Signing Time

We introduced Azure to Signing Time around 7 months thanks to Lizzie who gave me the idea to rent the DVDs from the library. We are BIG fans. We also love the baby signing time CD b/c it entertains Azure in the car like nothing else will.

I am happy to report that Azure knows 5 signs: eat, more, ball, milk, and mama! Her new word, which started about 2 wks ago, is baby. She is learning the sign for that. She likes to say it over and over. She is so cute! We are so grateful that she was unharmed in the accident!
Her appetite is ever increasing but she's still only 17 lbs and still wearing 6-9 month clothes! An ocassional 12 month will fit.

Getting back to normal

These posts won't be long b/c it's pretty hard to type w/ one hand.
We are happy to be alive. I had surgery on my left arm last Sunday and was released from the hospital Monday night. That same night my mom flew in to help us out, what a relief. The first few days I basically laid in bed all day long. You really can't do much with a broken arm, not even get dressed or bathe. I know how Azure feels now as I've had my mom and Charles help me with these tasks.
We have learned for ourselves that you really never know when it will be your time to leave this life. How sacred and fragile is life! How important to repent daily of our sins!
Since I was 14 I have felt that my purpose in life was to be a mother and to teach my children the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Though I am a mother I still haven't had the full opportunity to teach Azure the gospel. I am grateful that the Lord keeps His promises and that He won't take me from this earth until I have finished my purpose.
I am flying to my parents house tonight w/ my mom and Azure so they can continue to help me recover. Thank you all so much for your love and prayers. It is such a blessing to have Christ-like friends!

Fortune

I went yesterday and salvaged what I could from our car. It was an emotional experience as I was once again reminded how close we came to leaving this life. We feel like the Lord has left us here for some purpose, that we have something more to accomplish for His sake in this life.

Fortunately, the door and windshield were not inside the car while we were in it. The roof was cut off later, too.


Deanna's airbag


My airbag


Everything on my side of the car had blood on it. Headwounds bleed ALOT.




These next two are of Deanna's side of the car, which was smashed in so that she was trapped in the car.


The jaws of life were employed to get her out of this mess.




The clothes I was wearing. I think the guys who hit us should all have been wearing this shirt.







God is very real my friends.

Misfortune

For those of you who haven't heard yet, we were the victims of a fairly serious hit-and-run accident this weekend. We are all OK. Azure had the least amount of injuries-just a small bruise on her neck from the harness. Deanna has a broken arm, a few stitches, a sprained knee, and various cuts and bruises. I have broken ribs, a large gash on my forehead, and a sprained ankle. Azure and I left the hospital over the weekend and Deanna was released today.

On Saturday, we were driving home after scavenging some garage sales down a residential street with two lanes. A car decided to pass on this street at a rediculous speed, putting them in our lane. I swerved to miss them and they swerved the same way I did, resulting in a head-on collision mostly on Deanna's side. The guys in the other car immediately ran, one of whom was chased down by a witness. An open alcohol container was found in their car. Deanna was trapped in the passenger seat and had to be cut out of the car. Azure was scared but well taken care by witnesses who held her and consoled her while we were getting Deanna out and being cared for.

Click here for the news spot on the accident

As you can imagine, things are difficult right now, but could have been much worse. We were very relieved that Azure was not hurt and feel very fortunate that we can all spend another day together. The Lord was watching over our little family and we thank Him for His protection.

Memories

Line had this posted on her blog and I thought I'd do it too.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Aspiring Chef

Ok, I guess I don't really have aspirations to be a professional chef. If there was ever a chance for me to attend culinary art school for free though, I'd be all over it! I do really enjoy cooking and creating yummy dishes. Especially those that are aesthetically pleasing and have a variety of colors.

I made this the other night and thought the colors looked beautiful.

Baked Chicken w/ mango/pear salsa

I did add a salad to the side later with tomatoes which made up for the lacking red in this picture.

Azure's tooth has yet to sprout so we are still trying to do daily excursions to keep us ALL sane. Yesterday we went to the mall and she enjoyed their soft play area which I am very impressed with.

Molars make molehills into mountains

Azure is getting her first molar and this week she has been extremely fussy. It didn't help that last weekend was a holiday and we had her off her bedtime schedule. She is also walking more and seems to like it just as much as crawling now. Because of her newfound skills she has been experimenting with strange manuevers. One of them being sticking her legs through her crib slats. She has gotten them stuck at least twice and has screamed bloody murder which scared me to death! She realized if she screamed like that she could get mommy by her side incredibly fast and has been screaming at random for the past 3 days now. It's times like these that I wonder how anyone decides to have a second child?!

But we are still having fun! We try different things to make her happy, like having kids over. She loves watching older kids. Yesterday we had Suzanne and her kids over for Family Home Evening. We finally got to use our puppet theatre and we acted out the story of Noah's ark!
Today we went swimming with her new crab raft and all three of us had fun. We're grateful to have a nice pool in our complex. We hope that tooth will come soon :)

4th of July Fun

How blessed we were to have Ruth come visit and celebrate 4th of July with us! She is our first visitor to our new home here in the south.

Thursday night we went to a baseball game and saw a fireworks show.
Friday we went to a BBQ and Azure ate lots of watermelon and strawberries.

As is evidenced by her stained patriotic onesie.

Then we headed to the beach to swim, play, and watch another firework show.

Saturday we headed downtown to show Ruth the sites and were caught in a flashflood. And I do mean FLOOD!

You may not be able to tell, but Charles is soaked in this pic. He ran to get our car during the down pour.

When it finally cleared up we went to another part of town and looked at some southern homes.

We are so grateful to live in this beautiful country and enjoy so many freedoms. We feel even more patriotic this year to live in one of the 13 original American Colonies and to walk on land where men and women lost their lives trying to perserve this country.