The new world of politics...and what I have observed so far...

My husband, Bob is running for State Senate in District 25 in Arizona.  I'm not sure how alone I am when I confess I have never known what district I belonged to and although I know there are precincts I didn't know how these two areas were relevant to me.  Now I understand it is to bring order to a voting public.  There are 30 state senators chosen and they are in session from January through half of April. There is a point at which they close the session for the year in which they use the term "Sine Die".  Latin for "no more day".  This is a new word for me. You are paid $24,000 a year.  It does not seem like much unless you consider that a full year would bring in around $100,000.  Pretty good pay.  I have observed an amazing community of people that give with no monetary reward but because there is a need.  We have visited the Child Crisis Center, United Way, Mesa Food Bank, AzBrainfood and the list goes on.  We have an amazing art center called the MAC that was so well thought through.  I took a tour of it the other day.   I have lived here for 32 years and am just now realizing that I know so little about the community that helped me raise my family.
I have also observed with some anxiety the process in which we elect citizens to serve.  Regardless of whether or not your opponent is kind or mean...it is a divisive process.  I have also observed that the "rhetoric" most voters are SO TIRED OF is our own fault!  We won't elect "sensible"...we want you to tell us pie in the sky.  That is what gets the cheers and the votes.  Then we wonder why our elected officials are not keeping their promises.  It would be impossible.  The truth is, it doesn't seem to matter all that much.  On a state level statistically only 25% of the people vote...a city election...11%.  The sacrifices made by our founding fathers, the risks they took, the blood and lives lost for our ability to have freedom to choose and this is how we respond?  I understand there is voter fatigue and many don't go to the polls because they are disillusioned.  Well then, you deserve the government you have and you leave the 11% to work hard to overcome the imbalance.  I need to qualify that I have been in the 89%...until now.

I have a story...                      

Our youngest daughter Annie is attending BYU and has one year left before she graduates.  She is at a point in her life where she is trying to make some very important decisions.  The greatest desire she has is to be exceptional and she is trying to decide between all good things.  We had made plans to go to Boise for Memorial Day weekend and had decided to council with her when we were all together.  It is important to note that everyone was there with the exception of Kendra and family as they are in Syracuse which is to far to come for a two day weekend!

Bob and Annie had found a quiet place in the home where she could receive the council and blessings of a loving father.  Through out the evening Annie's siblings had joined in and the by the time I had arrived there was our precious Annie surround by the people that love her more than anyone else in the world.  It was a sweet and tender moment for me.  I listened as each of them gave the most profound and loving council.  The only motive we had was to help her.  There were no hidden agendas or power plays.  No special interest groups or lobbyists.  No money to be made.  We simply wanted what is best for Annie.  As I have pondered on that beautiful evening a thought equally as profound came to me.  Family is the best and purest form of government.  I have had this thought before but this experience gave it real color.  If you want a great society it begins with great families.  There seems to be more effort in protecting and defending our Party than our families.  Our families are not here for the "Party"...it is here for us.  Families, in all their diverse varieties, is the best way to govern and the harvest can be bountiful!

So what can I do?  I'm not a fighter so I will not be doing that.  What I will do is stand firm and be clear and I will do it with love and compassion.  "Here I stand...I can do nothing more."  Martin Luther

It's been a year...and time to get ready for twins in Syracuse!

I made a quick to trip to see Kendra and Nathan in Syracuse New York this October (2011) to help set up for the arrival of our twin grand daughter and grand son.  We were going to paint the walls a pail yellow but decided to go with the white on white with a touch of green and orange..  You will see the pictures as we our project evolved.  I experienced my first Craigs List adventure...pretty cool and found a JoAnns that was closing its doors so most everything was 75% off!  We It was quite a whirl wind for three days but we got the nursery finished with one hour to spare before I leave for the airport to head home!  I know there are some of you anxious to see our finished product so here it is.  I'm pretty sure Nathan still loves me but I am also certain he will be happy to have peace and quite reside once again in their home.  So enjoy it Nathan because come come Dec/Jan it's all but over!

It was finally

Two new additions

Ry Tyler Worsley and William Brayden Hunt

Braydon is waiting just around the corner...

Here he is!!!!

7 lbs. exactly

20.5 inches

10:40 am

OK, I just posted but they just checked her and she is at an 8!  A little of the cervic is hanging on but the nurse can feel his head and said it won't be long before she starts pushing.  Chelsee is really feeling this so they upped the dose.  Not helping much.  I change my time to 10:45!

The nurse just suggested with all this Brayden following that we start a college fund.  You can deposit your donations into Kristen Sanders bank account.  She promises not to spend it on a Christmas gift for Christi...or Ben (he made me say that).

 Chelsees Halloween Costume...Darth Vadors Good Twin Sister.  Actually, the baby has not responded to the stress very well and so the nurses here have tried to help him out with some oxygen. It has worked perfectly.  His heart beat is going strong.   She was really having issues with shaking and wanting to throw up so they gave her some kind of drug and sat her up and she feels all better!  His head is a stage 0 which means it is resting on the cervix.  She can feel each contraction enough to know it is there and they are very close together.  Her greatest discomfort is just the intense pressure which is just going to get worse!

Dad and Mom awaiting Brayden's birth.  

So Chelsee was suppose to go in to be induced 24 hours ago but the hospital was slammed with other deliveries so we were put in a holding pattern ALL DAY!  By evening we just decided to go to bed and hope we could get some sleep.  That seemed to do the trick because at 11:30pm Ben came to our room and said the hospital called and they finally had a room.  We should have gone to bed at noon.  So we got here around 12:30 and she  was put on the drip around 2:00.  Ben, Kristen and I took turns fight over who got the couch/bed or the up-right chair.   Much to our surprise at around 5:00 am Dr. Huish showed up!  He came in and found that she was at a 4 and 80% effaced and then broke her water!  He does not mess around.  That went quickly and I told Chelsee she needed to order that epidural STAT!  And I was correct!  She started feeling the real contractions right away.  The epidural didn't seem to go as smoothly as I have seen before.  She seemed to be in a lot of pain but she was strong and calm through the whole thing!  It is now almost 6:30 and the sun is just at the horizon.  Kristen has been great about texting everyone.  So now that you are all awake we will keep you posted through text and my blog.  Here are some pictures as we began this process of bringing baby Brayden into the world.  He's going to have red hair.  Just wait and see.  

Our best guess on when he will arrive:

Kristen - 11:00

Ben - 12:00

Christi - I think they are pretty close so I'll go with 11:30.  

Anyone can join the contest by just commenting.

Hospital

Bens brought his pillow and looks like Chelsee did too...

Just settled in for the long haul

It was soooo cold in the room.Thankfully everyone agreed with me.  We are now defrosted and listening so some of Chelsees concerns.  They are many. Here is the latest:

   "What if the drug from the epidural goes to my heart and stops it?"  

She is just like her Dad wanting to watch the monitor the whole time.  She is finally settled down and going to sleep.  She will need it for what's coming up.

We just skyped with Meagan Nielson and now Kristen is doing her hair. 

More a little later.  

This is the first picture of Chelsee pregnant I could get!  She is due in two days.  I will be posting "appropriate" pictures in the hospital to keep everyone informed.  Now I am going to wake Chelsee up and find a trampoline...get this show on the road!

Magnolia...

To Kristen Sanders:

My daughters BFF

My adopted daughter

My Hair Stylist

My Inspiration!

  Opening your own salon took some real courage and I just want you to know I am so proud of you!

Thanks for making me feel beautiful and covering the gray!

Loves Forever...

Kristen Sanders

480.299.2409

Salon Magnolia 

Located in Vintage Studios

1511 S. Higley Rd. Suite 101

Gilbert, AZ 85296

Enter...Ry Tyler Worsley

 

Favorite Picture of Mom and Son

Weight

Can you say..."I hope they call me on a mission?"

Dad and Son

Grandma

Grandpa

One month old...

Today my YWs lesson was more for me...

I was giving a lesson today in which we discussed Helen Keller. She asked a young girl what her observations were after a walk in the woods. The girl replied, "Nothing in particular." Her response was:

"At times my heart cries out with longing to see all these things with physical eyes but if I can get so much pleasure from mere touch, how much more beauty must be revealed in sight. And I have imagined what I should most like to see if I were granted the use of my eyes - even for three days!"

The question was then posed, what would you like to see?

So I made a video for my class so they could see what I would want to see first. It helped me remember what matters most.

It's a jungle but someone has to go there...

It's a jungle out there...in Hawaii

Hawaii Summer 2010. It was beautiful, both the weather and the islands. Bob had a Board of Directors meeting and so we stayed a few extra days and enjoyed our time together. I love traveling with my husband. He is full of adventure. As for me, we would have laid around a pool and drank virgin pina coladas and read a good book. Which is exactly what I did the day after this little sight seeing trip.

Out of all the pictures this is my favorite. Why? Because it reminds of the moment I stuck my foot into that cold stream. The water was cold and the day was warm. So refreshing.

Beautiful flora and fauna. I still love roses more...

These black swans were at our resort on Kauai. I thought they were ugly compare to the white ones by the restaurant where we had our breakfast. Little did I know that these black swans are quite rare and are symbolic. I have copied an explanation below. Seems that a black swan represents a circumstance when events are rare, have extreme impact, and in retrospect they are predictable...sounds like our failing economy.

"What we call here a Black Swan is an event with the following three attributes. First, it is an outlier, as it lies outside the realm of regular expectations, because nothing in the past can convincingly point to its possibility. Second, it carries an extreme impact. Third, in spite of its outlier status, human nature makes us concoct explanations for its occurrence after the fact, making it explainable and predictable. I stop and summarize the triplet: rarity, extreme impact, and retrospective (though not prospective) predictability. A small number of Black Swans explains almost everything in our world, from the success of ideas and religions, to the dynamics of historical events, to elements of our own personal lives."

I wanted to make note of my experience yesterday. All the youth in our branch and ward went to Randolf for church. It's a facility for the severely to moderately handicapped. The youth of 48 stakes participate by assignment making it once every four years that a ward is able to attend. Having been in the youth program for so long I have had the opportunity four times. The amazing thing is that I have been assigned to the same cottage and the same woman every time I have gone. Her name is Judy and we must be kindred spirits. I was shocked when they walked me to her cottage ... again. As I opened the door there she sat ready for me to take her to "church" in the gymnasium. There are 100 patients that attend the meeting making it 1/100 chances I would get her...now times that by four. She is tiny and only whispers. I could not take my arm off from around her before she would put it right back again. Beneath her limitations was a brilliant spirit and someday I hope to be able to visit with her when she can tell me why I was always chosen to be her "friend" on those sacred sweet sabbath days.

Lael, our daughter-in-law is in the hospital at 33 weeks trying to keep her little boy inside just a bit longer. We have the kids for the next several weeks. I am so excited to see this sweet new boy coming into our lives and then another in October. With five daughters I thought Heaven only rained little girls but these two little guys added to our other grandsons makes 9...and of course our three beautiful grandaughters.

I will post pictures of Ry Tyler when he comes...hopefully not too soon.

A sweet farewell Dad...

My Dad passed away two weeks ago tomorrow. It has been a long difficult journey watching him suffer with Alzheimers and even harder to watch his last remaining days here on earth. He is finally free from his prison and though I am so relieved for him, the reality of him being

gone is still hard.

I have thought a lot about Heaven these past few weeks. Who came for him? What is he experiencing? Who is he talking to? What is he wearing? Has he had all his questions answered? He had a lot of them. Can he see me? Does he know how many people love and miss him? This magnified reality of a heaven makes this existence feel like I am in a bit of a holding

pattern.

Cathy and Jenny

Luke and Annaliese with Grandma

The Steve Armstrong clan minus Lance who is in the service back east and could not make it.

Chelse, Mom, Kendra, me and Annie

We had the service yesterday. It was delayed for almost two weeks because we had family coming from Indonesia and it was the soonest they could get here. What a sweet relief to have my brothers and their families here. Being together gave me strength. I have such an amazing family...all of them! How many people can say that? We are growing with such wonderful additions both in marriage and births.

It was really important to Mom that we have the Air Force Honor Guard come and salute Dad. They folded the flag on Dads coffin and gave the flag to Mom.

The "presenter" knelt next to Mom and presented her the flag and spoke softly, only to her...

"This flag is presented on behalf of the President of the United States of America and a grateful nation as a token of appreciation for your loved ones honorable and faithful service."

It was very touching, knowing how proud Dad was of his service on the Berlin Airlift an 75 combat missions in Korea.

Dads grandsons and two sons that could be there were the Pallbearers.

Brett Hulet

Steve Armstrong

Nick Armstrong

Brad Worsley

Luke Armstrong

Ben Hulet

Nico Armstrong

Here we are waiting for the placement of the casket and dedication of the grave. I think Cathy was taking care of one of her grandchildren during this picture and Tony was in Germany and not able to make the flight back.

These women were truly our angels who took care of Dad during his final years. We knew him at his best and they knew him only at his worst. There dedication to Dad was the truest of unconditional love. Our love and gratitude knows no bounds.