings were amazing as they extended support to Rick and his family. I made me grateful to be apart of such an incredible family. We are far from perfect, but we would go to the ends of the earth for each other. It was difficult to see the pain of the loss of their brother. I was reminded again how precious our time together on earth is. And I am grateful for the knowledge of eternal families. Heaven wouldn't be Heaven without the ones we love.

The good part about the weekend was being able to see all these people below. These are Sherri and Rick's kids and I was so happy to see and hug all of them. 

 Speaking of Love. These are the cutest Valentines that darling Ellie made for all 27 of her class (plus some extras for teachers and friends). The original Valentine said,"I have a CRUSH on you." But Ellie was too embarrassed to give that out. So she wrote on it "It would CRUSH me if you weren't my friend. Happy Valentines Day!" But Seth thought she should write,"I will CRUSH you. Happy Valentines Day!" Which would be very appropriate for our very rough and physical daughter. Seth says, "You know if Ellie is bored, because all of the other kids are crying."

On Valentine's Day evening, we packed up the car with our 6 kids. Yes, 6 kids. We had some close friends, the Lawsons, have their parents become ill and unable to watch their kids for the week while they travelled to Hawaii. So Seth and I volunteered to take Maddie (12) and Jake(7). We just squished them into our family like they belonged. They even went on our mid-winter break trip from Valentine's Day to President's Day. We were invited by our good friends, Tim and Rose Bean, to join them at their new beautiful home at Lake Chelan. Lake Chelan is about 3 hours away from Seattle. So us and our 6 kids invaded their home and had a blast. 

Here are the sisters enjoying the hot tub!

On Friday we ventured out to find some snow to play in. There wasn't much left, but we did find some great cross country ski trails for the next day. Here are Maddie and Ellie posing as super models.

After the drive we grabbed some Fro-Yo (frozen yogurt for those of you who don't speak tween). Jake sitting on Dad's lap to get closer to his spoon.

 Rose + Maddie+ Ellie with their sun glasses on!

This is the cute little couple- that's what I call them. We found them snuggled up too many times. Jayne had been playing puppy and was Jake's puppy for a good 72 hours.

There is nothing that can really startle the employees of Walmart. Not even me with my 6 children. But I did finally put the three littles in the basket, just to keep children organized. The look of craziness on their little faces is close to permanent.

On Saturday we woke up to a gloomy blustery day. I wasn't very excited about going cross country skiing. But we drug ourselves out and just as we did, the cloud parted and the sun came out. Awe. It was so fun. Below is Maddie, Rose, Ellie, and Sam. The trials were groomed and had tracks in them. It was Maddie's first time and she did great. 

Here's Rose and I on our snack break. 

The sun came out and we all warmed up. Sam got to hot and so he wore his ski pants around his ankles while we took a break for food. He waddled around while Ellie cooled off in the snow.

This is my favorite picture of these three ski goggle trouble makers. They were really fun to ski with even though they tried all sort of moves on their skis when they go bored. It usually ended with someone on the ground but they had a lot of fun.

 

There were beautiful overlooks and we loved the sun.

My two big kids. I can't believe how big they are getting. Not sure I want them to grow up any more. 

Sam freckled face. Reminds me so much of picture of his daddy at this age. 

Other than those fun trips, we have been up to our normal "un-boring" lives. Sam is finishing the basketball season, playing guitar and piano, and doing Scouts. Ellie is finishing indoor soccer and starting spring comp soccer, dancing ballet and jazz, playing piano, and being a Jr model in the American Girl doll fashion show fundraiser for Children's hospital. Jayne just finished indoor soccer, which she was happy about, because she decided she didn't like soccer because she didn't like to sweat. She is a "girl." She is dancing ballet and doing a gymnastics class. Jacob decided to potty train and did it in about week. Hallelujah! Diapers- no more! He rides his bike continually through the house and outside. He loves to do his ninja moves and have Jayne boss him around as her puppy, and play with Landon and Ethan (his BFFs). The children are so blessed and are such a blessing to Seth and I.

As for Seth and I, I would say our time here since Hawaii have been challenging. We are continually having to make decisions on faith. The many decisions we have to make about treatments or no treatments, Microsoft or no Microsoft, selling our house or not, and many other heavy decisions can be taxing. I told Seth the other day, I wish we could just see a little of what is to come, just a peak. His response was,"Then we wouldn't have to have faith." Faith to believe, faith to persevere, faith to be healed. We have a new saying in our family. The first(of many) of 2013 mottos- "Christensens, we're all getting better." That's what we are putting our faith in. Like Seth says through the hard times, "something great is on its way."

Medical update...therapy begins

Wanted to post a quick note to share what we feel is progress: 

On Monday I started therapy for the host of autoimmune indicators we've discovered via lab tests over the past number of months. The therapy consists of a cocktail of steroids (Prednisone), immuno-suppressors (Methotrexate), and a couple OTC  supplements. It is expected to last 4 weeks before further tests are completed and further options are considered.

Thanks for your ongoing faith and prayers!

Seth

Happy Birthday Amy!

In part of Amy's birthday celebration this year, I wanted thank her for being the truest, most beautiful, most inspiring person I know. In an effort to do so--against my better judgement--I'm sharing here a poem I wrote her in 2006, and today add three more verses:

There once was girl who got left at home
With no money to spend, and two little gnomes

She'd a bean on the way, And an 'ol chubby hubby

And a house that each day would make itself grubby 

And then one lone night, that girl had a dream
That she took those two gnomes and trained them to clean

And found a new hubby, better by far

Who had wads o'money and shiny new cars

And she got new clothes, and toys, and perfume

And long naps each day from 3 back til noon

And a fitness guru to be her own trainer
And a cook for her pasta who'd use his owns strainer

For these and all forms 'o daily duress

Her dream did provide and save her much stress

Ensuring her peace, ease, fitness and fun

And freeing her up to read, eat and run 

Now lets take a break from girly's nice dream,

And return to it a little later--on in this stream

To discuss that same night, cross the country in Boston

Where chubby ol' hubby was turnin and tossin

And dreaming himself of similar fluff

Of girly and gnomes and money and stuff

But his dream was tweaked and all 'bout a place

Where he'd already shown his chubby face

Where sometimes-tired girly and gnomes played around
In a self-grubbing place where finances were down

And cars, house and clothes were in need of attention

And time is constrained, triple-booked, not to mention 

Of these and all those other things that went with 'em

This hubby did dream, but not with derision

No 'twas not with disdain that he tossed and he turned

But, instead, for that place he found that he yearned
Each minute away from that oft-grubby place

Seemed always like days, and he long-prayed for grace

To take him back safe to her and his home

To see tired girly and he-and-she gnomes 

And lucky for him when ol' girly awoke

She laughed at her dream and felt it a joke
And accepted him each time that he returned
Though chubby and cheap and tired and life-spurned

And with open arms and within her stride
Did work with His faults and frustration did hide

And for clean house, money, ease, and fluff-stuff
Did settle for dreams and that was enough.

_________________ 

Now be-fore they knew, seven years more they had seen

And gnomes three and four had now joined the team

And hubby and girly traded-in Boston 

To move to Seattle and start Microsoft'en

And raising those gnomes the best that they could

With laughter at errors, and mistakes understood 

Now these recent years had not all behaved

And at times time stood still and seemed a dark cave

In which hubby and girly would take turns with the light

When one fell exhausted, the other one rose to fight 

And at these times, to hubby, it never seemed fair 

That girly would oft accept more pain than her share

And carry their family on her shoulders broad

And draw him to his feet and turn him to God 

So girly, I love you. And words soon disgrace

My desire to express how I feel anyplace

Where you or your laughter or your effect I feel

For you 'for my Maker I humb-a-ly kneel 

And know His perfection b'cuz me he so knew

To create perfection personified, my angel, my You.

Roller-coasters

Thank you to those of you who are taking action on our behalf. We hear regularly of friends who have, without telling us, dedicated long hours researching, making phone calls, praying/fasting, and seeking the answers we feel are coming. It's these interactions that buoy us up when the Project isn't cooperating. Examples this week include:

• One of you approached Amy and I at Ellie's soccer game and blew our minds by telling us you had not only been seeking answers for us in your professional capacity, but that you had made progress and had a new team of experts interested in our case. We are excited to engage them! 

• Another of you just found out about our Project this week when seeing me in one of my limpy-er moments at church. You shared by email your faith, hope, encouragement, and the details of a medical option you have had results with. We are looking into it! 

These interactions and others like them allowed us to better handle the challenges of the week: Our application for insurance coverage of IVIG treatment (see our 12/16 entry) was denied this week--we are appealing the decision. We also placed a call to Israel to receive a status update on their trial's pending government approval (see our 12/15 entry). We were surprised to hear that approval had been granted last week, and that the final spots in the study had immediately been filled--we continue to research options for receiving this treatment outside of the trial.

(Amy speaking now)
It really does feel like a roller coaster sometimes. When you are at the top of the coaster after climbing a big hill, you feel like your going to make it, and with a smile on your face your ready for what is ahead. But when the bottom drops out from under you or you turn a sharp corner you weren't expecting, the coaster ride seems a bit extreme.

I was sad last night after hearing the final spots in the Israel stem cell trial had been filled. It had taken me a long time to decide I had the courage to take my little family to this foreign land of unrest. But I was on board.  This past Sunday our family, including Sam and Ellie, our extended family, and friends, offered a fast for guidance to our next path for the project, knowing we had many important decisions pending. Seth receive a blessing that offered us hope that things would work out. And so the next two days of denial were difficult. BUT- I do believe that things will work out. And I even have an example. For example, a year and half ago Seth was first in line to for a drug trial for ALS (the drug was called Dexpramipexole). The trial started on the east coast of U.S. and by the time it hit the west the drug supply was gone. We got a call two days before the trial was suppose to start saying that it was cancelled at UW. We quickly called the U of U, who was also apart of the trial and they quickly added us to their trial, only to receive a call the next day that it also was cancelled. Again, we were sad. But two days ago, the results of the Dexpramipexole trial was release and there was no benefits to the drug and it was being pulled from the market. To me this information came right at the right time. The after our many attempts to be apart of this drug trial, and then we were told no. Not once, but twice. We came to terms that this was NOT the right direction for us. Now a year and a half later, we have been told no again. And as we learned from the Israelies, no doesn't really mean no, it just means you have to find another way. So here we go. Finding another way. The right way. And in the end, we will see. Right? Right. Love you all.

Christmas is Utah

Christmas with Cousins- There is nothing better. We had a great Christmas vacation with our families in Utah. We did it a tiny bit differently this year, as we didn't juggle as many events as we usually do. Neither Seth or I had the capacity to do it. So we spent the first 5 days with Seth's family and the second 5 days with my family. It worked out better. 

This is Jayne and Hailey as the Angels declaring the birth of Jesus.

The shepherds and their sheep, named Jake.

I love the little sheep in this picture.

And we can't forget the Christensen's traditional pinata! Here's Jake and Jayne taking their swing.

This is Christmas morning. We decided that our kids would make something for each other this year. I am not sure what I was thinking, because I didn't have the time to help them make each others gifts. But Ellie and Sam finished theirs and Jake and Jayne bought something for Ellie and Sam. Below is the bed that Ellie made the bedding to for Jayne. Sam refinished Jake's scut bike into a batman scut. It was awesome. Pictures to come on that one.

Here's Jake in his new sharks robe and spider man jammies.

And here is Jake snuggling Aunt Rachel and Kaylynn. They look so comfy.

On Christmas Day we drove to my parents, The Hale Home, to have Christmas dinner and a cousins party there. The Nativity was re-enacted once again. The costumes were brilliant as usually and the participates very, very reverent. It was the normal chaos that I enjoy when it come to the kids doing the play. 

Jayne was happy to finally be Mary. Unsure of Ben's enthusiasm? :)

Jake again appeared as a sheep with his twin cousins Peter and Caleb. Although this time Jake appeared in his shark sheep robe!

The Twin sheep.

And the wise man came. 

Since I am number 5 of 7 children, my kids ages are right in the middle of all cousins. They love getting the attention of the older cousins. 

And they love to play with the little cousins.

The day after Christmas was the Hale family party at Grandma and Grandpas. We kicked it off with sledding at the golf coarse. The snow was great and despite the insanity of the sledding hill, no one got hurt. Jake can be cautious of things and took one look a the sledding hill and started running back to the car. I chased him down and we hopped on a sled and went down the hill. He loved it and asked to go again and again. Jake and Caleb (one of the twins) had matching coats, so you will see double in the pictures. Grandpa did lots of pulling up the hill.

This picture below is Jamus in front, Jake in the middle, and Ellie to steer on the back. They did a sideways somersault half way down the hill. I thought that would do it for Jake, but he didn't even cry and asked to do it again. 

Me, Jake, and Jayne

Grandpa and some of the grand kids.

Jake's snow angel.

The brave crew who braved the sledding hill. It was lots of fun.

We then had dinner at Grandma's house and then the adults and teenagers went to see Les Miserable, the movie. My family is huge fans of this book and play, so we were super excited to see the movie. BUT, we are harsh critics. Only because we have all read the book and know every word to every song. Quasi experts, I am sure. The review is- it was a good movie and a terrible musical. The best part was driving home after with Brad and Dad critiquing the play and then singing at the top of their lungs "Will you join in our crusade..."

Ski day with cousins. This was by far my favorite day. I always tell Seth not to get anything for me for Christmas, because all I want is to go skiing. Again, my wish came true.  I got to ski with two of my favorite people-Sam and Ellie. We were joined by cousins as well, and that made it double the fun. Even Jayne and the little cousins joined us for the afternoon. Its fun to have all three kids skiing. 

I will admit, its always bitter sweet to ski. Mostly because I love to ski and its hard not to have Seth join us. He is by far a better skier than I, and would have much more patience that I with the kids. 

Urban Skiing. That's what I call the cross country skiing we did with my parents. They both love to cross country ski and because there was enough snow we could just carry our ski's across the road from their house and ski along the hillsides. It was a beautiful day and it was fun to go with Sam and Ellie.

On top of the trail. My mom hasn't been skiing in two years because of a hurt knee and foot. It was great she could join us. 

Our last full day in Utah we a special day. We got to join our entire Christensen family for our niece Brooklyn's baptism. It was a special day for her and we were so glad we got to be with her. Then that afternoon we got to go the Nutcracker to see our cousin Ashley dance. It was really fun to have  the girl cousins there for the event. Ashley did great! It was the grand finale to our wonderful Christmas vacation. 

Lifelines

Every Tuesday morning BYU's campus shuts down for an hour, and students are encouraged to gather in the basketball arena to hear a guest speaker deliver a speech on an unannounced topic of their choosing. These 'devotionals' have been delivered by many world dignitaries, but are most often given by LDS Church leaders and/or BYU faculty.

Roughly 2 years ago, a good friend of mine made me aware that recordings of the speeches, going back more than 70 years, are free via iTunes podcast or at the following link: http://speeches.byu.edu Since becoming aware of this resource, I've used it as a lifeline in times when I'm floundering--often searching by topic and finding answers to my questions while listening to these inspired speakers. Such was the case this morning after a difficult night as that same friend forwarded me a speech by John Groberg (the movie 'The Other Side of Heaven' was based on this man's life). The speech on life missions can be found at: HERE. 

Hyperlinks to other personal favorites include:

Truth: Richard G. Scott, 1978

Tragedy or Destiny?: Spencer W Kimball, 1955

Agency or inspiration, Which?: Bruce R. McConkie, 1978

Lord, Increase our Faith: Bruce R. McConkie, 1967

Cast not therefore away thy confidence: Jeffrey R. Holland, 1999

In the strength of the Lord: David A. Bednar, 2001

Called to serve: Neal A. Maxwell, 1994

If thou endure it well: Neal A. Maxwell, 1984

But for a small moment: Neal A. Maxwell, 1974

Seth