Random Thought Tuesday: 11.2.10

Last Monday night, while we were trying to get pictures of the awesome pumpkins we had just carved and of our Halloween decorations, I dropped our camera and broke it. :( It fell the same way my laptop did when I dropped it and broke it a few years ago - from just a few inches off the ground. But, it must have hit just right. We tried several things to fix it ourselves, but to no avail. To get it professionally fixed would have cost more than the camera was worth. So, we got ourselves a new cheap little point and and shoot.

It's about the cheapest thing out there, but it is a Nikon. :) We have joined the Nikon family. And I have decided that I need to wear our camera strap around my wrist like a Wii remote because I can't be trusted with electronics. Rest in peace little Kodak. 4 years isn't too bad, right?

And now since we own a Nikon, we're going to be starting a photography business. ;)

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Elena loves spinach. How random is that? This is the same girl who won't even look at tomatoes, bell peppers, peas, and zucchini. Oh, well. We'll take what we can get.

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Why is it that the day after you sit down and look over your budget and make some plans for how to get through the next few months and come to the conclusion that you might make it if you don't spend a penny unplanned, that you get a letter in the mail saying that weeks of home nursing visits aren't going to be covered (in other words, you owe at least $1000) and you have a car repair come up?

Is it the same thing that causes that the day after you sit down and look over your schedule and map out how to navigate the next 23 days of insanity until Eric's Independent Study courses are due and figure out that you need every spare second you can get and then some, that Lily starts having muous in her stool again and you've now got to take time that you don't have to go to multiple doctor's appointments? Is it Murphy's Law? Are we just cursed? Someone tell me why.

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Lily is officially a big girl and I'm having a hard time believing it. She has now started to pretend to talk on the phone. I feel like Elena was so much bigger when she started doing that - it doesn't seem like Lily is old enough to be pretending like that. But she's pretty dang cute and she does it exactly the same way that Elena did - twisting her wrist around and holding the phone backwards to her ear, making it as hard as possible. :)

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Eric found out last week that he is going to be able to do a Master's project instead of a Master's thesis! It's an option in his engineering graduate program to do a project instead of a thesis, but in his particular emphasis - structural engineering - a project usually isn't possible and students have to do a thesis.

This news is a big relief to us! Eric HATES writing papers -even more than me, which is really saying something. He's good at it, but he loathes it. He's even failed classes that he was getting and "A" in because he wouldn't do the final big paper. Needless to say, the thesis has felt like this huge, nearly insurmountable, looming roadblock - even before he started the program and it is wonderful that he can put his brains and talents towards a project. He's going to rock it.

***After reading this, Eric insists that I say something about like how he never got to be a child and that's why he hates writing papers.

There I said it. Crazyhead. :)

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A few weeks ago, Elena received a package from Make-A-Wish with an invitation to come to the Wishing Place and a special key that will unlock the Wishing Place!

Opening the package

Elena was in the middle of steroids and this is what the experience was like for her: She just wanted to eat breakfast. Usually she yells, "A PACKAGE!!! Is it for me?!" whenever we get a package. But that morning, all she cared about was eating. She was not happy that we wanted to stop and get a picture of her with her key. :) Oh, steroids.

After Elena had eaten, she stopped for a picture with her key. Here she is with her "hair", wearing the key on a necklace. This was the first chain we found - kind of blingy. :) It has since been moved to a more normal necklace. :)

Here is her invitation and her key on the bulletin boards in her room that hold all her special notes and cards.

And for the really exciting part: on Thursday morning, we get to go to the Wishing Place at Make-A-Wish!! On Thursday, she'll meet with her wish granters (volunteers who work on granting Elena's wish) and they'll try to figure out her one true wish (plus a couple of back-up wishes) and then she'll go to the Wishing Place and make her wish.

We are so excited! I seriously think I might be more excited than Elena even. :) We weren't sure about participating in Make-A-Wish at first because we felt like there were so many families with children worse off than Elena. But after talking with people who have been involved with Make-A-Wish, we realized that while that may be true, Elena has still gone through an awful lot. More than most three year olds. And she's had to have a lot of restrictions in place, be told "no" a lot, had to miss out on fun activities and "normal" kid things, suffer through chenotherapy side effects, and she gets poked in the chest with a needle every week for pete's sake! We decided that we needed to stop thinking about us and think more about Elena. She has definitely earned a break! In our packet from Make-A-Wish, we got a very nice letter from the Director of Program Services for Make-A-Wish Utah that helped to confirm this to us:

"...It is my sincere hope that this interlude of fun and respite will renew your child's ability to find and feel joy.

One Wish Mom told me recently, 'It was hard to call you, because I was taught from childhood to be grateful for what I have and never ask for anything.' She is not the first parent to confide this feeling of unease with 'asking' and I am very aware that it is hard to accept an extravagant gift from strangers; so I want to share with you one insight we have received through many years of wishgranting.

So often we have friends, relatives, or neighbors who are facing dark and terrible times. And so often we feel helpless to express our compassion, to reach out to them in a meaningful way, to make some happy difference in their lives. Make-A-Wish gives all of us outlet for this genuine desire to say in a tangible way, 'We are thinking of you. We care about you. Please let us help.'

The process of fulfilling a wish brings great joy to everyone in the community who participates. By accepting a wish for your child, you are also giving hundreds of donors and volunteers the opportunity to create together a brief moment of happiness in a hurting world... Please trust me that the 'Wish' event is as much a healing gift from you to your community as it is a gift from your community to you.

So, please relax and just enjoy a 'time out' for fun and family. You need and deserve to share a more light-hearted time together. I hope we will be able to give your child a splendid experience and your family some cherished memories..."

We've barely begun the process and already I think that all the volunteers, donors, and people who work with Make-A-Wish are just the best! I think it will be a very special, healing thing for our whole family. And I can't wait to see the joy in Elena's face when her wish is granted!