Happiness

A tiny, little belly that holds the world’s most precious cargo, For a teenage daughter who has had a few more Dr appts lately, for long talks in the car, homecoming dress shopping & putting her favorite radio station on speed dial! For a five yr old boy who scoffs at dinner each time and then usually scarfs it down ten minutes later, For BYU CES Open Houses and FREE BYU gear, For a cheap plane ticket from Phoenix to Salt Lake City for my 20th Missionary Reunion next weekend (How has it been that long?!) And for a husband who comes home from work and attends a Jr High band concert for me! I love this life! ❤️ It is amazing!!!

We were hoping for a Girl! How exciting!! 

This pregnancy has been a joy as well as difficult. Having 4 teenagers and a Kindergartener has made it quite the challenge! The teenagers have band practice they need to get to and back- late football games and trips to IHOP. Maybe it will get easier when they can drive! It’s been hard for me to get enough calories during the day so I wake up in the middle of the night, ready to eat my left arm off! And then can’t get back to sleep! A few nights ago I was up every other hour to go to the bathroom and then it started down pouring at 4 am! Life is such an adventure! Ah, yes, pregnancy at the age of 41 is definitely not something to scoff at!

Elizabeth turns 17 today: on the 17th of September! Her Golden Birthday! I can't believe that I have a daughter this old! It always amazes me how my children grow and change and become such beautiful human beings. And Elizabeth is just that- Beautiful! 17 Things that I love about Elizabeth: 1. I love how caring she is. She can tell when I'm having a rough day or when someone needs a shoulder to cry on and she is there for them. 2. I love how sweet she is. She has just a sweet aura about her that makes people feel comfortable and happy. 3. I love that she is a great friend. She listens well and helps everyone have a fun time! 4. I love how much she loves her Dad! She and Josh are very close- and very similar- and I love that! 5. I love how she is super smart and quickly is able to analyze new things and situations. 6. I love how she loves the Savior and tries to do what is right. 7. I love how she is humble and open to changing and learning and grow...

Elizabeth recently developed a 4 inch by 5 inch cyst on her neck. I had noticed it in March. It didn't bother her, so I didn't get it checked out. When she went to visit family in California this past Summer, they noticed it and requested that she get it check out. We did! It turns out it is a cyst- not Cancer- about 4 inches by 5 inches under her left ear. We've been referred to a ENT Specialist so we will wait and see what they say. They may say it will go away on it's own. Or they may say she will need surgery to remove it (along with an attending scar). We'll see what happens! We're praying for her!

I was prepared for Declan to come home sick the first week or two of Kindergarten. Being around all those new little germs you are not used to often makes you sick and miserable!  Fast forward a month and I thought I was out of the woods! We had been rubbing Thieves Essential Oil on the bottom of his feet but I hadn't been so faithful with it the past few weeks. We also have Thieves in our bathroom hand soap and in our cleaning spray so I thought we would be gone! Boy, was I wrong! 9 days ago today, Declan complained of a sore throat. I thought it was mild and would go away as usual. It didn't. Then he had a headache and on Friday he couldn't wake up and when he did, he told me "Mom, there is a sign on the mirror in the bathroom that says if you are sick, stay home!" **My 5 year old can read, did I mention that? It's been lovely and I think it was the tv captioning because besides reading bedtime books and going over sight words we didn't d...

13 weeks today!  🤰 Slowly growing. Slowly! Last week, at my routine check up, they couldn’t find the heartbeat. I explained to them that I had several miscarriages and understood what this could mean. All the while I felt peace. I had turned it all over to the Lord. ❤️  It was hard to do and scary. But I did it. The nurse got the Dr to see if she could find it. I still felt peace. She couldn’t and ordered an ultrasound to make sure. It was an extra ultrasound I wasn’t supposed to  get. A tender mercy. 💕 And there it was! A sweet and solid thumping! Praise the Lord! Can I say that?! God is Good. Even when things don’t work out how we want them to. He is Great!  # godisgood   # 12weeks   # abbottfamilybaby

I love the Piano Guys! They are a small group of Musicians- two guys actually- who play the piano and the cello. They take the piano and cello anywhere- to ancient ruins and to the top of mountains- and play beautiful acoustic pieces. I absolutely love listening to their music! It makes me feel calm and happy.  I've played one of their duets before- Oh, Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel, in Church.    Here are a few videos of theirs on Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzF_y039slk   Over the Rainbow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO7ySn-Swwc   O Come, O Come Emmanuel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgaTQ5-XfMM   A Thousand Years by Christina Perry (128 million views).

My Uncle Charlie passed away several weeks ago. I got to see him in July when we were in Utah for our family reunion. It was so good to see him and Lisa and their son and just chat. When I had to say goodbye, he said “I’ll see you later.” He was in hospice so we both knew this would be the last time we would see each other. It was so hard to say goodbye!  This has been something near and dear to my heart and I haven’t shared anything about it on social media yet. He fought such a hard fight with Pancreatic Cancer.  This is my second Uncle/Aunt that has passed away from this type of Cancer. Can I tell you how much I hate Cancer? I do, I hate it. I know that it has it's place in this world and maybe I am just dealing the stage of grief that is anger. It took my Aunt Sandy ten years ago. It threatened the life of my Grandma Betty (Ovarian cancer), although she came out of it stronger and a lot calmer and kinder. Maybe there is something good to Cancer after all....

I've been seeing God's hand in our lives so much that I just needed to share just one more tender mercy. ❤️ Josh has a second job reviewing legal fees for the current PG&E Bankruptcy that is happening in California. A friend at work told him "You have 5 kids, you probably need more income." And boy, do we ever! This extra income will help us pay Ethan and Jonah's Marching Band fees as well as dig us out of a credit card debt we got ourselves into when we moved across the country from Washington DC to Arizona 8 years ago. I am SO, SO excited to get out of these chains of credit card debt and then start saving for a home here in the East Valley! 😍 Our Goal is to have our credit cards paid off by May 2020. (Then on to our student loans!) It will be hard work, but we GOT THIS!