Welcome home Paul!

So this is an official welcome home to Andy's cousin Paul, who has been serving overseas in Iraq. The pictures below tell you the great welcome the kids gave him, he is their favorite cousin on that side after all.

Christmas....

Ok we are going to try to do this in an orderly fashion. Since we have multiple Christmas' at in our family and we don't have pics from all of them. So first was on December 21st (Sunday, the day after graduation) This was my mom's side and the kids made out like bandits!!! Oh my gosh!!!!!! And the amazing thing is that only 1 present was a duplicate and that was easily fixed because that present was from us and so we just took it back and got something else! It looks like I took 5 pictures that day. How did that happen?!?!?!?!?!?! But it was great cause it was the first Christmas in a long time that my Aunt Marcia and Uncle David had been home for I think since Andy and I have been married. The funniest little gift the kids got were these little robotic bugs. So cute! The run around the tables/floors and when thier antenna feel something they back up and turn around. So fun!!!!
Then we have Christmas Eve at my Dad's side (of which I have no pics! I'll have to get those from Uncle Wayne. It was cute, because there are at least 25-30 of us we all draw names and buy for that one person. For the kids us parents, this year, buy a gift (in our case 3) and they go into a big pile. Each child picks one gift and they they rip them all open at once. Plus Grandma Pete (the kids Great Grandma Pete) gets them each something. Then they run and wreak havoc in someother part of the house. Dimon tried to help Uncle Wayne do his taxes by throwing one years worth way up in the air!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh.... Anyway we headed home about 9 pm and went to Nana and Papa's house for a Christmas sleep.

This was the result of Santa's elves staying up till 330 -4 am. What is sad is that some of the wrapping was done 1-2 days before. But some things also took almost a whole roll of wrapping paper to wrap! So its really not as big as it looks, but we still had a great time. The kids were really excited. Izzy's fave toy was (I think) a Wii game, Wall-E and a Battle Dome for her Pokemon. Xander's fave is between a toolbox from Handy Manny (cartoon on Disney, so cute!) and of course his cars stuff. Dimon's fave was an Imaginex Jungle set that has a mountain that growls at him (sometimes it scares him though.) And he also got a bouncy rocky horse. All of the kids love this, so i think it was the biggest hit. It has to live at Nana and Papa's house, cause we just don't have room for it.

My favorite gift was from my parents and brother. They for my graduation/Christmas have given me and Andy an all paid trip to Disney for the whole family! We are going in March, for Spring Break!!!!!!!! I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then later on in the day we went to Andy's side of the family, for which I also don't have any pics for. Will have to get pics from David. It was a little chaotic but the kids had fun.
All and all it was a great Christmas and we hope that everyone else had an amazing Christmas!

FINAL GRADES!!!!!!!!!!!

Class	Description	Units	Grade	Grade Points
ANTH-E 485	ART & CRAFT OF ETHNOGRAPHY	3.00	A	12.000
HISP-S 250	SECOND-YEAR SPANISH II	3.00	C-	5.100
HIST-C 376	GRK HST:BRNZE AGE-PERSIAN WARS	3.00	C+	6.900
HIST-J 400	SEMINAR IN HISTORY	3.00	B+	9.900
MATH-A 118	FINITE MATH FOR SOC & BIOL SCI	3.00	C

Flood aid arrives from across U.S.

So last Sunday Andy and I had the opportunity to go and help out in the Terre Haute flood areas. It was one of the more humbling experiences we have ever had. We were late of course. but we got there in time to help relieve some of our fellow Bloomingtonions. (From our ward and others) So Andy went straight to work. I think some of the guys in our ward will think twice before handing him a hammer again. He tore out the entire wall and studs in an hour and half with a sledge. (Granted it was a very small area maybe 20x12, but he did work really hard. I was impressed. I just pulled out what I could carry and shoveled yucky stuff out. The other guys from our ward and highland were awesome! They had started at 9 that morning and were really tired. They had already removed the inside walls, removed all the furniture (which was a lot for this little area) pulled out all the insulation. It was amazing what these guys had done by 2:00 pm when we got there. They were all amazing.



Volunteers bring help to Wabash Valley residents who were hit hard by storms By Brian Boyce and Deb KellyThe Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE — For anyone taking a drive around town this past sunny weekend, it might seem as if last week’s floods never happened.Many homes, even in some of the worst-hit neighborhoods, look just fine from the outside — except for the Dumpsters in front yards, the Red Cross disaster relief trucks rolling through neighborhoods handing out hot meals and various personal and household items lying just outside garages.A number of volunteer efforts have begun springing up to help those who were affected by the torrential rain and flooding experience throughout Terre Haute and Vigo County last week.The parking lot at Eighth and Voorhees streets was packed Saturday afternoon as volunteers from across the country joined at the First Southern Baptist Church to aid flood victims.“People are concerned, people are responding,” remarked Roger Beavers, a retiree from Richmond, Va., and a member of the Southern Baptist Church’s disaster team.When Beavers and 14 other Virginians received the call for help last Wednesday, they loaded up the trucks and were onsite in Terre Haute working Friday.“We did about 4,000 meals yesterday,” Beavers said about 4 p.m. Saturday. “The food is not what you’d get at a fancy restaurant but it’s what you’d get when you’re hungry.”The Southern Baptist Church’s team travels around the country following natural disasters, bringing with them mobile kitchens, showers, campers and communications centers.“Right after Katrina, we learned you can’t always count on cell phones,” he said. Shower facilities keep the volunteers clean, but also allow disaster victims without electricity or running water to take a bath themselves, he said.And working right beside the Baptists was the Fire Department of New York’s Disaster Assistance Response Team.“This hurricane season will be our 20th year,” explained retired firefighter Mike Mondello, vice-chairman of the program.Several of the agency’s retired firefighters were asked to help out during Hurricane Hugo 20 years ago, “and that’s when [our program was] born.”Today the group is 150-members strong, Mondello said as he and five co-workers loaded food into Red Cross trucks for delivery.The members are almost exclusively retired New York firefighters and receive no compensation for the work, but they bring with them a career’s worth of experience and cross-training in everything from mass care to search and rescue. The team in town Saturday also included two registered nurses, he said.“We go to every city in America and some of the territories,” Mondello said proudly.Both days, volunteers in bright yellow shirts could be seen in hard-hit neighborhoods, walking the streets in groups, helping to carry soaked carpets and other large household items out of homes and offering cleaning help.The volunteers came from all over Indiana, members of various stakes of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They had organized crews and sent them to Terre Haute and Columbus, among other devastated cities and towns.Michelle Slack, 30, of Indianapolis said the group sent more than 400 volunteers to Terre Haute on Saturday and more than 500 on Sunday.Slack was working with others in her crew of about six in the southside neighborhood that sits between Seventh and 11th streets, just north of Springhill Drive. “We’re just going around and asking if they need anything — we’ve been moving a lot of carpet, and we’ve torn out some floorboards,” she added.Slack said she didn’t really know what to expect before getting to Terre Haute, but said she had been affected by “meeting the people and hearing their stories.”“Quite a few people, we’ve stayed busy at their houses,” she said. “We met one family whose cat drowned in the flooding, so it has been very hard for people.”Some houses appeared untouched, but a trip inside would prove otherwise, according to volunteers.Dave Williams, one of the leaders of one Terre Haute crew, said the thing that surprised him the most was just that.“You look at these houses and they look OK, but you go inside, and we’ve been ripping up floors, and you take out the drywall, and the insulation behind it is just sopping wet.”Matthias Sayer, 29, of Bloomington echoed Williams’ sentiments, saying, “Probably the most surprising thing is just how significant the damage is, where you’re having to strip a home out completely, down to nothing inside, and rebuild.”Williams, looking down the sunny street, said, “We know we can’t solve all the problems in this world … But there’s a lot to do, and we feel like we have sort of an obligation … try to help relieve some of the stress.”

(Pictures to come soon)

Happy Mothers Day!

Love you Mama! love Min



Love you Mom! Love Andy



For the hope and love of our Grandmothers and Aunts and Friends!

The Invisible Mom

I'm Invisible It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking , 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a p air of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.' I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone! One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous tr ip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a hair clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.' In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of t heir names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything. A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.' I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over . You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.' At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime, because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree. When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and dresses all th e linens for the table.' That wo uld mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'You're gonna love it there.' As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women. Great Job, MOM! Share this with all the Invisible Moms you know

A Great Man... Gordon B. Hinckley

I say this to other people: you develop all the good you can. We have no animosity toward any other church. We do not oppose other churches. We never speak negatively of other churches. We say to people: you bring all the good that you have, and let us see if we can add to it.

As many of you know the leader of our Church passed away this past Tuesday. The quote above is one of my favorite of his. He said this when he was on the Larry King live show. He was the one of the best men to ever walk the earth and touched more people and me then I ever knew. All of you who know me, know that I am somewhat shy about bearing my testimony, but I know that this man was our Prophet, I know that our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is true. We have some things in out past that people are always confused about and our former President gave me much stregnth and courage in trying to convey the truth about our faith and love. I want everyone to know that I will mourn the loss of such a great man, but look forward to continuing to try to make him proud.

“We must not be clannish. We must never adopt a holier-than-thou attitude. We must not be self-righteous. We must be magnanimous, and open, and friendly. We can keep our faith. We can practice our religion. We can cherish our method of worship without being offensive to others. I take this occasion to plead for a spirit of tolerance and neighborliness, of friendship and love toward those of other faiths.” (Pioneer Day Commemoration, July 2001).

The following is an excerpt from an article I found online:

On Monday morning this week, 12 hours after the passing of the 97-year-old leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Gordon B. Hinckley, an extraordinary and spontaneous thing happened.
Young teenagers in Salt Lake City began showing up for school that day, dressed not in their usual jeans and winter clothing, but in their “Sunday best.” Young men sat in classes in white shirts and ties, suits and coats.
Thousands of them did this, with no prompting from parents or other adults and to the surprise of teachers. The idea, it seems, started with a few and then spread at unbelievable speed through text messaging, child to child. This was their way of showing respect to a man seven times their age and several generations their senior. Such was the power of this one extraordinary leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to touch the lives of ordinary people.
I think President Hinckley would have liked the spontaneity and simplicity of that gesture.

Christmas! All of them...

Well I know that I am really late at posting this but we had some time constraint and so now here is Christmas Photos and stuff....
Christmas at the Brumfield's ( Mindy's cousin's on her mom's side)
This Christmas was held on Dec 21st so we could all be there. We had a blast, the kids played all day long and loved all the toys they got! Chris and Christy have this one room in the house that is the play room and its just a cement room that has all kinds of goals and sports equipment and the kids could draw on the walls. It was great. I want one of these rooms!

Xander was a little overwhelmed but we did get him to open one present, then he ran. Izzy and DImon on the other hand were all to eager to open every one's gift for them. I think the best one was from Aunt Eleanor, she wrapped one of Izzy's gifts ( a pillow/muff lion) in a vodka box that has this weird looking I-Robot kind of thing on the front and we couldn't convice Izzy to open it because she thought the box picture was what it was. To funny! We love going North to see the family. And plus everyone really enjoys getting together and seeing how much everyone has grown.
Izzy is the only girl on this side ( in this age group)

and so she struggles to keep up with Liam and Clay who are near 10, (they were mine and Andy's ringbearers), and Ethan who I think is 7. (Sorry Ethan I can't remember!) But she does pretty good, she can definelty give them a run for their money on most things. Izzy's favorite gift was a pink guitar, Chris at one point came running into the house asking for a camera b/c she was rockin and playing in the yard. By the time we got there she had quit. Xan'der's favorite is a little lamp that has LIghtning McQueen, from cars on it. And Dimon's is his little musical farm taht lts him change the animals and mix and match and sing to him. He just loves it! Drives us all crazy because we are constanly steeping on animal parts, but it is really cute to watch him dance as he carries it around the house.

Above- Ethan, Liam, Clay Izzy
Below- Lindsay then Ethan

Izzy after the scary box and found the lion!

Christmas Eve- at Grandma Pete's house (Great Grandma Pete to the kids, Larry's Mom)

This side of the family is my dad's side and they are all a little laid back. This year there weren't as many of us and so it was kinda small. Really unusual, since I have 30+ people on this side, but we have fun none the less.

(<- Aunt Jane & Uncle Wayne above is Aunt Bev)

We had a good time. Because the family is bigger on this side we only buy for one person, Grandma (which we are told not to do, but we all do anyway.), and for our kids.

Just a side note here, My Grandma Pete is the most AWESOME person ever! She will be 93 this year and she still plays with all the little kids. She works and drives, and not the typical old lady driving. She can haul! But she is the best Grandma ever!

Anyway, Xan's best toy of the night was his slinky. Did you know that the box on a slinky has instructions! Who does not know how to work a slinky, but apperntly there are people who have no idea as to how to work a slinky! The world never ceases to amaze me. Izzy's favorite was a set of puzzle blocks that make all kinds of different designs. At the moment I can not remember what Dimon liked the best.

We had fun watching everyone unwrap their gifts. Here are some more pics from that night... above is Xander and Grandma Pete.
<-Uncle Kenny and Sue,

Below is Drew, Aunt Carol & Xan

Then came Christmas Morning! This is the kids walking pout and finding all that Santa has brought. Remember this is at Larry and Marie's house, thus all the room and presents... and thats out story and we're sticking to it!

Then Christmas Day (Eve) With Dave, Lillian, and Uncle Bruce and Nana, Papa and Uncle Ryan

This is Bruce unwrapping his movie, which we put in a lovely Victoria Secret's bag. THen Dave and Lil unwrappng thier T-Shirts. Lil's said "Do you want to speak to the Dr, or the Nurse who knows what is going on?" and Dave's had a bunch of little toads on it that said "Toadal Chaos"
And Dimon taking everything in stride. Gotta have that bottle, its been a long long day! Then there is Xan and Nana opening Xan's toolbox full of toys and fun prizes. Then there is Uncle Bruce attacking, or Xander attacking, Not real sure who won that battle. But someone did and Bruce said that his back was much better. Xan is a very good chiropracter I guess.

And we get to do it all again on the 26th with our 5th Christmas!
<-Amanda, Andy's cousin, and Dimon

Paul, Andy's cousin. Being attacked by Isabelle=>

This Christmas was held at Nanny's house. nanny is Andy's paternal grandmother. (Dave's mom) Its is a really nice little condo that is so not kid proof. We jokingly call it the glass house. Because there is crystal and glass and vases and just all kinds of fragile things that are within munchikin reach. Which you can imagine does not always end well. But we had fun. Izzy's highlight was trying to kill Paul. He was really great, he jumped and played and wrestled with her. It was cute to watch.

Mi Vida Loca

Saturday December 8th, a very memorable day. It started with the Snowflake festival. This is a great fun party put together by the Children's Therapy Clinic (where Izzy and Xan go for speech and OT).

There were all kinds of characters and games and crafts even Santa! And all the kids got special presents with their names on them, and they were selected for them.

Izzy n' Xan playing toss!

Dimon and his dragon!
Marlene (Xan's Speech Therapist) and Scott (his OT)

Present Time!

Craft Time!

We had a great time and can not say enough about how much fun we all had. Even though Xander would not eat anything. (He refused donuts!!!) We left with ornaments, toys and lots of great pictures!

The Accident and the Bravest Boy in the world

After that the day was looking good. Andy and I were headed down to Louisville to see Joe and Mel and the kids were staying at my parents house for the weekend. Everyone was really happy and excited. That was about 1130 in the morning. At about 1230 we were in the ER of Bloomington Hospital. Xander had stuck his hand in a hot glue pot, that heats to about 4oo degrees. He had run away from Dad and when Dad told him to get away from the pot he looked up at him and slammed his hand into the pot. TOTAL ACCIDENT!!!! Dad and mom called and said that we needed to meet them at the hospital, thankfully we had just left home so we were only about 5 minutes from home. He had 2nd degree burns on his right hand and a small 1st degree burn on his left wrist from where he flipped some of the glue from his other hand. They wrapped his hand after getting the remaining glue off of his hand and called Riley Children's Hospital. Dr Gupta (@ Riley) said that because of his Autism and chances of being worse he would like to see him. So we headed to Riley, Andy's parents drove us. Before we left the emergency room here in Bloomington Andy, Dad and Ryan gave Xander a blessing. Once we got to Riley they said that the burn had not reached the membrane and he should heal pretty well, but they wanted to watch him for a few days because burns can get worse over a 72 hour period. So what we though would be a short stay turned into a 10 day long, very long stay at Riley in the ICU Burn Unit. (Tony and Andy getting ready to do a dressing change->)

As unhappy as we were about being there we could not have asked for a better place or a better staff. We love the nurses there at Riley! They were so good to all of us. Andy and I stayed the whole time, and my parents took Izzy and Dimon for the 10 days. The first few days were the worst for Xan because we were debreeding his hand (taking all the dead skin off by rubbing a washcloth over it.) But he was so very brave and smiled about an hour after it was done, if he didn't go to sleep first. Sunday, my Aunt Jane and Grandma came by to see if we needed anything. We had several phone calls and text messages from friends to find out how they could help. They really meant a lot to hear from people. Dave and Lil came up almost everyday to visit and my parents brought the kids up a lot. That really made Xander happy, because he kept asking for Izzy, and he even asked for Dimon a few times. After a few days we were able to get some smiles and laughs from Xander, he even played alot with one of his nurses, Tony. (who we absolutely adore.) He even braided my hair for me one day.

Like I said the nurses were amazing, Paul, Xander's night nurse for most of the 10 days, and Katie, even gave me a bed one night because Xander kicked me, litterally out of his. We spent a lot of time feeding pennies into the fountain downstairs, and walking the halls playing with all of the cool toys we found. We also went to the library there and checked out movies and just spent a lot of time playing with the toys that the Cheer Guild brought.

The people at Riley are amazing. There is just not enough words in world to explain how wonderful and beautiful the people who work at Riley are. They want to do nothing but help.

Penny Throwing, one of many games set up in lobby one day, Safe Place.

And there was always something going on in the lobby during the day. Xan got very accustomed to a little red wagon and it was his safe place. No one would mess with his arm if he was in his wagon so one day, when he was having a really rough time he climbed in and even fell asleep in it. The reason that we had to stay for so long was one, Xander developoed psuemondus ( I know I mispelled that) and then because until the 10th day he was still on IV meds instead of oral. Trying to give this boy any kind of medicine by mouth is worse than changing the bandges on his hand! But the last day they said that we knew everything about doing the changes and how to take care of him, if we were willing to give him the oral meds then we could go home. So we came home. YEA!!!!!!! We are so proud of Xander, he has been such a little trooper. So have Izzy and Dimon, they were really good for my parents. (Not that I think they would tell me otherwise)

So we are home and happy now. Xander is doing great. We only have to wrap 2 of his fingers now because the rest is healed. Changes are still rough, but it's his anxiety and soon we won't have to do that anymore, we hope. So now its on to Christmas. Everybody say presents!

PS> We want to say thank you to everyone who has helped us out at the hospital, once we got home, and those of you who kept Xander in your prayers. It has meant a lot and we want you to know that we love each and everyone of you. Merry Christmas!!!