A Joyful Journey

Ten Cubic Yards!

2010-04-19T19:24:00.002-06:00

Friday, at the unholy hour of 8:30 AM, a large truck pulled up in front of our house. While I was very happy to have it come, it meant hours of work over the next few days. John was on his way out the door, so he told them where to drop off the delivery, while I finished putting on my shoes. When I went out, there was a very large pile of dark brown bark, just waiting to be spread on my flower beds.

Unfortunately, I had to untangle the ground cover we had put out, because the wind had decided it was some kind of play thing, and had blown it around for the last week. It looked like some kind of crazy sock spider from heck!

Once I got the ground cover settled, John showed up, changed and came to help me start moving the bark. Friday we spent 5 hours moving it to the various beds we had for it. Saturday we spent about 8 hours doing the same thing. I was SO happy for Sunday, because I wasn't sure my body could take three days of shoveling, carting and dumping bark in a row.

This morning I got up, and started cleaning out the Fall debris that we had missed getting. When I was done, the flower bed looked darn good, even without the bark. I put out a bit more ground cover, and starting shoveling, carting and dumping all over again. Six hours later, our yard is looking pretty nice. We moved a few plants around, then cleaned up our mess. I'm hoping that some of our less than patient neighbors appreciate the fact that I won't be able to move for the next two days.

Reading the Scriptures

2010-04-12T10:17:00.002-06:00

The Young Women in our Stake are reading the Book of Mormon, with a goal to have it finished by the first day of Girl's Camp. Since we accepted the challenge as a family, we have learned a lot! Just little things, but they have been interesting nonetheless. The first thing we learned, was that Nephi had been highly "flavored" of the Lord. We also found out that Zedekiah was the king of "Judith". Later on in our reading, we discovered that Lehi and Ishmael's families had spent a lot of time traveling in the "weirderness", and that not only can the Lord of Hosts help us do all things, but so can a "Load" of Hosts! This past weekend, we were surprised to learn that Jacob, brother of Nephi and son of Lehi, had a lisp. How did we find this out? Well, Jacob had been commanded to keep the "splates" by Nephi.
It has been truly eye-opening to learn these little known facts from the Book of Mormon. I can't wait to see what other tidbits we discover!

Happy Easter

2010-04-03T09:56:00.002-06:00

I want to wish each of you a Happy Easter, one that focuses on the true meaning of Easter, and not the bunny, eggs and candy that accompanies this special day.

I Know What It Needs!!!

2009-10-15T09:48:00.002-06:00

I made chicken salad a couple of days ago, and for the life of me, it just didn't taste the same. I messed with it for quite some time, before I realized that it needed company!

By company, I mean it needed to be shared with a friend, one who has lots of fun memories of kids playing together while we scarfed down chicken salad and Sociable crackers!

Whaddya say MB? Thanksgiving time, you, me, chicken salad? I'll even have Coke on hand!

Oh, and the salad did end up needing more salt, pepper and ranch dressing. :)

It's been a while...

2009-10-13T22:24:00.002-06:00

Wow, I have really let this go, and I didn't mean too. Life has a funny way of getting in the way of things I mean to do. Not much has changed, my days are still too long, and I feel, some days, like I'm drowning. Other days, I can see that I have a lot to be thankful for... Family and friends are way up on the list.
Since there is no way to catch up with what has gone on in the last several months, I think I'll just make a promise to myself that I'll keep this up better. Who knows, maybe someone other than myself will read it. :)

I Think I'm Grateful...

2009-03-06T13:10:00.002-07:00

I think I'm grateful for the warmer weather, but once the snow melted in the backyard, and I saw all the weeds we need to take care of, I'm wishing it was winter again. At least the snow hid the weeds.

On the upside, I am glad that John doesn't have cancer, that his prostatitis is slowly going away, and that the Urologist thinks he may have solved some of the problems John has been having. We'll know more next month.

It's Been Tough

2009-03-06T13:06:00.002-07:00

Wow, hard to believe that it's been a month (or more) since I even looked at this site! Of course, it's been a tough month. We had a cancer scare with John, I was sick with bronchitis for 2 weeks and now Whitney has it. I used to ask if it could get any worse, but I know from experience, that it can.

Hopefully I can keep up with this a little better.. at least I'l try.

My Moment of Gratitude

2009-01-15T14:56:00.003-07:00

I've decided for my one and only New Year's resolution to try and find something (even if it's only once a week) to be grateful for. I've decided it can be anything, as long as I am truly grateful for it.

So for this week, I'm grateful for warmer weather. Not because there hasn't been any snow, but because it has allowed me to finally clear off the 4 inches of ice on my driveway. That was a chore, but I'm grateful that it's done.

So there, I'm good for a couple of days or weeks, two moments of gratitude.

Whew! I'm grateful for that!

It's Finally OVER!!

2008-12-29T08:51:00.004-07:00

I have to admit something, that for anyone who really knows me, is kind of shocking. I am so glad that Christmas is over! I got up December 26 and took my tree down, put all my decorations away, and was actually HAPPY about the whole thing! If it wasn't for Whitney, I wouldn't have put a tree up at all this year. We could have just skipped the whole Christmas season, and I would have been so relieved!
Getting together with all the family was really difficult. I wanted to just hide in my room and not come out. We partied with the Harper family at our home this year, and normally that's fun, but this year it was just noisy and very unenjoyable for me (sorry fam! I still love you). Being with my family Christmas Day was tough, 13 kids from 14 to 6 months running around and screaming..ugh. I love those kids, but I just didn't feel like I was dealing well with anything Christmas Day.
It's odd to feel glad that something I usually love is over, but I am so very, very relieved. Now I have just 11 months before I have to deal with it again!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T22:31:00.000-07:00

May you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Love U Kim...

2008-12-18T23:53:00.003-07:00

I am very proud of you for creating this blog. You're an inspiration to everyone who is affected by depression. Thank you for taking the first step toward recovery :).

Love you

Johnster Monster

Lexapro Day 2

2008-12-18T10:03:00.002-07:00

My doctor prescribed Lexapro for my depression on Tuesday, and told me I should notice a difference in about 2 weeks. With as bad as today has been, I'm wondering if I can stand two more weeks of dealing with feeling this way. I'm also wondering how people who have meds that take three or four weeks make it through...is it the hope that somehow the medication will help? Is it their support group? How do they do it? How will I do it?

A Joyful Journey

2008-12-16T12:57:00.005-07:00

As I spent time thinking about what to name this blog, one title kept coming to mind...

I kept thinking, "what a dumb name." But the thought persisted as I reflected about my current mortal journey. The more I thought about life, the more I realized that my current state was anything but "joyful." I have been suffering from depression for several years now, but lately, it has been dreadful.

At first, I didn't want to admit that I had a problem. I thought that maybe I was going crazy, that being depressed made me not normal; however, as the depression got deeper and deeper, I realized that I was in trouble... you know, when you seriously start to consider that everyone you love might be better off without you.

SO... I confided in my hubby, who was a little shocked at first, that I would consider suicide. He got pretty scared and made sure I had an appointment scheduled with our family doctor ASAP. He even went with me to make sure I got there and was honest with the doctor about the severity of the problem. That's when it really hit me that I should keep a public blog to help myself and others with depression overcome it. That's why I named it, "A Joyful Journey."

To all of you who suffer as I do, I wish you joy, even if for the moment. I hope we can begin to recognize the small joyful moments again, and that through their acknowledgment we can begin to discover the delightfulness of living again.

-KH