Friday, December 30, 2022

New Years Almost Eve

  This year has been a tough year. We started with all of us recovering from Covid. Kirk had it the worst with pneumonia and blood clots in his lungs. But my prayer has always been that if one of us had cancer or something, that God would make us sick enough to get checked out. So Covid revealed cancer on his kidney just by chance on the corner of the CT scan for his lungs.  While he was in the hospital to remove half his kidney, I saw a blackened spot on the side of his knee. More cancer. This time melanoma on the side of his knee and basal on his shoulder. 

 Just one week after Kirk had his kidney surgery, Victoria was in the ER for extreme abdominal pain and was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease loud and clear. She has had the same gut issues as Daphne her whole life. This was the very thing we were trying to prevent all year. One week later, she made it through the 4H State Ambassador interviews that she had been preparing for the last 6 months. It is pretty rigorous but she made it in! She was one of 8 chosen out of 13 kids. The down side is that she is dealing with Dysautonomia that is caused by the Chiari Malformation and the concussion, and now Crohn's Disease. Not to mention her super power. Whenever a storm blows in, she can predict it days in advance and can barely function.  We had no idea she would end up with three medical conditions that effect her horribly. 

In May, after 24 years of Homeschooling the kids, I have officially retired from teaching and started a new adventure working for myself. I'm using my RN license again and  became certified in NAET, an allergy elimination technique using accupuncture principles. I love it. Not only is it helping people heal from all kinds of illnesses and diseases but it has saved both Victoria and Daphne from numerous food and environmental allergies. That's how it all happened. Daphne started treatment with Dr. Lindsey. We could easily see that she was going to need many, many, many treatments to get the Ulcerative Colitis under control. So rather than replacing the front porch and steps, we invested in me being certified in NAET. Best thing I have ever done.  I've even used it on our dogs and pony. What a blessing.  

Back to Homeschooling. We graduated Victoria a year early so she could focus on her position of 4H State Ambassador and possibly get this Crohn's into remission. Her Highschool years have already been robbed from her due to these medical conditions. None of it is fair but what do you do? You just keep going. I have researched so much in order to help these girls have a normal life. What is normal? It makes my head spin.

 Summer was chaotic with very little down time. It was very frustrating that we can't just jump up and go hiking, kayaking, camping etc. Both the girls just don't feel good. Constant gut issues. Victoria barely made it through all of her events for Ambassador, BUT she made it through. Rather than just dropping her off, I would get a hotel room wherever the event was and would stay in town. We couldn't chance it that she would need a trip to the ER and I would have to drive back down to wherever she was.  In July, Kirk had his surgery for the skin cancer. He had a harder time recovering from that than his kidney surgery. We are just happy that it is gone, and no cancer was found in his lymph nodes. 

 We brought home Douglas to his permanent family. We were his fourth home in 4 weeks. The poor guy was very thin and a little stressed. It took 6 days for MerkTavitch to be able to look at him without freaking out but now they absolutely love eachother. They are partners in crime! And since he has been with us, he has grown about two inches! It must be the 1 1/3 acre that he has to run in. 

In the Fall we thought we were getting a grip on life making plans to return to skiing and snowboarding, return to ice skating, hiking for the fall, all the outdoor things that we love to do, until Victoria was hospitalized for one side of her abdomen swelling up. So, on Halloween just after going to bed for an hour, she wakes me up to show me her abdomen. I know from being a nurse that this is not good. Off to the ER we go. I was afraid that she had a ruptured bowel but it was a double abcess with a fistula coming from her small intestine. A complication of Crohn's Disease. She was hospitalized to prevent losing her bowel. All these things that we never thought would be in her future. One week later, Jared was pinned by a bull returning a buddy's concrete trailer and broke and dislocated his wrist.  This is all just too much! Praise God he wasn't mauled! And of course, due to the stress of Victoria and then Jared, Daphne started an Ulcerative Colitis flare up. Can we just get a break? How both the girls ended up with autoimmune disease, I have no idea. We've gotten new GI doctors for both the girls and now Daphne is getting an injection for UC and Victoria is getting an infusion for Crohn's. It's been a long road. Victoria has had this drain since November 8 and will probably have this drain until the middle of January. The GI Surgeon, who is amazing and gave us his cell phone number for communicating with us directly is trying to prevent Victoria from getting a temporary ileostomy for 6 months to a year.   It was bad enough that she went on an Ambassador Congress trip to Georgia with the drain in place. She is amazing that she did it. We had lots of video calls to help her problem solve issues with it. 

Thanksgiving and Christmas has come and gone with almost no celebration other than being forever grateful for Baby Jesus. We down scaled everything. The tree did get put up but there were no decorations on the tree nor were there any presents under the tree. After what we have been through as a family, all of that stuff just didn't matter. Through this all, we have been planting a church called Cache Cowboy Church with wonderful people in Hooper at Wasatch Cowboy Church. We would have never made it this year without our Cowboy Church family. We've had such hard times in our life but the amazing thing is that our family is unique. Yeah, we have 6 adults living in the same house but it isn't like what people would think. The boys are hardworking building their Construction business. Yeah, Jared can't work with a broken arm but we can see that God had the plan for him to get a handle on the business side of things and hire someone to work alongside Kaleb while his arm heals. That is a blessing. We can see God working. Douglas has been a blessing. We have all just loved him. I am working on him getting his Therapy dog certification so I can take him into retirement homes to lean on people. He's a good leaner and people just love this guy. Cache Cowboy Church is moving from 4pm to 10 am because we have a pastor now. Good things are happening which is why we are always under enemy attack. That's how it works. When something is good happening for Jesus, the enemy will do it's best to shut it down. It's not happening, so back off Satan!

Sometimes, I'm afraid to ask what the year 2023 will bring us. Victoria isn't out of the woods with avoiding surgery. I think it's better to just let it unfold and trust God to keep us on the right path. Through this all, our family is stronger than ever. We are resilent people. We are loving doing God's work. There are so many hurting people out there that need Jesus in their life. We know what it's like to go through hard times which makes it easier to relate to people to do God's work. There are blessings at every turn. Okay.....BRING IT ON 2023!!

November

November we start with Victoria in the hospital with a complication to Crohn's Disease. Just when we thought that she was doing great because she didn't have any pain. NOT!
Thanks to Crohn's Disease she has an abdominal abcess. 
Just days after she got out of the hospital, the GI surgeon placed a drain in her abdomen. She's had it for 8 weeks now. It is uncomfortable and hurts at time. We are waiting for the infusion meds that she is now on to close the fistula to close the abcess so they can take the drain out. 
Within a week of Victoria being treated for the abcess, we get a call that Jared is in the ER brought in by an ambulance because he tried to drive himself and almost blacked out so he call 911. He got pinned by a bull and broke and dislocated his wrist!



The good part is that the doctor set his wrist really well! He  had a cast for a month and now a splint for a couple more months. 
They are making me Old!



 

October Craziness

Time for a Haircut
Doug's way of laying on the bed while standing on the floor
Kaleb, home from work and filthy
Dougy helping harvest carrots
Fall weather approaching
Victoria turned 18 years old!
Fun at 4H Design Team Training
The boys came to our agility night for 4H just to eat pizza. Of course they were doing demolition all day so they are very dusty, dirty!
I love that these guys will still come to events that we are having for 4H, even if it is just to have pizza. 

 

Hiking

Kirk, Kaleb, Daphne, MerkTavitch and I hiked to the waterfalls near Hike Creek.
It's always a last attempt before the weather changes.
We found Liverwort
Kaleb drove us in his monster truck
Proof that we were there!
And Daphne
Merk is the cutest Pup!
He has quite the personality.

September

September happenings.....
Show of Excellence for the 4H Dog Program
Our last day hanging out at Bear Lake for the season.....
Somebody said they picked up the eggs every day.....Hmmm....30 eggs layed by 13 hens in one day??
Doug being spoiled by everyone he met at the Belgian Waffle Ride
the 4H Dog Program volunteered at Zootah. 
Victoria handled the tortoise like a pro....
We had quite a turn out. The kids had a great time picking up rocks, making new tree stands for the Eagle's, trimming fallen down trees and cutting down dormant plants.
The Dog Program also walked in the USU Homecoming parade as well. I am so proud of all of these kids and their dogs. All the dogs were well behaved and represented our program so well!
Victoria and Jasper and Olivia and Winnie lead the group. They are the two oldest in the program and take dog training seriously. These two are very knowledgeable and really know their stuff.



 

Douglas

Doug got hot and found the tiniest muddy creek to stretch out in. 
I had no control over him. When he wants something, there is no stopping him.
Douglas has a unique way of sitting in the van. He sits on the back of the seat.
 

Wire Spools

I found a smokin' deal on wire spools for the goats to play on. So, of course , one has to play on them on the way to the goat pens.

Kaleb cut his hand between his fingers so he sprayed Livestock wound spray on it. I'm pretty sure it worked.


 

Sunday, August 28, 2022

Better Outside





 

Brody

Well, I found out that Brody likes the air hose attached to the air compressor!
I thought he would be nervous about it but he actually liked it and wanted me to blow it on him.
I never know with him.


Cache County Fair

The Cache County Fair came and went!
We work all year with the kids and dogs and do a 4 day Dog Show. We have events in Showmanship, Obedience, Rally and Agility. We had 29 kids and dogs this year! 
I am so impressed with all of them. It is such a growing experience for them. 
Our judge Chris found a Crawdad in the arena. We think it crawled up out of a storm drain.
Chris is amazing with the kids. He is so kind and really helpful with them.
We met him when Victoria just started Dog 4H with Henry. Henry was being....well....Henry and Christ totally got down on Victoria's level and helped her work with Henry and use some tricks that he taught her. He made a huge difference and helped her in the program.
In between events, Victoria helped Doug maneuver the tables and wobbles. He did great but then again, it was probably because he had such a great trainer working with him. The awesome part of Dog 4H is that the kids go into the program as just kids with dogs and come out as trainers and handlers. It is an incredible program that we have built. It is the largest club in the State of Utah. I've managed to keep it going for the past 4 or 5 years. I can't really remember how long. Victoria has been in the program 9 years.



Douglas

Douglas came to be a part of our family in July. 
I love this dog!
He is mostly Great Dane, St. Bernard and Mastiff.
He's only 20 months old, so who knows how much more he is going to grow. He is the sweetest dog. It took MerkTavitch 6 whole days of keeping them separated to have him fully accept Doug. He just didn't know how to interact with him, he was so big. He came with the name Titan which we all had trouble calling  him that. So we made a long list of names that were fitting and we muscle tested to see which one resonated with his body better. Plus he answered to Doug.
We call him Big Doug, Douglas, Dougy, and just Doug.
He is totally chill which is what I absolutely need with already having high energy border collies!
So he is officially my dog. He pretty much listens to me best anyway.
He likes to sit on Victoria. 
He cracks me up. He is considered a dry mouth so he has less drool. We had to get a goat bucket for water because it would just siphon out the side of his mouth. His crate is HUGE. Jasper likes it best. And now, he plays so well with Merk. They LOVE eachother!
I found out on a morning walk that when he is hot....or not, he lays down in the canal. So I set up a kiddie pool that we have had for years when it is hot outside. He cools off frequently. He'll even go outside, cool down, shake off and come back in side the house! Thankfully he shook off outside!!
I think he is loving his new home!
The boys were on a backpacking trip through the Uintas so Victoria and I sent them pictures of the dogs on and in their beds! Merk always gets a little out of sorts when Kaleb isn't home at night but I will have to say that with Douglas around, he transitioned so much better than he has ever done. Douglas is Merk's Chill Pill.