I'm here, finally!

I made it to American Fork, UT on Saturday evening....late evening after running out of gas and waiting for over an hour for rescue. So silly! I filled up in Hesperia and figured that would take me to St. George. In St. George I got out and walked around Cracker Barrel for just a short time. I had a customer who just lost a son because of a blood clot from not walking around on a long airplane flight. So, I was determined to move around a bit. Then I got a fish taco at a Del Taco since I hadn't eaten anything....then I was on my way again. I never gave a thought to gas while I was singing along to my blasting music....apparently so loud I didn't hear the"ding, ding, ding" of my "low fuel" warning. There I was just a few miles outside Beaver just after dark when I stopped dead. I had a few laughs at my own expense, played a few hands of free cell solitaire on my computer, and just enjoyed the stars while I waited. Don't mean to imply I wasn't a wee bit impatient, but that was just because I was worried little Leah would be down for the night before I got to hold her.

But she was already for Gramma to hold her when I arrived. And what a sweetie she is. I am so grateful for all the pictures, but it just doesn't show how tiny and delicate she is. It would be impossible not to fall in love with her. Sunday, I didn't make it to church and Marque and Sarah let me hold this sweet one to my hearts content. They also let me change her diapers and feed her as well. This bonding time with my new little princess is just what I was waiting for. She started getting a little stuffy nose (not from me I promise!) and so she was a little fussy. What is the matter with me cuz I even love to see this little one cry...she is precious! I got to sleep by her and take care of her needs Sunday night. This made me happy, and Marque and Sarah thought it was like Christmas coming early to be able to sleep through the night. She was way good though, she only woke once before morning light and was very patient with her Gramma while I changed her, warmed her bottle, fed, and burped her.

Monday I mostly sat around holding her all day. She is so entertaining, Her arms just go everywhere and she loves her hands being on, or around her face. Her fingers are so long, and so are her little toesies. These just aren't typical to the Trosper children....oh, and she has a bridge on her nose. Baby Trosper noses just kind of start in the middle of the face without a bridge, so she is going to have a nice nose just like Sarah's.......oh, not that my kids noses aren't absolutely perfect, because they are!

They have a picture of Caitlin, the birth mom, as a baby and Leah really does look like her, but it really is amazing how much she looks like Sarah's baby pictures. You really do get the feeling that Leah just took the long way around to just the right home. Of course there are so many other reasons to feel that is true. It is absolutely wonderful being in this home and feeling the love here.....Marque and Sarah for each other......and each of them for this baby. And for me too. I feel very important in the whole scheme of things.

Christine, Sarah's Mom, and Dave came over for dinner last night. They are such great people to share a grandbaby with, I just love them and I am so glad they are closeby to lavish love on our kids and our granddaughter

I wish I knew how to post pictures but if you go to Marque and Sarah's blog there is no shortage of pics. www.marqueandsarah.blogspot.com

My Best Friend!

I am blessed with so many friends. When I was a 7 year old Brownie in the Girl Scout organization I learned a song that went "Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver and the other is gold." This was sung in a round and though simple was kind of pretty.

My friends always have been very valuable to me.....such as silver and gold. I have friends from my childhood that I still keep in touch with. I have a very strong friendship with three of my friends from High School. Karen Tabor and I share the same birthday and this year on our birthday I got two cards from her. My friend Karen Russell and I don't always talk as often as we should but when we do it is for a LONG time...then we promise to talk more frequently. Her boys call me "Auntie" and I truly believe they love me! Pam Zoller and I have gone through life together. We are so different and yet I think we balance each other. After a 45 year old friendship we still talk on almost a daily basis.

So if those are my "old" gold friends, then what do we call the friends I made early in my marriage like Milly Fellbaum, Lonna Pectol, or Susie Westphal? Or the ones I made in Chino when I was a young mother like Linda Pratt, Marcia Torgerson, Barbara Gilbert, or Betty Hanson? Are the ones made when my kids were pre-teens and teenagers like Jacquie Smith, Deanna Valderrama, Gloria Kezos, Sherri Johnston, Kathy Harvey, Bonnie Gorski, and Carol Jackson any less valuable? Since I have lived such a long life do we call those "old" gold, or "new" silver. Or do they fall in the ranges of so many other valuable metals? So important to me were my "young" friends who kept me younger and saw me as an older sister, or a VERY young mother, Carrie Huston and Stacy Smith. When my nest was emptying I started collecting another special kind of friend....ones who inspired me....to try on hats, or take a walk in a park in Pasadena... like Karen Kimes.

When I first moved to Virginia I had only one friend, Marie Harrington. She paved the way at church, in the neighborhood, even got me a job with her husband. Other than Marie and Sandy Champaco I didn't forge too many friendships in Virginia that have lasted beyond the time I was there because I focused on my hubby....he was my friend.

When I moved to the Temecula area I renewed friendships with old Chino friends like Claudia Dunn, Rita Ford, Elaina Burgon.

All these friends were made in fair-weather, but they were never fair-weather friends. It is always dangerous to start naming names....too much danger of leaving someone out. Those that I have mentioned and probably a few that I haven't are STILL on my list of bestest friends. I can still give them a call and we can get together for a few laughs, a cry or two, or every woman's favorite thing "food"! I know that even though I didn't have terrible trials you were there for me....and when I did have something to share your ears were open and your shoulder was soft.

When I came back from Virginia and landed in Temecula I found I wasn't in fair-weather any more. Well it actually took a little while to figure it out....during that time I made an excellent lifetime friend with Katie Hackbarth who jumped the generation gap.....she was 16 and I was ....well.....OLD! Today she is 26 and I am...............OLDER STILL!

Fair weather turned a little less fair and I met my friend Vickie Tanner who was RS President in Temecula. She recognized I was sailing into dark waters before I did....she was ready when I finally saw the storm ahead. We strengthened and reflected the best we saw in each other.

I have really needed friends here in my Sun City Ward, and at work as I have gone through the toughest years of my life. They have rallied to my aid at every point...Shirley, Kathy, Joan, Anna, Leah, Lodene, Bill, Tom, Tim, and my customers are not just customers they are great friends. See how blessed I am.

There is so much more than silver and gold here. I haven't mentioned my wonderful Mom, sisters, sisters-in-law, daughters-in-law, sons, and other family members who are gems to me. I was talking to my sister, Lynette, the other day about my lack of talent.....I keep seeing the talents they all possess, and she told me that my talent was the friends I gather. That if each of them were represented as a flower I would have a very large bouquet. So are my friends precious metals, valuable gems, or unique flowers? I don't know....and I don't know that I can count each of you as MY talent...but I am blessed, so blessed by each of you, and so very grateful that you are each still in my life on a regular basis.

I'm grateful as well for those of you who aren't still in my life, but who have passed through my life and touched me, inspired me, taught me. So many young people.....who are now old!!! LOL and have children of their own. You mean so much to me.

The "tag line" on this lengthy blog was inspired by my best friend though. My best friend is and will always be Bud Trosper. I know this is a strange thing to say since we are getting a divorce. But the fact that our marriage is ending doesn't change the fact that he has always been, still is, and will always be my very best friend. In my large bouquet he is the brightest and most beautiful bloom, the anchor in the very center. In my precious metals he is platinum. Believe me in all the valuable gems he is no cubic zirconium...........he is the "hope" diamond. Even though there is no "hope" for our marriage now, we both hold great "hope" for the eternities. He is the one I feel the most comfortable with, the one I lean on, the one I call when I am the most needy. Yes, still.......

I have been sick this past week and he called many times each day to check on my well-being, he went and got medicine for me, and today he brought dinner in. Hard to explain how a marriage can end and a friendship continue. But it can happen.......and my ex-husband is still my best friend!

This is the pitts!

I have a cold. That's not ever a good situation, but when I am stuck in Southern California with an itchy throat, drippy nose, and nasal cough and where I want to be is in American Fork, Utah with my new granddaughter....it's even worse.

When Hailey was born, January 4, 1998, we were living in Ashburn, Virginia. That weekend we had gone back down to Southern Virginia to see a friend we had become very close to. When we got to her home in Norfolk we found that her caregiver had been taken off to the hospital with a heart attack. Hazel was pretty much blind, ill, and could not be left alone. We took on the challenge of getting her care and the people who cared for her viz neighbors, church people, and out of state family connected before we headed back north. In the midst of all of this organization we learned that Jim and Samantha were at the hospital and our first grandchild was on the way. Eventually we had to head back toward our home and though we had cell phones back then but they weren't as dependable as they are today, and so we hit phone booths along the way to get updates on the doings in the labor room. Samantha seemed to be doing fine, but Jimmy was having a tough time with the delivery and had to be seated before he passed out. When we knew the time was getting close we stopped at a hotel and announced to the desk help that we were needing a pay phone FAST. All the front desk employees were a part of the news when Hailey Leilani Trosper finally came into the world. Oh my goodness it was so exciting. It wasn't too long before I went out to see this new little girl and had an opportunity to get to know her. She was so beautiful, soft, smelled so sweet!

I was able to be on hand when Madyson was born. Just before I left on my vacation around the due date my employer, Tori Pitruzzello, told me he was going to have to let me go. Nice thing to do don't you think? I still headed off with my head in the clouds because I was going to have another grandbaby. How exciting it was to be in the delivery room on October 12, 2000 when Madyson Nicole Trosper came in to the world. She was an early birthday present and it was really fun cuddling her and helping mommy and daddy. Being able to give Hailey attention while she was getting used to her new little sister was special too. Even though I had to worry about finding a new job there is nothing like a new baby to make everything copacetic.

Well, the stories have been told about the waiting, waiting, and more waiting for the newest little family member, and finally she is here. Another birthday present for me, a little granddaughter born on October 15, 2008...and instead of being with her....snuggling, smooching, and smelling.....I'm here, with this doggone cold! I am sooooo grateful for the words that have been posted on Marque's blog helping me to feel closer. At least I'm able to see pictures right away telling a fabulous story of her first days on earth....but it isn't quite the same as being there. I'm trying Leah! I don't want anyone to have a chance of getting this bug so I will be there when I get rid of it. I have the Nyquil, cough lozenges, kleenex, Zycam and vaporizer all trying to help me get to you as soon as possible. I am listening to my copy of your lullaby CD that your Mommy sent too. It's fun isn't it? It's making me feel even closer to you.

I'll be there soon.....all you have to do it take care of your Mommy and Daddy, and keep that new baby smell until I get there. Gamma loves you to the skies!

Leah Caitlin Bliss Trosper

We have our baby!

Marque has described their experience in bringing a baby into their home a little like a roller coaster ride. There certainly have been some ups and downs, twists and turns that's for sure. It seems that is life.

The lines for the "white knuckler" rides at the amusement parks are always the longest. We opt for all those "thrills" as opposed to the low level, composed, should I say "boring" rides. No matter how treacherous a ride this adoption course has been....it was worth it... and...it has just begun.

We were expecting, given good reason to suspect, a boy. But as Marque said, the last twist in this roller coaster ride was that instead of getting a little boy, we got a little girl. It was so fun to get the call from Marque....laughing with such joy, pure amusement and irony that he is a she. I didn't believe him at first... he had to do a bit of convincing...c'mon you know what a tease Marque is. So she is here....she has just started her journey.

I'm giving a lesson in Relief Society on Sunday about the Plan of Salvation. Wow, I don't know how I'm going to get through it without blubbering. There is just so much to say right now. The whole roller coaster analogy, a new baby just starting out her ride, mixed in with the ups and downs my life has had lately.

I don't know about you....I'm sure I was in that long line in the pre-existence; wringing my hands, eyes darting around while wondering if I really wanted to keep my place in line, but not willing to miss a moment of the "Collosal Earthlife Roller Coaster" ride. I was determined to take the downward dips and spirals (screaming and with my hands high in the air), all the twists and turns (jolting though they may be) for the fabulous ups (like this one!). Yep I'm glad I stayed in line for this E ticket ride we call life! (But Lord, I'm getting older so let the rest of the ride be just little bumps and tiny twists).

Back to the current "high".

Leah's first day on earth, and her mommy's and daddy's first day with Leah reminded me of this poem by Carol Lynn Pearson

Day Old Child

My day old child lay in my arms,
With my lips agains his ear.
I whispered strongly "How I wish,
I wish that you could hear.
I've a hundred wonderful things to say,
(A tiny cough and a nod.)
Hurry, hurry, hurry and grow,
I want to tell you about God.

My day old baby's mouth was still,
And my words only tickled his ear,
But a kind of light passed through his eyes,
And I saw this thought appear,
"How I wish I had a voice, and words,
I've a hundred things to say.
Before I forget I'd tell you of God.
I left Him yesterday.

I'm so grateful that Caitlin's roller coaster ride brought Leah to the Trosper family. And how thankful I am that Leah, chose to get on this E ticket ride called life!

13 days to go!!

Okay we all know that babies don't come on anyone's time schedule but their own...but Baby Boo is due to arrive in 13 days.

His birth mom, Caitlin, is having some contractions and the Dr. said it might be any day.... Marque and Sarah are down here on a Disney vacation with Sarah's family that has been planned for quite a while. Of course their first thoughts are with Caitlin and Baby Boo, but there was no reason for them to cancel their plans....as previously noted the baby will come when the baby will come.

I remember when I was expecting Marque I was given the date of January 20th as his prospective birth date. Around Thanksgiving the Dr. felt sure that the baby would come before Christmas so we started weekly visits. Little Markie Poo Poo had other thoughts and didn't come until February 5th. It seemed like forever, because people kept asking, and asking "when is that baby going to be born?" He came when he came. Even after being sooooooo much later than the Dr. predicted he only weighed 6 lbs 13 ozs.

Hopefully Baby Boo will be more considerate of all of us who are waiting and will make his entrance very soon.........at least in 13 days!