Tuesday, October 8, 2024

A time to heal

As we end this time of summer and head into fall, we got to travel for another fun adventure with Carol and David/ Here we are at Deseret Peak temple open house North west of Salt Lake. Here we enjoyed the peaceful beauty and spirit which we can feel in the Temple. there will be 31 temples when completed and 367 around the world, Including a new one for our  friends in Nigeria , at the capital ABUJA.

enjoying the  PEACE , HOPE, AND  JOY  as we listen to the leaders of our church during General Conference, giving me more faith in recovery. As I make the center pieces for our cozy cabin activity in November, busy hands help settle me as I count down the days of my latest challenge this year.


Our neighborhood dinner groups share fun and food and love

DRIVES  UP the canyon, as we still feel the warmth of summer

We share our love and memories of Blake on his birthday.

So, yet again we go to the house of the Lord looking for comfort and find HIS LOVE. Surgery is in 2 days, For two months I have struggled with why, knowing that is has been 2 years
 SINCE THIS HIP WAS ORIGINAL
operated on, And since it had a 15  year life, it has worn down 1/4 inch to allow for easy dislocate. Dr visits, blood work,PT, PA  Bone scan , EKG, Mursa testing,and yet hardly any pain, I continued to swim ( with great are getting in and out). walking at least 3 miles a day, and stationary biking. The continuation of working out has helped me remain calm . HAHA, well  ,at least, I tried. AND the Cleanning and washing of everything, Jim has been my rock, Not complaining, driving me everywhere, and supporting my crazy idiosyncrasies..
FAITH HOPE AND JOY


 

what to do, but wait , for surgery

a

Sunday, September 8, 2024

The Bad and the Good

Difficult and humbling, these have been the last 5 weeks.The hip abductor brace and walker need to be used at all times (according to DR Smith) And I have been following his  rules until my sores  around the waist got so bad and turned into a yeast infection because they were never dry. Then my good friend and neighbor Sis Dort (nurse ) said I needed to dry them out. She  also provide many special bandages and cream. She is the good part. So , also is my neighbor Cressent , who spent 2 hours cleaning my bathroom! I didnt know it could get that clean! She did the windows and organized the books and candles, I spend alot of time in the bath tub, Especially now since I cant  wear the brace there. Darn!.The sores are painful and the hip rubbing from the brace , ugh. I dont mind the walker. Many friends have driven me places to help with the mental part of my adjustment. Many phone calls and sharing love. AND Jim, my chauffeur, picker upper, shoes put oner, kitchen chopper, dish doer, laundry doer and listener to complainer. Jim has been there all the time.These are all the good things. Even more time to study and prepare for our new semester in BYU Pathway Worldwide, Nigeria. SO MANY GOOD things
BAD= miss my bike, kayake and slowing down, fear of it happening again

Jim takes me many different places to walk. Here we are  at the Mall

We got to go to Carter and Bronwyns weeding in Bountiful


Here we are with the brace under my dress,,very very painful

A friend from Nigeria ,at BYU education week , which  we served at in the MARB building ,with handicapped parking very near by!!

I bought the recliner and Jan provided her professional staging and now it fills  very peaceful. The clean living room and bathroom are my favorite places to be, besides outside. The calmness in the clean and organized is what I need now and hope to continue to clean when I can get around better. 
What have I learned? patience, prayer, power from within is strong

 
forgor to show photos  when I  was being fitted for the brace and the correct way to wear it



here is the review of the his dislocation with the paramedics and fire trucks with all the bells and whistles at 5am on Friday Aug Aug 9, I was preparing to teach  dancing  and excited to use the music Cade had helped me with  AND  in plank I twisted and twisted until the right hip popped out

complications with breathing and Morphine which lead to 1 hours of throwing up and another try back to ER



Double rainbow reminded me that I am a child of GOD and that He loves us AND wants the best for  us. We need to do our part

Tuesday, August 13, 2024

serving up delicious food and family

this summer the BYU I dance Alliance traveled in the middle of America and ended up in Canton Michigan! with Victoria and all the Mercados I got to be a part of the celebration. OH, how I loved bing there. the music and costumes and dances and of course FAMILY




after we served the dancers tht rey had a workshop teaching lline dance  , swing and hip hop. All great fun  for me to recogniize the technique and steps that I oh so love.

After all that movement, we had our own Mercado family challenges







one of the  days we had a rainy movie day with CANDY salad including 3 different kinds of my fav, licorise

my last day we got to all go to the park to hike, bike and visit



Here is the way we spent one whole day. prepping the food for the dancers. Cutting and chopping and mixing and moving to great  tunes as we lovingly prepared food for  40 people

lastly. the timing was perfect for me to spent time with kade and see his talents in music, boardering and fashion as we thrift store shopped.
honoring Victori after the show!

Honoring Valerie who makes all the love come together


honoring Kade for working hard at practicing boarding

the love and spirit of unity in the home I will most remember


 

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

catching up with Life and the health of us all

 

we celebrate life. we finally got to go kayaking again after many health issues in the last month. I had cancer removed from my nose, with the stitches removed on June 23  and the day before started feeling dizzy at church. This dizziness endedup being veritgo, with a trip to the IR to get flluid in me and many many other  visits for PT and to clear the crystals.

as dizziness continued we still found compfrt in trying to keep up with our temple tours. Here is Saratoga Springs temple

before stitches

Anderson children swim meets

Mt timp temple

Oyqirrh Mountain temple with Criag and Jill

A fun visit with Craigs and my grandchildren celebrating July  4



celebrating the 4th

an ejoyable grand kids dinner introducing the  some of the  strong runners in the group

suprising Jim to start celebrating his 80th

Jan and Jaron opened up their himefor the celebration of Jims 80th with a service project to go to Africa


And Jim with his favoirte APPLE PIE. S
 so as e continue to heal and celebrate jims 80th, we are greatful for all the wonderful things we can still do