Norman and I finally had our Medtronic Spinal Stimulator surgeries on June 19th, and the recovery has been difficult. Norman is really struggling to get relief, because he still has some swelling, but all of my healing is pretty much complete. I feel an enormous amount of relief from the device, and the two times I have had my settings adjusted, they have been able to zero in on where the device is most needed. This 2nd adjustment was the biggest help for Norman, and I do feel that he has some relief, but it isn't as much as he had hoped. We will keep working with the settings, and hopefully he will eventually get the results he wants.
The kids went to church camp last week; it was Eli's last year to go, since he graduated from high school in May, but Chase has 3 more years he can attend if he wants to go. He had a difficult time managing the heat because of his POTS/EDS, but he made it through. Lariat Creek is such a precious place to us, and next month we will be attending the 50th anniversary of the camp opening. My grandfather gave the land and helped build it from the ground up. I grew up on those 80 acres, riding with my dad as we plowed the fields surrounding the camp, drinking from a natural spring that is Lariat Creek, and I rode my horses out there so much. Our family home was a farm of 180 acres just 3 miles east of the camp, so often times I'd get my horse from home, and I would ride Harlan out to the camp to go visit with the camp grounds caretakers. In the summers, the caretaker's grandkids would visit from South Dakota, and I enjoyed spending time out there just playing in the creek and jumping on the 100 foot suspension bridge. I always felt so much love and pride in that place, and I have always been so thankful for the family I was born into and the legacy behind my name. That place is such an intrinsic part of who I am, and to have the boys now be proud of the link they have there, my grandpa, their papa, and me, it just makes my heart so happy. It is also where we held Norman's retirement ceremony from the Air Force, so yeah...that is a precious place to me for many, many reasons. I am feeling a little nostalgic, so I'll post a few of my favorite photos of us and the kids at camp. 😍
The boys at Lariat Creek, 2010
Niece Hailey & me
My dad baptizing Chase
Sweet brothers 2018
My dad & neice Cam
Last day of camp
Jordan & Cam
I turned 44 on July 16, and I have officially been married for half of my life. Married 22 years and 44 years old. I don't know where the time went. Norman surprised me with the most beautiful cake. It's no surprise that my favorite animal in the whole wide world are sphynx cats, and so my precious husband got ahold of our cake lady, and she completely blew my mind with my birthday cake. She told Norman that creating the sphynx took SIX HOURS!!!! 😍 And just as a side note, for some reason or another, when Norman and I got serious early on, we intentionally started saying, "I love you today". It is important to us that we not fall in a rut, we acknowledge that this is a choice we make every day, to tell each other I love you today. Him putting that on the cake meant so much. I love him with my whole heart, and I don't know how or why God chose to bless me with a lifetime with him, but I am so thankful that He did.
Emma has lived with us for an entire year now, and the time has flown by. For Eli to be graduated now, have Chase be going into 10th grade, and Emma have 1 full year post graduation, time seems to be flying.
My medical stuff has been kind of off the wall, and I don't even know how to write about it at the moment. What Norman and I have been doing over the past few weeks is pretty much mapping out our life in terms of our future, our health, our kids, Norman's job, all the things. We have decided to downsize to a home that has no 2nd floor...we have to get rid of stairs. I don't ever go upstairs, and Chase, who has the same issue I have with stairs, is needing to be on the ground floor. Also, given that 2 out of our 3 kiddos are graduated from high school, we really can downsize and get a more manageable home. A few of our friends have been asking what our wishlist is for our "dream house", but honestly in terms of a perfect home, this house we are in is my dream house. I think it is like 3500 sq feet, large in-ground heated saltwater pool, separate laundry upstairs for the kids, and an entire extra bedroom we converted into a room for our cats. We all love it here, but as crazy as this sounds, with all of the health things, plus the fact that Norman will be retiring in about 6-7 years (and he may cut his hours down to part-time) we are just wanting to get in a smaller, cozier, more manageable house. Truthfully, I'd like to pay the least amount we can for our house, because putting in a pool is a necessity. So yes, I absolutely would be insanely at peace in a small home, as long as it has room for an awesome pool. 😍
That's all I've got for now. Please feel free to catch up with our vlogs! Ciao!
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