Creekside Ward Super Saturday

Hello ladies of the Creekside Ward! Our Super Saturday will be on October 20th at 10:00 a.m.  We will be asking that sisters sign up to bring soups, salads, and desserts.  Pictures and prices of the crafts available to make on Super Saturday are shown below. Please see me for an order form if you need one.  All money and order forms are due to me by Sunday, September 8th.  Some of the crafts require you to bring your own acrylic craft paint.  These can be found at Hobby Lobby, Joann's, and Michael's for as little as 65 cents!  There will also be a FREE card making class hosted by Rhonda Paterson from 10 am until 11 am ONLY!! We are looking forward to seeing all of you at Super Saturday!!!

Behold Him Blocks

Price: $21
Size: 19.5" long x 9 " tall

(Paper and embellishments may vary. The paper will be the same colors, browns and tans, as paper above.)

Hope, Love, Faith Sign

Price: $13

Size: 12x12 inches

Vinyl Stencil

Antique White Paint Provided to Paint Board and your Choice of either Black or Brown Paint for Lettering. You bring your own accent paint color if desired.

Love is the Tie Board

Price: $13

Size: 12x12 inches

Please note: Grey Paint will not be Provided!

Antique White Paint Provided to Paint Board and your Choice of either Black or Brown Paint for Lettering. You bring your own accent paint color if desired. 

 

Family Rules Subway Art

$17

Cream, Brown and Black Vinyl Options

You need to bring your own acrylic craft paint to paint your wood board.
(2 small bottles would be more than enough to cover the entire board)

 Halloween Subway Art

Price: $18 

Size: 10x24 inches

Your Choice of:

Black Paint with Orange Vinyl

Black Paint with Cream Vinyl

and White Paint with Black Vinyl

Thanksgiving/Fall Subway Art

Price: $18

Size: 10x24 inches

Your Choose:

Brown Paint with Cream Vinyl

or 

Antique White Paint with Brown Vinyl

(if you would like a different color paint option please bring your own paint)

 

Christmas Subway Art

Price: $18
Size: 10x24 inches

(Stenciled Boards Not Available)

Color Options:
Antique White Board with Red Vinyl
or
Red Board with Cream Vinyl (pictured above)

If you would like a different paint color please you need to provide your own.

 Primitive Wood Stackers

Price: $9

Size: 9x7.5 inches + added height for bow

Trick or Treat Stacker: $9

Autumn, Harvest, Blessings Stacker: $9

Joy, Peace, Believe Stacker: $9

Prayer Stacker: $9

**FOR PRAYER STACKER ONLY**

Your choice of either black or brown vinyl and you need to bring an accent paint color (acrylic craft paint) for bottom wood piece. Your ribbon will either be black or brown depending on the color vinyl you choose.

Monogramed Soap Bottle

Price: $4

Your Choice of Black or Brown Vinyl

Please specify Monogram letter on Order Form

 

 

 Christmas Tile Coasters

Set of 5

Price: $6

If you would like to personalize these coasters you can bring family photos that can be cut down to  3.5 x 3.5 inch squares. Perfect gift from grandparents, aunts, uncles, or for your own home!!! :) Please bring photos that have been printed at a photo lab.  Photos printed from a home computer will be ruined by the Mod Podge.

Holy cow I am going to be busy!!! Be a doll and get your orders in as soon as you can!!! ;)

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time long, long ago getting pregnant was so easy. Once upon a time long, long ago I was healthy. There were no such thing as monthly doctor visits and blood tests or daily medication. Oh how I long for that once upon a time long, long ago!

"Everywhere in nature we are taught the lessons of patience and waiting.  We want things a long time before we get them, and the fact that we want them a long time makes them all the more precious when they come."

-Joseph F. Smith

On the road again....

I am back on the road again... The trying for a baby road. I am happy to be back. Before the rest stop I was at about mile marker 584. That's how many days we tried... Give or take a few. I am supposed to somehow trick my mind that I am really only on mile marker 0 and starting over because those first 584 miles didn't count. I was excited about the idea of getting back on the road. I was sick of being stuck with "engine problems" at the rest stop. But this road is scary. It's every twenty ninth mile or so that usually gets the best of me... Like today. I am at mile twenty nine and it is so painful here. This is usually the point where my heart is crushed into a thousand hopeless pieces. Usually there are people here at mile 29 but they're celebrating. Sam and I were driving today. Jack was in the back seat. Sam said to me can you imagine another little baby back there. I responded most painfully with, "no, I really can't." I used to imagine lots of babies in my backseat. But I don't anymore. I can't. It's so painful. I want another baby in that back seat and in our family so badly. I just don't know how many more miles it will take. This road can feel so lonely at times. It can be so depressing and long. I hate not knowing how long this trip is going to take, but I believe it is taking me to a wonderful place and so I travel on.

Miracles

"... the natural results of the Messiah's presence among men."

Isn't this one of the most astonishing and beautiful things you have ever read.  I came across these words in my reading last night.  I felt this overwhelming peace throughout my body and in my heart, and in that very same moment I felt this feeling of guilt. I felt guilty that I was waiting- waiting for some large, grand miracle in my life to take place.  I felt guilty that I took for granted the many miracles that take place in my life each and every day!  I have realized that it takes more effort to not see miracles in our lives than it does to see them.  They are all around me.  They are not just happening to others.  They are happening in my own life too.  How thankful I am for the Savior. How thankful I am for this tender mercy from the Lord. How thankful I am for the miracles His presence has brought into my life.

Let Go

This sounds really great in theory, but how do I actually do this?

Grave's Disease

Last week the doctor called to confirm that my scan showed that I have Grave's Disease- before I go on please know that this is treatable and even perhaps curable.  I am writing this post because I am seeking out guidance.  There are basically 3 methods of treatment. The first one is surgery to remove my thyroid. At this point that is really not an option. The second is Radioactive Iodine Therapy, otherwise known as radiation, which will kill my thyroid and cure me of Grave's but will bring about hypothyroidism. The third option, is to be on the medication Propylthyouracil for the rest of my life or until Grave's mysteriously disappears, if it so chooses.  I am really not sure about which of the latter two I want to do.  The radiation will require me to be in isolation until my body stops emitting Iodine- this usually takes about 7 days. I then will be tested every couple of weeks-once a month to monitor my TSH and T4 levels until I reach a state of hypothyroidism. In addition to the seven days of isolation, which in and of itself seems almost unbearable for me, I have to wait six months before I can try for a baby and could possibly be infertile for a year.  The radiation seems like it is a "quick fix" but is it really? I will still be medicine dependent because I will have to be treated for hypothyroidism instead of Grave's and hyperthyroidism.  Moving on to Propylthiouracil and my concerns with that. My doctor told me that this medication is safe during the initial stages of pregnancy. Not sure what this means exactly? I have read that it is "safe" during the first trimester and then often you have to switch to a different medicine during the 2nd and 3rd trimesters. I also have read that is is transferred through the placenta.  The medication also has other risks just like all medications do. Now I am sure after reading this you are all thinking hello Megan do the radiation, but I have had doctors tell me to avoid it. Not just my doctor but doctors my mom has talked to on her flights- one doctor actually has Grave's Disease herself. I am just hoping that someone will read this who has been in my shoes and be able to offer some advice. I am looking to hear from someone who is still in their child bearing years  or who dealt with this disease during their child bearing years and either has taken the medication while pregnant or has done the radiation before getting pregnant.  I need help! Please know that this isn't all because I want a baby. I would rather have no more children if it is too risky to have a baby with Grave's disease. I have a child and a husband to think about here and now. That is my concern. But there are so many factors that go into choosing between the medicine and the radiation. I feel at a loss as to what to choose.  Praying for help!!!!

Update...

This will be short and to the point...

I took Jackson to his original pediatrician (who we had to stop seeing when I was laid off last year) and she said there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with his head! I couldn't be happier. She was very thorough and explained a lot of the "what ifs" that our other doctor did not explain. We are very happy and content. I haven't worried about his head since! Yay! Clouds are parting!

I had testing done on Friday. I won't get the results for 2 weeks. Yikes! The doctor did not see any lesion on my cervix this time, but said there is definitely something going on with my cervix. It continues to bleed throughout the month-- mostly around the 21st day of my cycle! I will keep you posted. I am praying everything is ok.

Still not pregnant. Sometimes I think this is a good thing because what if I was pregnant and there is something wrong with me. Sometimes I think I am not pregnant because there MUST be something wrong with me. Sometimes I want to give up and adopt a baby girl from China in hopes that my sisters in law will help us pay for all of the paperwork! They love Asia! :) Sometimes I just try to accept that I may only have one child. Sometimes I just don't understand all of this, well a lot of time I don't understand it.

We have not heard any thing more from our insurance company regarding the accident. Out of sight out of mind-- not the lady who is hurt of course, but just the worry of being sued is. We will see how this runs it course.

This is a really quick update on us.... Thanks for all of your prayers and concern!

"The Not So Road Less Traveled"

I have felt so overwhelmed with emotion for the past day. For months now I have felt alone. I have felt great pain with every pregnancy announcement, baby shower invitation, weekly facebook updates with belly photos and all, births.... etc. In no way did I not feel happy for whoever it was that was announcing, updating, celebrating, and birthing. I just wanted it to be me too.

After posting on facebook last night about FertilAide many friends commented and sent me messages about their own struggles with becoming pregnant. Here I thought that I was all alone. Alone on the road less traveled because everyone else around me seemed to be on the other road- The crowded one, the fertile one. While I wish so badly that these friends, many who have been trying so much longer than I and some who haven't had the opportunity to mother at all, did not have to be on this painful road, I feel strengthened to know that I am not alone. I feel like I can keep going. That if more months bring more negative tests I will somehow be ok. And so I just wanted these friends to know how grateful I am that they were so willing to open up to me about something that is so incredibly painful. I am sure we have all asked ourselves: What is wrong with me? Do I not deserve a baby? What am I doing wrong in my life? Does God not love me enough to give me a baby? But I know that we do deserve this. That God does love us. And He is grateful that we desire such a righteous thing. Because He knows that being a mother is no easy thing. It is the hardest thing I think women are blessed to do on this Earth.

Many may not understand what I am feeling because I already have one child. People often say, you know you can get pregnant, carry, and birth a baby so why are you so worried. And they are right. I do know that. I do know why I feel so worried- time. I hate time. It makes me so uncomfortable. I measure everything against time. And so much time has gone by. If I would have gotten pregnant as fast as I did with Jack I would be holding a baby in my arms by now. Every month I check the calendar. If I am pregnant this month I will be 16 weeks when school breaks for summer. I will be 24 weeks when school begins again. I will be due in... etc. etc. etc. Can you see why I hate time. And then there are those who think I should feel satisfied because I already have a child. As if me wanting more children makes me less grateful for the one I already have. What is always so ironic to me is that the people who would say this to me usually have a handful of children themselves. I wanted to just say well then why didn't you just stop at one? Wasn't your first born enough for you? But you see it's not that at all. I simply want to mother. I want to have as many children as I possibly can have. If I actually can't have any more children will I be happy with my one? Of course. Will the longing for more subside? Perhaps in time it will.

Simply said... I just want to mother. I have wanted to my whole life. I only ever imagined having a large family. My entire life I imagined something different than what is in front of me. Maybe this is why it is so difficult. Life is just so hard sometimes. There really is no explanation other than this is mortality. And mortality is full of pain and trial. But it is also full of joy and blessings. And I am holding out strong for those.

So to those of you who are traveling on this road with me please know that I am praying for you.

Update

Please excuse what will seem like my own personal pity party below... Here is an update on what's been going on in our lives!

1. Our family was in a car accident 2 days after Christmas while on vacation in Utah... our first day of vacation to be exact. Long story short... it was our fault, our car was totaled, I was taken by ambulance along with the driver of the other car, the passenger in the other car, an 81 year old woman, was taken by helicopter to Las Vegas, we prayed and fasted the lady would be ok, we got a new Dodge Journey and a new car payment :(, we got a letter letting us know that we could possibly be sued for our assets. That's where we stand with that.

2. As most of you know we have been trying for a baby for a while, a long while. I had some strange bleeding for a couple months so decided to make a doctors appointment. My OB said that he just thought it was dips in my hormones that were causing me to spot throughout the month. Then last week I started bleeding more than usual. So I went to see my family doctor and she found a lesion on my cervix. So, time will tell what that means... trauma, cyst, abnormal cells, cervical cancer? Obviously, I am still not pregnant.

3. I took Jack to his 2 year check up today. The doctor is concerned about the growth of Jack's head. He feels that it grew too much since his 18 month check up. I asked him what this could mean and his reply was, "it can indicate a lot of rare conditions". So he said he wants to wait 3 months to see how much it grows. HE WANTS TO WAIT 3 MONTHS. That means 3 long months of worry for me. If his head is still growing too fast, the doctor will order a CT Scan which will require Jackson to be put under. Have any of you gone through this with your child/children. If so, please share! It might help calm my nerves.

So all in all, I have been a freakin' basket case lately. When it rains it pours right? Well I am waiting for the sunshine and rainbows. They should be showing up really soon shouldn't they?
So please keep us in your prayers. We sure could use them. Especially pray that Jack just has a large head and that there isn't anything wrong with my sweet boy.

Valentine's Day Subway Art

Yes people I am still alive. So much has been going on lately, but I will save that for another post. Since we are living at home with Sam's parents right now I haven't really been into crafting. Today I got home from the temple and felt the need to create something. So now I am sharing it with all of you! Since Valentine's Day is right around the corner I decided to go with the ever so easy subway art. It makes a great decoration. Click on the picture below. It will be opened in a new window. From there right click on the picture and hit save as. You can print it as large as 16x20. I always print my subway art at Costco! Enjoy!