If Home Is Where Your Heart Is. . . .

 This day makes me so sappy--I am half weepy every year and half so happy and grateful.  But every year I cry for your birth mom.  This lady I do not know, but this lady that gave up so much and in turn, gave me so much.  I think of her as a brave woman.  She carried you to term.  She cared for you as best as she could for several weeks and then she bravely gave you up and placed you at the gate of the best orphanage in Kigali.  I think she's brave.  But I cry for her.  I cry for her because of what must have made her make the decision to give you up.  I cry for her because she doesn't have you any more.  I cannot fathom the hole you would leave in someone's heart forever. There are so many things that I wish she knew about you.  I'm sure when we get to heaven and get to meet and I begin to tell her stories about her spunky daughter that she will nod her head knowingly because you are probably so much like her and like her...

Empty.  I've been thinking about that word a lot today.  It is typically such a negative term that carries such a deep and heavy meaning.  When someone feels empty inside it is said or thought with such deep and hurting emotion.  When your mailbox is empty and you checked it with such great anticipation.  When a fisherman goes out and comes back empty.  There are zillions of ways that empty is used and I'm feel like most of them are negative.  Empty means containing nothing and if you are expecting it to contain something, then that nothing is dark and hopeless. However, today, Easter, empty is a word that brings such humbling joy.  When I just sit back and think of what my Savior did for me, it literally takes my breath away!  On Friday, He went to the cross and bore MY sin knowing full well that I wouldn't be always grateful or always aware and knowing full well that I wouldn't fully turn from my sins at all times.  That is humbli...

So, two years ago yesterday I had decided that I'd had enough.  I was so tired of being shocked every time I saw a picture of myself and wondering if I was really that fat.  I was overweight and I felt awful both physically and emotionally.  I also felt hopeless because I had tried so many "diets" that worked wonders and then the minute I stopped "dieting" I would gain all of that weight back and then some. So, two years ago I happened upon the Facebook page of a person I knew in college and I saw her before and after pictures--I'd never seen the before and after pictures of someone I actually knew.  It was amazing.  So, I asked her to call me and the rest is history! I just wanted to loose weight.  I didn't realize all of the other things I had to gain--a good night's sleep (every night), a week (now two years) without a migraine, a month without an overran cyst rupturing, a day without my tummy hurting, an afternoon (especially between 3 and...

Last night Hays asked me to meet him for dinner.  Since I can see the money he has on his debit card, I realize that I was asked to dinner along WITH my wallet, but I'll take what I can get!  I met him at Schlotzsky's during his "lunch" break.  It was a great time.  They ended up letting him off early because it was slow and he just sat there with me for over an hour.  We talked and laughed and ate.  It was really fun.  With his job and everything I've really been missing him lately and I'm so thankful for the hour I got with my boy--I love him oh so much!

Like I said in my last post, we got 31 inches last weekend and on Monday we had our third snow day since we moved here (six years).  So, Andy and Hays and I headed to the mountain to enjoy the powder--and powder it was!  It was so much fun--either the powder or the morning with just Hays and Andy or both!  We laughed so hard and I fell so many times because the powder was so deep.  I loved it!  I could do that weekly! Attempted photo op turned hysterical disaster!!! A result of the above picture.

Last weekend my friend, Kathleen came to visit from San Diego with her daughter.  She is my upline in this company I work for and she came for business and pleasure.  We got the business out of the way the first night and then we got to enjoy the 31 inches of powder that came down the rest of the weekend.  He daughter is a gem and I loved having her here, too!  Hays taught her to snowboard with the patience of a saint!!!

Hays got a job!  He has been so faithful about job hunting and he finally snagged one.  Schlotzsky's opened in Durango and Hays jumped on board!  He really likes it! So, the first night Braner Party of 7 (including BradRay) headed to Schlotzsky's to embarrass support Hays at work!