Mother's Day blessings

 Made by Rebecca

 Miniature yellow roses from Peter

 Orange Pansies from Sacrament Meeting

 Tulips from Peter

Looking back on our eventful month it would be totally ungrateful of me if I didn't mention all the blessings we have had from the people around us. Ward members have offered to clean house, do laundry, give rides, go shopping and brought in meals until I told them to stop. They've truly been willing to do whatever I needed, and even if I didn't have them doing all those things it felt good to know I could call on them if I needed to.

I've been so fixated on the fact that in addition to my $5000 deductible which we anticipated meeting this year, we now have an entirely separate $5000 deductible for the rest of the family-- i.e. John's surgery--that I didn't wasn't even thinking about the great health care we have access to in this area. Peter reminded me of what it would have been like had we still been in Tehachapi. We'd have had to go to Bakersfield for the x-ray with a pediatrician, then waited days for an opening with an orthopedic doctor-- in Bakersfield, then probably had to go back to Bakersfield or even LA for the surgery.
Much, much more tramatic.
The care we got here was great, and all no more than 20 minutes from my house.

I'm SO grateful!

John is doing fine. He experienced virtually no pain from the surgery. He's just bored with one arm activities and has therefore amped up his usual bad habits. Yesterday was a very bad day for John-- and so for me too. He spent the first three or four hours after church harassing me for a Mother's Day cookie Nathaniel gave me. That was only the beginning of many things to come. By the end of the day I was in full resent mode and told him I didn't even feel like looking at him right now. One of John's big problems is that he never seems to sense when he has pushed a person too far.

I did think he was adorable in church in the Mother's Day program. When I saw him at home waving around six dollars I was perplexed. "Where did he get that? I thought he only had one dollar."
Peter confessed that he had paid him five bucks to get up and sing in Sacrament Meeting.
I didn't even know what to say to that.