The GRAY Gang: Looking for the Good.

It seems I have so much to say, but haven't a clue where to begin. It's been a stressful week and one day! Despite all of the stresses, which I'm going to get to, I've seen so much good in the last eight days. Like so, so much. We are richly blessed and I always hope that no matter how blue things get, that I'll always remember the good.

Last week Our Elf, Christopher Pop-in-kins, popped in to say, "Hello!" He left the kids Christmas clothes and a letter saying Santa wanted them to participate in a special challenge. They were to see how quickly they could complete a list of different service activities. There were scriptures to read, letters to write, cookies to make. It was a fun week focusing on other people. And when the elf returned he noticed that when we are doing these fun acts of service that we were kinder to each other. Since his return he has left us something different to do every day. Our task tomorrow is to smile at as many people as we can and to see if we can get them to smile back at us.

Early last week, my Grandpa was in a terrible accident. He spent the majority of the week in the hospital and returned home for a few short days when they discovered another blood clot and he is back in the hospital again. This is when it kills me to be so far away. I can't believe how stressed I have been. I keep thinking if there was something I could do, I'd feel a whole lot better. The first few days after the accident I noticed I was short with my children. Like VERY short with my children. I then realized, they had NO idea what was going on, it's a hard thing to explain to little kids, and really, they did not deserve to be treated so poorly. I decided since there is nothing I can do but pray, and I have been praying, that I should work harder at serving others and teaching my children. It is so true: when we are serving others we forget ourselves. This last week we also wrote our Christmas Presents to Jesus. Cody has a sister who lost a baby on December 8, three years ago. The year that happened we were all given white stockings with a poem about giving to Christ at Christmas and as our gift to baby Trevor we all put our gifts to Christ in the stockings. Each year on December 8, I tell my kids about Baby Trevor and his little white stocking, then we read our gifts from last year (and have a good laugh, Lacey's was to learn to walk!) and write a new gift to work on for this next year. This week we also told our children the story of Christ's birth using our Little people nativity set. They love that nativity. It sits under our tree and each time I walk by, there is a different group of toys, babies, or little people witnessing the birth of Christ. Our Elf also encouraged us to write letters to the Elder in our branch; I loved Kevin's simple drawing of the Nativity and Julia's super cute Christmas trees all in a row.

On Thursday last week, Julia had her grand lunch at school. They sang songs and danced for all of the parents and then we had lunch together. She was so, so, so nervous. The night before I was tucking her into bed when she expressed how scared she was. I was shocked by this statement as Julia is generally the girl who shows no fear. I knelt next to her bed and she fell into my arms and asked me to say a prayer. I held her close and started praying and she started sobbing. It was so sad. She cried and her whole body shook. I reminded her how awesome she did in the primary program (she rocked our socks off, she stood up and very loud and clear said her memorized part, "Jesus said love everyone, treat them kindly too, if your heart is filled with love, others will love you.") she told me that she was nervous about everyone looking at her and asked if I would make her a nervous Ned. (We also used him in our primary program. He sat In the congregation and he is really nervous unless you look at him and smile.)

Ned was taped to a table at the front of the room and when it was time to go on stage Julia walked in with all of her friends, she stood proudly and repeated the Pledge of Alliegence, then they sang a few more songs and did a dance. It was so much fun and she was so dang cute I was exploding with pride. While we were eating lunch Elena began coughing. She started getting sick before Thanksgiving and after several trips to the doctor we were told to let it run it's course. It just has never ended. Elena coughed and coughed and coughed until she started throwing up. The next day she did the same thing. Saturday she and Lacey both started to run a fever. We had our Branch Christmas dinner and they were both mellow and laid low the whole time. When we returned home Lacey started the barking cough and Elena was down right miserable. Cody stayed home the next day with them. When I got home from church Lacey was having short, labored breathing. I whipped out the nebulizer and not too long after a breathing treatment her airway opened up and she did a complete 180 and has been improving by the minute. Elena just seemed to get worse. On Monday afternoon she started uncontrollable coughing and labored breathing so I did a breathing treatment with her, too. It controlled the coughing but she did not sleep for more than about 4 hours the entire night and had some serious wheezing going on. I called the doctor first thing this morning and got right in. After a few hours there, lots of monitoring, and a breathing treatment, we learned that she, just like Kevin, has viral asthma. Her airway is so inflamed it feels as though she is breathing through a straw. With her shirt off, everytime she breathed in you could see her skin suck in in between her ribs. It was so sad. She was also prescribed an anti inflammatory to help reduce the swelling. It made a big difference and we all enjoyed a nice afternoon nap. Our favorite, brother Temple, brought us a hot pizza for dinner. We watched a Christmas movie and had pizza and popcorn. (BTW, things only get crazy like this when Cody is out of town!) some good news at the doctor though, Elena is still growing, 17 lbs 5 oz. which means she has gained a half of a pound since right before thanksgiving.

Even with all the crazy, stressful things in life. We are so blessed. We are blessed to be members of the church. We are blessed to have such wonderful neighbors and friends. We are blessed to have phones so I can call my Mom 10 times every day. We are blessed to have been raised by loving parents who have taught us to work hard and to care for others. Every where I turn, I'm amazed by our blessings.

(Cody got the skid steer up and running. He needs to weld one more thing, then it's driving lessons for me. I'm giddy with excitement!)

The three big kids came up for showers with their CLEAN unders on their heads.

Julia before her program.

She was fine once she was up there with all of her friends.

Lacey begs to hold Elena, the only problem is, Elena weighs almost as much as she does.

And when I take Laney away this is what happens.

We've been doing lots of warm baths and steamy showers for this sick babe. She cracks me up in the sink cause she always puts her legs up on the counter.

No, she is not pulling herself up yet, but if stood up she does stand for quite some time.

Kevin and Julia knew who Santa was at our ward party. Even though they knew who it was right when he walked in, they were still super nervous about sitting on his lap. It was so cute. Lacey slept with her Santa treat bag for a few nights after this. She still asks me, "Santa give me candy cane?"

This is how I found my little sick-o when I came home from church on Sunday.

Julia made Kevin a Christmas card at school. It totally made his day. She gave it to him as he was leaving for school. I heard the exchange going on and was able to snag this picture just before he shoved it in his back pack to take to school.