Christmas Lights Drive

Every year we load up the fun bus and set out for a nighttime drive to see the Christmas lights of NWA. This year, we brought Lady with us and it was the best!  No one loves lights more than my mom. 

We sang along to our favorite Christmas playlists, and drove through Creekstone neighborhood, to the square, and waited an hour long car line to see the Bentonville Heart Lights.  It’s was worth it!   On the way home, we stopped at the “maze house” and got out to do the Christmas maze, too. We were the only people there, thankfully, since we forgot to bring masks. Then the Pezeley family arrived and we had a distanced hello! And then loaded up quickly so their high risk Bradley boy could run through the maze without us breathing all over him.  It’s a pain to live in this covid world, but decisions like that are just not difficult to make. We are our brothers keepers. If we love one another, it’s just not a challenge to help keep each other healthy.  I’m so tired of people announcing “masks and distancing just aren’t for me!” And coming in for a hug in the parking lot after church. Rude! If masks aren’t for you, so be it, but stay distances or respect that you’re still on church property where policies exist to keep everyone healthy.  Go ahead and socialize outside after church, but don’t go hugging people because “I’m just a rebel” or rip your mask off the minute you step out the door and then start putting your arms around people.  I get that it’s hard for you to wear a mask. But you don’t have a radar that tells you who is immunocompromised, so respect everyone as if they are. Because it’s the Christian thing to do.   That’s my soap box, amen.  

Ok back to the lights. Bentonvillle heart lights are so cool. The family has their lights timed to music and even the neighbors participate in a dueling banjo version of jingle bells. So good.  And how cute is the square? The lights here have come a long way! We do kind of miss the old days when there were horse and buggy rides, camels, and a Nativity. But all these trees and the addition of a giant Christmas tree where the confederate soldier used to be are lovely. 

Christmas Star

Kasey called and told us Dan K would be at Orchards park with his telescopes so people could stop by and see Saturn and Jupiter.  We met up with them and she and jimmie played with the kids and had apps on their phones to look up constellations while we waited to use the telescopes. Big thanks to the awesome Koster family for sharing and teaching us! We got to see the rings of Saturn, and when they dipped below the horizon, they focused on the moon and gave us an incredible look! Obviously my iPhone photos through a telescope don’t really do it justice, but it’s an idea of how good our view was! People are cool. Thank you, Kosters and Meadows! 

Winter Solstice is the turn around point of our long and dark winter days. I love our cozy nights by the fire. But more sunshine is almost always preferred! Endless praise to our Creator for this magnificent universe and hope in brighter days to come. 

Saga 2

I went back to Highlands Oncology today (12-21-2020) for a CT scan. I would say it’s a good thing I’m having a flare right now, because it’s always awkward to go to a doctor for a problem they can’t see. But I guess the point of the scan is to take a look at what’s going on below the surface anyway, so it doesn’t really matter if my adrenal glands were all blown up. We did imaging of everything from my neck to my abdomen.  

Due to covid, no one but patients could be in the building. I went to my last appointment alone, and was alone today as well. But I really hurt for some of the older and quite visibly suffering individuals who are in the depths of treatment, being wheeled around by staff instead of their loved ones, many of whom were literally pacing outside the building. 

The staff at the oncology center are top notch super kind and helpful. All of them.  They’re like the chick fil a of medical staff and it’s awesome. 

The barium was basically strawberry poison. I thought it would taste like a fake berry chalky protein shake, but it was more like drinking a huge bottle of berry cough medicine. It was pretty potent. And so much. I really cannot imagine someone who is already feeling nauseated being able to stomach that stuff.  I didn’t have much of a reaction to the contrast they injected into the IV during the scan...it sort of felt like I had peed my pants 🤣 but I hadn’t.  The scan itself was fine. Typically, patients have appointments right after to go over the images with the oncologist. I was a little disappointed to find out I’ll have to wait until January to know the results, but I’m extremely optimistic that there won’t be any problems and this is just s formality em route to diagnosing autoimmune. 

December Hike

We are trying to do some outdoor exploring every month, and I’m trying to “get into” hiking, because that seems to be something everyone knows how to do.   We went back to blowing springs and saw tons of fresh, ultra bright green, fluffy moss. Hard to believe this was all covered in snow just a few days ago! We watched an armadillo dig around eating grubs in a little cave under a bluff.  Quincy did not want to go on a hike, and insisted there was nothing I could do or say to convince her to get in the van. I held up some lululemon active wear and asked “wanna wear my clothes?” She took them and winked “yes, yes, I do.” And dashed upstairs to change. 😂 

I offered clothes to Reese as well, but she wanted her hoodie and crocs, and ended up being chilly, but happy that it’s easier to wash mud off crocs than sneakers.  The little ones lasted longer than usual. Kasey joined us for our hike too and took this cute family pic of us.  

We are happy that the kids are getting to an age where we are finally able to enjoy some of these trails. 

 Arkansas really showed off her beauty yesterday! 

Christmas Drawings

The twins have been drawing all things Christmas lately and it is so cute! It pains me that I cannot show their faces on social media, but here are pics of their Christmas spirit! Three 5 year olds at Christmas time. Their holiday excitement is intense and I’ve got all the heart eyes for it! 

Soren’s books

Soren creates entire worlds in his books. They are “graphic novels” if you ask him. He has characters with histories and personalities and Soren can tell you about where they live, who their allies are, and their motives. He works on these mini novels any time he needs to self entertain. I love reading what he comes up with.  The tales of Wolbe, Flufwip, and Dr. Woodchop are the best! 

NYC still going strong

When Aaron wanted to take our family of 9 on a massive road trip to New York, I had a lot of reservations. We went anyway and there were a lot of very challenging moments and a lot of wonderful moments. 18 months later, the kids are still talking about it and drawing little pictures like this one that Sloane did this morning. Cutest. That road trip was totally crazy, but totally worth it.