touching life with my fingertips

It's been difficult to adjust to the "normal" world. 

I've ventured out and tried to increase normal activity slowly but it's been treacherously slow. 

Maybe the hardest part is that outwardly I look like I'm back to my old self, and often times I feel like I could be back to it also.  But my eyes and head just don't want to cooperate.  

If I talk too much, 

          think too hard, 

                move too fast, 

                     or am out of the house too long 

my eye muscles hurt, my head throbs, and my head wants to burst with exhaustion.

Honestly, it's down-right frustrating to feel like "life" is at my fingertips 

yet not be able to take hold of it.

This past month has been a very lonely one.

My house has felt like a prison.   If I go out of the house for too long it increases the stress of coping with the pain and so back into the house I must go.  The first month & 1/2 was easy staying home.  But this last month I'm like a horse jumping at the bit to get back on the course of life.

Just the past few weeks I've been able to start driving during the day.  That has added a lot of freedom and yet has been discouraging because, although the pain is bearable, I cannot do much.

There ARE mornings though

           I wake up and have courage to face the day.

                     I look at the little moments that can place purpose into the mundane day.

                                  And I can see visible expressions of God's love for me.


But then after a few days, discouragement sets in
               I'm crying alone.
                           My kids are wishing I wasn't in pain.
                                         My husband is worn out from carrying the load of the family and doing everything in his power to help me ...and yet still sees me remain in pain.


The only thing that has kept me from crossing into Crazy Land is remembering.

Remembering to trust my Loving Father who provides, and knows, and satisfies all my needs.
Remembering to be thankful for the little things.
Remembering WHO I have around me.
Remembering to have compassion for others in pain.
Remembering that God will care for my family.
Remembering....

My Iron Man

 Have you seen this picture of the Iron Man:  

                            

 That is pretty cool, but this is how I picture 

MY Iron Man:

 He doesn't need all those extra shields, gadgets and such.  

All he needs are his own muscles, determination and hours and hours of training.

We traveled 9 hours in the car to:

St. George, UTAH

 We spent a week enjoying the scenery, climbing the rocks, hiking the trails:

 

We stayed in a condo complete with bedrooms, family room, full kitchen, and balcony overlooking swimming pools and basketball court.

Before Andrew's race he would scout out his bike and run courses. 

While he did that we played in the water as much as possible...(I say we but I mean the kids)...I tried to survive my ever so stubborn headaches by hiding in the shade reading. 

RACE DAY started for Andrew at 4:30am.  

The kids and I got up at 5:30am.  We had to drive 1/2 hour where we then we took a bus, with the hundreds of other spectators, to the swim start.

I didn't think we'd find Andrew before the race began (with so many racers), but we did!  

I snapped a quick picture and gave him a big kiss.

 We climbed on some rocks that were a little bit out into the lake.  

It was a GREAT spot to watch and a FUN place for the kids to play.

Andrew swam the 2. mile swim in 1 hour 9 minutes.  Right on his target time.

Then while Andrew biked the 115 miles in an amazing 5 hours we made our way back to our condo and rested.

We headed over to the finish line around 1pm and tried hard to spot Andrew transitioning from the bike to the run.   But somehow we missed him.  It was such a bummer because it was BLAZING HOT and no shade to hide in.  It took every ounce of endurance I had in me to hang in there until the end.  

(12 hours of standing & cheering, traveling to each transition, keeping the kids occupied & coping with heat exhaustion took it's toll).  

Here I am talking as if I'm the the one racing!!!  I had to keep reminding myself that all the people racing were enduring much more pain than I was and that I shouldn't think of complaining.

Andrew completed the full marathon (26 miles) in 4 hours 45 minutes.  His record marathon time was 3 hours 11 min. but the intense hills made it painful and difficult to run as fast as he would've liked.  In spite of it all he was very pleased with his time overall....especially since this was his first ever ironman.

Andrew's Total Race Time was 
11 hours 40 minutes.

JEREMY

It is finished!

One thing to know about adoptions is that it always seems like there is "one more process" to go through or one more paper to fill out.  Even when we thought we were at the end of it a year and a half ago there were still "more of this and that" and "wait another year for one more thing" before it's all completed.

Well, Friday AUGUST 20th we walked into the US court room, 

 said "I do" and the judge made it all official and complete.  

Not only is Jeremy always and forever recognized as one of the Youngs, he is also a US citizen.

Our judge was super nice.

We were thankful for the family members who sacrificed their time to come and support us and for those who wished they could be there.

Jeremy's cousin Edie on the left and his Grandma in the back...

Another wonderful grandma....

Jeremy's uncle and Grandpa...

His cousin Emery, Aunti-lolo, of course his sister and also his uncle...

Another picture of Emery 'cause she's just SO cute!

Already being a year 3 months since Jeremy's been home we no longer first think of him as the little guy we adopted but as...Jeremy.  I don't know how much that makes sense....but I guess it's not that we forget that he's adopted, it's that THAT is not what defines him to us anymore.  He's JEREMY, full of energy, curious about everything, always has something to say or ask (his nick-name: walkie-talkie), when he gets excited he gets loud...I mean LOUD and overflowing with excitement!  It just pours out of him.

This is our Jeremy.  This is who we love!