A Day at a Time

About five years ago, my brother talked me into starting a blog.  He convinced me of how cool it would be to be able to share pictures and stories with loved ones far away.  They could look at the blog when they felt like it instead of reading emails which would get looked at and forgotten.   We still had dial-up internet at the time and I was hesitant, but eventually decided to give it a try. 

It took publishing approximately two blogposts before I was 100% hooked.  I loved the way the photos and the words interacted together.   I loved that it was mess and cost free, unlike the scrapbooking I'd been doing up to that point.  I loved the fact that I had a way to share stories and photos as they happened.  And most of all, I discovered that I loved having writing and photography as creative outlets in my life. 

My blogging has changed over the years.  I've gone from "here's what we did today", to trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to be humorous, to starting the recipe blog, to sharing  parenting advice, to reminiscings of old-times, and to publishing FHE lessons.   Over the years, my blogging has become an important part of who I am. 

Then one day about a year and a half ago our little Ellie started having absence seizures.  In light of the current health issues our family faces,  it all seems so insignificant now, but at the time it really rocked our world and my thoughts on blogging.    For several months, the medications made her fatigued and grumpy and I had to pick her up early from school more often than not.  Suddenly she was a shell of the happy, talkative little girl she'd been before and we were sad as we watched her struggle.  (*see below for an update on her seizures)  

It was her diagnosis and wanting a safe place to share about it, that got me to split this blog off from the original.   Basically I wanted free license to be able to post boring updates on our family again and not feel like I was letting down all the people who didn't know our family who were coming to the blog for the lessons and articles.   

That was when, "A Day at a Time" was born.  I transferred all of the family related posts here and started fresh.  And it proved to be just what I needed.  Posting lessons and articles on the other blog has since fallen by the wayside, but it worked wonders in that I had a place to blog about our family again without trying to impress anyone.   My posts are often boring or silly, but they are 100% me and they are therapeutic for me to write.  Yearly we print the posts into books and have a wonderful family scrapbook/journal that will be a treasure for many years to come. 

When we learned of Spencer's leukemia, we briefly discussed starting another blog that would be just for him, but in the end we decided that since this was all a part of our family's journey and goofy blog address notwithstanding, we wanted it all to be in the same place...here on our family blog.   

Little did I know that day when I created this new family blog, shortly after Ellie's epilepsy diagnosis, how apt the title,  "A Day At a Time" would be.   Although we'd felt the wisdom contained in the title back then,  it's taken on an even deeper meaning for us the last few weeks. 

When I get overwhelmed or emotional, it's invariably because I've let my mind wander to our uncertain future.  But when I focus on being present in the here and now,  I feel gratitude for the beauty that surrounds me. 
                                    
The simple joy of being all together as a family for a few hours each Sunday for our traditional dinner at the hospital...


The joy of hearing my children's laughter ring through the halls of the hospital... 


And the joy of my teenage boy feeling well enough to tease me, the nurses, and his siblings (and aim a heparin shot at me)...



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Update

Spencer is  a little more tired than usual, but is still feeling and eating well. 

As per the new Sunday routine, the priest quorum met with Spence the third hour of church, taught a lesson, and gave us the sacrament. 

*Ellie still has many seizures a day, however they are now reduced in numbers and length.  The medication side effects have mostly diminished.  We feel like her seizures are in as good a place as they can be  and we are grateful for a patient neurologist who is working hard to find the right balance between controlling the seizures and minimizing the medication side effects.  With her diagnosis of Childhood Absence Epilepsy, it is likely that her seizures will be an ongoing issue for several more years before she outgrows them (hopefully).      

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"The happiest people I know are not those who find 
their golden ticket; they are those who, while in 
pursuit of worthy goals, discover and treasure 
the beauty and sweetness of the everyday moments. 
They are the ones who,thread by daily thread, 
weave a tapestry of gratitude and wonder throughout 
their lives. These are they who are truly happy."
                                                          Dieter F. Uchtdorf