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I had one of those "ah hah" moments today.  Something perhaps that I already knew but was reminded of. Last week, when I went in for my follow-up appointment (aka the NIGHTMARE), I had a hard time making it through to the end because I didn't honestly know what was going to happen during the appointment and when faced with pain and suffering, I didn't know how long it would last. Any of you who have run a marathon, or done something else incredibly hard, will know that half the battle with pain is a mental one.  Yes, your body hurts and yes, you are tired, but as long as you keep positive thoughts in your head, you feel that you can make it.  When I ran my marathons, it was a conversation in my mind of "just make it to the next mile marker", or "only six miles left to go" or "I'm already half-way done".  I knew what I had to endure and I felt like I could muster the strength to make it.  Going into labor is the same thing.  A cert...

We finally have a date!  A for-sure, not-going-to-change date for Ethan's homecoming!  Wednesday, July 11.  I can't tell you the relief this has given me.  This date has been up in the air for literally the last four months (when it shouldn't have been), so it's nice to put it on the calendar and know that it's going to happen. Mark leaves Wednesday, July 18.  This means the boys will be able to see each other for a week.  Because we will be at Interlochen, Ethan will fly straight to Traverse City and spend the rest of the week with all of us.  That weekend, we will head back to State College.  Then, we are hoping that Ethan can give his homecoming talk on the following Sunday when Mark can give his farewell talk in church (July 15).  Of course, it wouldn't be a Kennedy missionary Sunday without a musical number! Finally, we're planning on Ethan taking Mark to the MTC.  John and I can't get work off, and honestly, there isn't much to...

While I'm waiting for a video to upload to YouTube... Two food items have been stars in our home this past week: Sumo Mandarins .  Have you heard of them?  They are a piece of heaven on earth.  Being the picky eater I am, my fruit must be perfect.  There's nothing I love more than the clementines we used to buy in Germany (well, a good melon does take the cake...), but I have been unable to find the same quality clementines here.  They look the same, and they are packaged the same, but they are definitely not tasty. I was looking forward to the cruise for the oranges they serve.  Last year, we ate them like candy, because they were just as good as any candy.  Sweet, juicy and wonderful.  This year, they were dry and sour. So, our local Wegman's was giving out free samples of Sumo Mandarins.  They are the biggest clementines/nectarines I have ever seen, and we are devouring them.  Wouldn't it figure that they have a super short g...

How thankful I am that I can go to sleep and wake up the next morning to a new day. Yesterday was a nightmare.  Seriously, it's been a long time since I've had that bad of a day, and it was the biggest relief to know that today would not be the same. I spent the entire day yesterday crying.  My eyes were completely swollen by the end of the night.  The only release I had from the trauma which I had experienced was watching TV--it was the only time I could stop thinking about how scared I had been.  I went to bed, and for the first time since my surgery, I fell asleep.  For a solid six hours even. I was scared to wake up this morning.  I was scared to relive my fear from the day before.  I was worried that my sinuses would be causing me pain.  I was worried that I would spend another day crying. So, I decided to do what I should have been doing for the past six days. I took it easy.  Yes, I still got up with the girls and got them ou...

{This isn't very well written or thought out.  I basically just vomited my feelings onto the page.  My apologies.} Today was a no good, horrible, very bad day, and I have my own pride to blame for it.  If you are squeamish, don't read this (this is your one and only warning). I'm now five days post-op.  As with my previous surgeries, I have a burst of energy after the surgery itself. In four days, I slept 13 hours total, and I did more than I usually do in a day.  Just see the St. Patrick's Day post below as an example.  It's mostly a side-effect of the steroids.  Yesterday, I could feel things were beginning to change.  For the worse. I had a follow-up appointment today with my ENT.  While this man is probably the best ENT in the area, and I'm thankful that he agreed to do my surgery, he is a bit emotionally distant, perhaps even immature.  He doesn't communicate particularly well, and frequently leaves me with feelings of guilt b...

St. Patrick's day this year fell just two days after my surgery.  I wasn't feeling the effects of the surgery yet, still doped up on pain meds, and John had to attend seven hours of church meetings on a Saturday, so the girls and I decided to keep the family tradition and go all out for the holiday.  St. Patrick's day is probably one of our favorite holidays, and I'm glad to keep the Irish genealogy fires burning in the kids' Irish hearts. We worked non-stop from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. For three hours, we made 17 loaves of Irish soda bread.  Let me rephrase:  we made 17 loves of the BEST Irish soda bread ever.  I like it to taste more like a scone, so I add extra sugar!  We made all different varieties:  golden raisin, golden and red raisin, cherry, chocolate chip, and cherry chocolate chip.  I made individual smaller loaves for each member of my Sunday School class (which Hannah distributed for me since I couldn't be there on Sunday), and ...

Oh my gosh, what better thing to do on a free night than to post on the blog about my spring break?!? I've been dying to do it, cause there is so much to tell! Here goes: So unfortunately I did not go with my lovely familia on the Cruise. Instead I got to go on a week long training trip with the Rowing Team to Gainesville GA!!!..... To tell the truth I had no clue how it was going to go. I wasn't really worried about the guys or anything, cause they're all super chill, but about the workouts or how much work we would need to do? I had NO idea what I was getting myself into(: We got there on Friday night, arriving at our "posh" hotel... it was more like an old abandoned Super 8 MO-tel! Haha I was expecting like a Mariott or Fairfield Inn type place, but this place was a pit! Of course at first I didn't care cause I couldn't wait to row! I had been confined to an indoor erg room for like 4 months, and rowing outside just seemed so awesome to me! Of course...

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE birthday season?  I think my friends are beginning to spoil me just a little TOO much, because the windfall of love has been massive. The day before my surgery, a box came in the mail.  It was late at night, and I didn't even think of opening it.  However, after my surgery, the girls were jumping at the bit for me to open it for one reason and one reason only:  it was from the Morans!  Actually, I'm thinking it was mostly from Sarah, but we'll give some credit to Jared and the girls :-)  The Morans are notorious for sending us large boxes of Haribo candy.  If you don't know the brand name, you know the candy:  Gummi Bears!  Although in Germany, gummi bears are taken to a whole new level.  There are gummi cherries, Happy Colas, yogurt gummis, "phantasia" gummis.  You name it--they probably have it.  In fact, in Trier there was an entire Haribo store! This is what my girls want, and they are l...

Today, I had my sixth surgery in five years.  This is not something that I wish to brag about.  It's written more in horror of the fact.  We have lived in Pennsylvania for almost six years, so every surgery has happened here.  And people wonder why I don't like Pennsylvania... Back in February, 2007, I had my first sinus surgery.  I developed mold allergies when we lived in Germany, and I have suffered from chronic sinusitis for most of my life.  It went mostly untreated as a child, and as an adult, I am on constant antibiotics and steroids (leading to all kinds of weight problems).  After the initial surgery, I was healthy for a about a year and a half.  It was such a lovely thing.  I had never gone months without being sick, and I felt like a new person.  Unfortunately, my allergies weren't controlled at the time which led to lots of viral and bacterial infections, and I returned to my former state of health. I have spent the last ...

I'm writing this, not as a complaint, but as a plea.  If anyone has any advice, I would greatly appreciate it. My children are talented.  In fact, every child that I have ever met is talented in some way.  That's the fun thing about meeting kids--discovering those hidden talents. Some of the talents my children possess are very public--you guessed it...music.  Some aren't so public--kindness and generosity. My kids are frequently judged by other children because of their musical talents.  Other kids see them as "snobs" because they play their instruments well and because they are willing to share those talents whenever asked. My kids never play with arrogance.  They recognize that they are better at music than most kids their age, but they never, ever show it.  In fact, they are very generous with compliments towards other kids and their efforts with music.  I have raised them to appreciate anyone who tries to do anything with music--it's ...

I know.  We are completely obsessed with the height of each family member.  That's what happens when the majority of us are freakishly tall. I'm not sure what's been happening lately, but there has been some major growth.  Again. At age 12, Glo has hit the average woman's height.  5' 4".  The problem is that she hasn't even hit 100 pounds, so finding long, skinny clothing can be tricky. At age 15, Johannah has solidified her spot as the fourth tallest person in the house.  When she was 5' 9" tall, I still had hope that she and I could call it a tie (I've been 5' 8 1/2" since I was 13 years old).  However, we measured this morning, and she's a solid 5' 9 1/2". At age 18, Mark was measured for his official height and weight for the Michigan Men's Rowing Team.  Just when we thought he couldn't get any taller than 6' 4", he is now 6' 5".  And 167 pounds.  Yeah, I don't even want to TALK ab...

This will probably go down as one of the corniest posts of my blogging life, but I just can't resist! These are my beloved "nurse shoes" Back in 1998, John talked me into running the Air Force marathon.  I started training a couple of months before, running in whatever running shoes I had laying around (I called them "tennis shoes").  About a week before the race, my feet were falling apart, and John convinced me to buy new shoes. For anyone who has ever run a race, the absolute worst time to buy a new pair of shoes is days before a race.  However, I figured my feet couldn't be any worse off in new shoes than they were in my old pair. We headed to a hoity-toity running shop in Dayton where I was asked more questions about my running style than I knew existed.  I think once the salesperson realized that I was completely clueless, he took matters into his own hands, and brought out the shoes he thought would work best for me. A pair of New Balance ...

We spent the last week doing one of four things:  eating, sleeping, relaxing and diving. 1.  Eating.  You can't help but eat on a cruise ship.  In fact, we observed people who come on the cruise ship to do nothing else.  They simply meander from one buffet to the next, visiting the 24-hour ice cream machine on the way.  I got a good laugh, thinking what Uncle Mike would have to say about all of them and their physical shapes and appetites.  After being on diets for the past two months, we were eagerly anticipating all the food, especially John.  Wouldn't it figure that Johannah and I would bring a stomach flu with us, and Johannah actually spent the first day of the cruise, holed up in her cabin (while we were diving in the Bahamas)?  John sampled everything possible, including fried frog legs and alligator and cold soups every night. 2.  Sleeping.  The girls and I did a LOT of this.  Seriously, Johannah and Glo would sleep...

I know that people are waiting for a blog post about our cruise to the Caribbean and the diving we did.  Trust me, I'll get to that when I upload my photos, but for the time being I must acknowledge an amazing correlation between SCUBA and Mark's mission call. We spent the last week scuba diving at every possible moment.  We landed at four different islands, and each time we spent the day diving.  Having 20 or so dives under our (weight) belts now, diving was a much less stressful experience.  In fact, it was about enjoying the time and really living in the 45 minutes, or so, that can be had on a tank of air. I'm discovering that SCUBA is a different experience every time I jump in the water.  There's rarely a dive where there isn't some issue.  Either the water is a bit cold, or my mask fogs up a bit too much, or the visibility isn't 100 feet in every direction, or the rental SCUBA equipment sucks.  There are two choices:  either deal with th...

Tonight, both our family of four, and Mark got home from spring break.  Mark rode a bus home from Georgia with the Michigan Men's Rowing Team, arriving in Ann Arbor around 8 p.m., and we came home from our cruise, arriving back in Port Matilda around the same time.  We could hardly wait to find out if Mark's mission call was waiting for him in Michigan, and IT WAS!! We logged onto Skype, and after a prayer (and a lot of fasting today), he opened the envelope. Russia St. Petersburg. We are all still in a state of shock.  As much as we didn't try to second guess where he was going, we all figured he was headed to a Spanish-speaking mission, much like his dad.  This came out of the blue. And it's a beautiful thing. He leaves July 18 (26 days after Ethan gets home). I can't write more.  I am speechless at the moment.  And emotional.  And so very grateful.