Busy Nothings

Wow, what a morning up here in Alaska! And FINALLY the presidential race got exciting for this conservative! Sarah Palin accepted the VP position under McCain this morning and, while I’m surprised, I’m certainly not shocked! My surprise lies in the fact that I was secretly hoping he wouldn’t choose her just because Alaska needs her!

Sarah Palin isn’t a typical politician. She went from being mayor of a relatively small city to ousting our then-current Republican governor, Frank Merkowski, in the primaries with just a fraction of the campaign money Merkowski had. Then she beat out a former democratic Governor and since she took office has done remarkable things for the state. She’s what a politician SHOULD be–more interested in what’s best for the people she’s serving than what will help boost her career. She never set out to be a politician, just do what was best for Alaska and I’ve no doubt she’ll do that for the nation. Critics are already after her lack of experience, but it’s exactly that lack of political experience that makes her such a good governor! She’s not influenced by politics–even her own party–or by money. She’s exposed corruption in the oil companies and her own party, she went to Congress and refused the “pork money” our senator and congressman had secured to build a bridge from Anchorage across the Knik Arm to as of yet uninhabited land (nicknamed the “Bridge to Nowhere”), she’s not afraid to stand up for what’s right and that, to me, is of greater value than years in politics. If elected, I’ll be sad because she’s really worked hard the last two years to clean up Alaska and we need her! But on the other hand, I’ll be excited because FINALLY we have a fresh face in Washington that really IS all about what’s best for the people and she’s proven it!!

Oh, one more note. In several of the articles we read this morning Wasilla was referred to as a “suburb” of Anchorage. My hubby and I both laughed, because we drive 40 miles around mountains to get to that “suburb.”

Izzi will follow me pretty much wherever I go in the house. At the end of the day she’ll snuggle with me on the couch for a while before moving to the ottoman which she’s pretty much claimed as her “couch.” Tonight she was sleepng soundly on the ottoman while I was watching a Cary Grant movie she groggily got up, timidly crawled up on my lap, curled up with her head on my leg, and went back to sleep. I love how much she loves her “mammy”.

Since being pregnant I cannot clean up after my dog without having to run to the bathroom sick. Tonight she had an accident in the middle of the floor (mommy wasn’t watching the clock and didn’t take her out in time) which couldn’t be avoided. I was planning on waiting till my hubby got home so he could clean it up, but then got a wild idea.
I do most of my surface scrubbing using Lysol wipes and I actually like the clean, fresh smell. I do NOT like the smell of the stuff to clean pet odors out of the carpet. So crazily I took the top off the tub of Lysol wipes and placed it next to the “accident” site. The smell of a whole tub of wipes was so strong it overpowered the pee and the stuff to clean it with and –WALLAH!–successfully cleaned up without gagging!

…goes something like this: we bring a car full of stuff (the condo assn. where we live isn’t set up for rummage sales) which dear Hubby kindly unloads. He then spies a computer or two someone dropped off even though the store has a sign posted they don’t take computers. He asks the attendant helping him unload if he can take the computers. He then takes the computers home, takes them apart, and finds what works and what doesn’t. Sometimes–like yesterday–he gets lucky and finds a relatively new computer that someone got rid of because they thought it didn’t work. Turns out it was just a dead battery on the motherboard. So he has yet another free computer to play with.

So many people have been praying for the Lord to bless us with a baby, my young nieces and nephews included. I don’t think I could even pinpoint the origination of all those prayers–I recently found out my sister-in-law’s mom’s group has been praying for us for years!

Well, God has answered all those prayers. We’re now 17 weeks pregnant with our “miracle” baby. According to the test results taken only weeks prior to us finding out, the 150 mg. of Clomid wasn’t working and my progesterone level was really low. No one’s sure when or how I ovulated. Once we found out, the doctor immediately put me on Prometrium as the chances of a miscarriage were high. Thankfully the danger has passed and we’re still pregnant! And very, very sick 24/7. I’ve been on Zofran steadily the past 5 weeks and I wish I’d been on it sooner. It’s the only thing that works to calm the intense nausea.

It was hard for me to decide when and how to blog about this. The pain of infertility is still very real, and some days I still can’t believe I’m pregnant. Although we’re excited and happy, I know all too well the pain of people seemingly flaunting their pregnancies and babies at me and hearing mothers in the store flippantly implying they’d give away their kids. I don’t want to be either of those women. Seemingly endless infertility treatments makes me treasure this baby even more. It’s been a long, hard road.

My brother told his young children who have been praying for their Auntie to have a baby that God answered their prayer. What a witness to them! My 4 yr. old nephew got really excited and his exclamation is the title of this post.

Last night after Hubby got home from work, we snuggled on the couch watching “The Andy Griffith Show.” Izzi, as usual when she’s tired, put herself to bed in her kennel. After the show was over and we started channel flipping, Izzi let out two sharp barks at us as if to say, “Hey! I’m trying to sleep here! Go to bed!!” So we did.

Two fruits remind me of summer–peaches and rhubarb! Peaches because Grandma always canned them when she lived in Michigan, and rhubarb because we grew it and used it out in the country. While a peach tree in Alaska isn’t practical, rhubarb grows great! A couple from church that regularly attend the same Bible Study I do, gave us not only a rhubarb plant which we planted in a big pot on the back deck, but also 2 grocery bags of rhubarb which I cut up and froze.
Now comes the challenge of finding recipes that use rhubarb, but not a lot of sugar. The first one I tried was pretty gross, but the one I made today is absolutely yummy!

RHUBARB RUMBLE

3-cups chopped rhubarb
1-package (small) sugar-free strawberry gelatin
1-1/2-cups cold skim milk
1-package (small) instant sugar-free vanilla pudding mix
1-reduced fat graham cracker crust (8 inch)

Place rhubarb in a microwave-safe bowl
Cover and microwave on high for 6-8 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes, until rhubarb is softened (I cooked it a little longer)
Stir in gelatin until dissolved, then cool completely
In a mixing bowl, combine milk and pudding mix
Beat on low speed for 2 minutes
Fold into rhubarb mixture
Spoon into crust
Cover and refrigerate until firm

We took Izzi in for her booster shots today and what do you think they gave her to distract her? A small jar of chicken baby food! We’ve never seen her gobble up anything so fast!! She practically inhaled it, which produced two huge belches from a little 4.3 lb. dog. Who woulda thunk it?

Izzi will rarely sit on my lap for very long. She’s always gotta go, go, go–play with her toys or woof at every little noise outside. Tonight I was channel flipping and found a station that comes in sometimes, most of the time not very well. But I caught it just as Little House was coming on. Shortly after, Izzi jumped up on my lap and laid down facing the TV. She didn’t move an inch until after the final credits an hour later, then she jumped down and went on her merry way, her radar ears picking up noises to woof at. It was very unusual–and very, very cute!

Today we had a shredding party! We have been married long enough now that our first year’s tax return is no longer in danger of being audited. I also read recently that you only need to save financial records for a year, so I had 6 years of those to shred. Three big black garbage bags later, I have an almost empty file drawer! Yay!!

Thanks to a dear friend from church, we were able to give this little cutie a home. Her “official” name is Lady Isabella but we call her Izzi. She’s tiny–only 4 lbs–but what a precious little baby! We’ve had her a little over 4 weeks now, and she celebrates her first birthday on Wednesday, May 28th! She keeps an eye on both her “pets” and looks for one of us if we’re not around. She’s pretty much housebroken now, has only had 2 accidents in the past two weeks. Izzi’s starting to play with her toys now, too, which is really really cute! We’re so blessed to have her!

I’ve been lax in getting this update done, but believe me the reasons are quite legitimate!
The second meeting with the Mormons was as frustrating as the first. The seem to know Mark Cares’ book well and had an answer for every point. Finally, they just told me I was looking for things to debate about when there was no need as we’re both Christian churches! I realized after they left of course, that since they don’t believe in original sin, we were pretty much just talking in circles.
I won’t be meeting with them again. Not that I don’t want to, but due to new developments my husband has asked that I hold off meeting with them for a while.

Well, I had my first “official” mormon visit (they called and apologized for standing me up). Elder Page, another elder who didn’t say anything and I can’t remember his name, and a Sister, who came along because elders can’t be alone with a woman. This visit proved to me one thing: you can read Mark Cares’ book, take notes, read it again, watch the video, mark your Bible and Book of Mormon, and still go around and around in circles with the Mormons!
At least it feels that way. It’s funny how they seemed to be one step ahead, almost as if they had read the book, too. I presented law over and over but it didn’t phase them, and they agreed it means be perfect now, not become perfect. They also said they know they can’t ever be perfect and that they don’t need to be because of what Jesus had done. We circled around their definition of forgiveness, and my definition, and even though they were completely different they agreed with me! Thankfully, the Holy Spirit does the work, or I’d be in trouble. They complemented me on my knowledge of the Bible and Elder Page said that in nearly 2 years of missions he hadn’t walked into a house and met with someone that knew their Bible so well. I replied that I didn’t, I was always learning something, but had a great foundation thanks to my parents. At the beginning of our meeting they wanted to open with prayer–I explained I wouldn’t because that shows unity of faith which we didn’t share. After the meeting they asked if I felt better about things and would pray with them. I declined for the same reason. Elder Page looked at the other elder and sister and said “This hasn’t happened before. What do we do now?” Sister ____ said, “We say goodbye, thank Rachel (I wouldn’t let them call me Sister _____) and be back next week!” It’s hard to speak the truth in love when they’re so stubborn! err…when I’m so stubborn!!

Tonight the Mormon elders were to come for our first meeting. They didn’t show up. I was really disappointed.

Tonight as I was driving home I noticed a sign in front of a church that read “Prayer–like having Trump’s credit card.” I pondered what could possibly be meant by that and came up with several theories. My two best explanations are:

1) There is no limit on how many prayers we can send up. This theologically makes sense, but doesn’t fit the whole “Trump’s credit card” analogy. But if it means there’s no limit on how many prayers we can send up, it would better read, “Prayer–like a roll of stamps that never ends” or something similarly cheesy. A credit card enables you to get stuff, and assuming Trump doesn’t have a credit limit, he can get whatever he wants. This leads me to my more disturbing theory:

2) We pray for stuff, we get stuff. There’s no limit on the stuff we’ll get when we pray for it.

What do you think?

…and thought I’d share it:

The Buffalo Theory of Drinking: A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo, and when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the culling of the weakest members. In much the same way the human brain can only operate as fast as its slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But it naturally attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That’s why you always feel smarter after a few beers.

I recently perused my friend’s Page Title books. These are my favorites:

Aunt I Sweet
A Real Page Turner
Kiss the Cook
I Love You Just Becousin
Udderly Adorable
Sick Chick
Planting Twolips
Men will be Boys
Treasure of Memories
Ready…Set…Wait
Pregnancy Wait
Sew Much Fabric, Sew Little Time
Why Be Normal
The Fourth Stooge
Going Undercover
I’m in a Jam
Bear-ly __ Years Old
Bear Necessities
Howdy, Pilgrim
How did it get so late so early?
Monkey’s Uncle
Sole Searching

Okay, so maybe it’s a little bit tongue in cheek, but last night and this morning we experienced signs of the alternator dying in the truck. My last experience with an alternator dying was on the way home for break during college, stranded on the road in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully my brother and his wife (girlfriend back then) were behind me and we somehow got it fixed and back on the road. This experience, we had a “sign”–the dimming lights when we reached 2500 rpms. We were very thankful that God let us know his alternator was going out in his truck and were able to get it fixed before either of us were stranded. Praise the Lord for those little signs!

I love Easter. I really love the hymns and choir anthems we sing during the service. Nothing better than those Lutheran Easter hymns! I love directing choir and leading them in the joyous anthems that proclaim a risen Savior. In the church I grew up in, every Easter my mom, who was the choir director, would have the sopranos sing the descant to “I know that my Redeemer Lives.” Even after we moved I could hear the descant in my head during that hymn. This morning was the first time I was actually able to sing it with another strong soprano for the service. Last year, I was the organist. The year before I was guest organist here, here, and here. The year before that we were newcomers to Shepherd, and so it goes. It was incredible to sing it, even more than it was to hear it.

Today the results came back from my latest blood test. My progesterone level was at 1.8. If I had ovulated, it should be around 10. Very disheartening. The doctor is hoping that by increasing the Clomid ovulation will occur. While not feeling hopeless, I can’t deny that I’m very, very disappointed.