A Little Bit of Joey

My Dad

2019-11-06T13:34:00.000-06:00

More life change. Lost my sweet Dad on October 6, 2019. Hard to believe both of my parents are gone.

https://www.charliemarshallfuneralhomes.com/notices/Patrick-Daly

Welcome, 2018

2018-01-31T14:50:00.000-06:00

FIVE. Five years since we’ve lived in Colorado (again), and almost five years since I’ve written anything on this blog. Recently I hopped on to look up a recipe that I had posted long ago, and then got immediately lost in my old blog posts and felt incredibly nostalgic. So.much.life has happened in these five years.

Our boys were just 4 and almost 3 when we moved to Fort Collins. They’re now 9 and almost 8. More than DOUBLE the age they were when we moved here. Sheeshity-sheesh!

They’re now in 2nd and 3rd grade. They read. They write. They do math problems that sometimes stump me. They play chess. They ski. They run faster than me. They’ve played soccer, baseball, and flag football, and excelled at all. They are budding rock climbers, thanks to their Daddy. Westin is almost as tall as my shoulder. Life has just happened soooooo darn fast.

I can remember being so very internally conflicted about moving away from Texas in 2013, just five months after my mother died. I had very deep-seeded feelings that I was abandoning my dad, and wondering if I was making the right decision. Fast forward five years, and I can say with complete confidence that we made a fantastic decision. Our children are thriving here. My husband is thriving here. I am thriving here. My dad, and many other family members, have come to visit us regularly. Colorado people are MY people and I love my friends, our neighborhood, my work, and my church. What was a hugely difficult choice has turned out to be the very best choice. I’m so grateful.

Even though blogs aren’t all that popular anymore (Hello Facebook, Instagram, etc....) I see so much value in it. I truly would have forgotten so much about my “previous” life had I not jotted it down in words. I’m thinking about picking this back up again, as someday I’ll look back and be glad I did it, and get lost in the nostalgia all over again.

Happy five year anniversary in Colorado, Hansen Family. I love us.

HOME

2013-03-08T16:03:00.001-06:00

We are here. The couple-of-year journey to find our long-term home is complete. We're under contract to buy a house in Fort Collins, Colorado. Jeremy has a great new job, I have my same job, the boys are getting settled into preschool, and we're deciding between some very good church options. God is good to us.

This song speaks to me on so many levels. Please take a moment to listen. It fits our journey perfectly. It has been one of sorrow, loss, frustration, hope, joy, hurt, exuberance, gratefulness, peace, and so many other emotions. There was adversity in us getting here. But we feel so good about our destination, and we've grown from the journey. I don't want to over-spiritualize this, but as the song says, I feel like the Lord said "I'm gonna make this place your home".

Oh yeah, and I'm 40.

Enjoy (after the required advertisement, of course)

HOME by Philip Phillips:

Hold on, to me as we go
As we roll down this unfamiliar road
And although this wave is stringing us along
Just know you’re not alone
Cause I’m going to make this place your home

Settle down, it'll all be clear
Don't pay no mind to the demons
They fill you with fear
The trouble it might drag you down
If you get lost, you can always be found

Just know you’re not alone
Cause I’m going to make this place your home

Settle down, it'll all be clear
Don't pay no mind to the demons
They fill you with fear
The trouble it might drag you down
If you get lost, you can always be found

Just know you’re not alone
Cause I’m going to make this place your home

We live in Colorado!

2013-02-21T08:33:00.001-06:00

Here's one way I know we're not in Texas anymore...

When cool things happen

2012-12-17T10:27:00.000-06:00

Let me say that I am not a "prosperity gospel" person. Nor do I believe in karma. I do, however, believe in God and that sometimes He shows up in cool ways simply to remind me that He sees me and is shaping my heart.

Just this morning I was reading in Matthew 5, which is Jesus' sermon on the mount. This verse intrigued me: "Give to those who ask, and don't turn away from those who want to borrow." (NLT version) The footnote directed me to Deuteronomy 15: 7-11, so I went there and read this:
⁷“But if there are any poor Israelites in your towns when you arrive in the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tightfisted toward them. ⁸Instead, be generous and lend them whatever they need. ⁹Do not be mean-spirited and refuse someone a loan because the year for canceling debts is close at hand. If you refuse to make the loan and the needy person cries out to the Lord, you will be considered guilty of sin. ¹⁰Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do. ¹¹There will always be some in the land who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need.

So basically.... BE GENEROUS. I prayed that God would help me be more generous, as I tend to be pretty self-absorbed and don't even realize when there are opportunities to give to others.

After I dropped the boys off at their preschool, I went to the grocery store. As I stood in the checkout line, the lady ahead of me was paying for her groceries but somehow the cashier missed one item, and the lady had already paid her bill. So, without really thinking, I just told the cashier to put it on my tab and give her the item. And before you think I'm super noble.... it was a box of Ritz crackers. They cost 2 bucks. But the lady was very gracious and grateful! It was a neat moment. I could tell the cashier thought it was cool, and the lady most definitely appreciated it. I silently patted myself on the back, completely forgetting that I had prayed that God would help me be more generous. And I went on my way.

Next stop was another store to get one more item before heading home. I walked in, and told the sales guy what I was looking for. He walked me to where it was, and we looked at the variety of brands they had (for those with inquiring minds, it was a neti-pot type thing because I cannot seem to shake my cough and congestion and my husband suggested I get one.) The cost was $20. I then saw one other item, very similar, sitting beside it, and said "how much is this one?" The sales guy said, "You know, why don't you just take that one. It came as a sample from the distributor, and I should have taken it off the shelf a while ago." I said "REALLY" And he said "Yes - it's yours. I hope it helps!"

Okay... I got back in my car and then it hit me what had just happened within a 10 minute window. I bought a 2 dollar item for someone, and minutes later someone gave me a 20 dollar item for free! That stuff NEVER happens to me. And as I said before, I do NOT believe in the prosperity gospel. Instead, I believe in a God that was answering my prayer, and showing me some grace at the same time. I might not have given God credit for being generous to the lady at the grocery store, had I not been distinctly reminded with an even bigger generosity by someone else.

I like it when cool things happen.

If you put something on Facebook, does that make it real?

2012-12-12T15:14:00.000-06:00

I just posted this on Facebook, which I guess makes our announcement "official":

"Friends - Jeremy Hansen and I are very happy to announce that we will be moving to beautiful Colorado in February 2013! Our house here in Texas is under contract and we are excited about this next chapter of our lives! We'll be living in the Fort Collins/Loveland area. Come visit!"

No turning back now! Full speed ahead!

Getting caught up

2012-12-04T13:41:00.004-06:00

I don't know why, but I feel like the "proper" thing to do on a blog is to have entries be in chronological order of the events in my life. So, for example, I've needed to post the conclusion to our Colorado trip back in September but haven't done it. In the meantime there are lots of things I've wanted to write about but haven't done it, because I had that one other blog post hanging out there. Silly, right? So, I'm releasing myself of that burden right now, and I'm skipping to whatever I feel like writing about.

There. Freedom.

So, I'll start today with an email that I sent to my dear friends in The Posse. It captures "where we are" right now (edited to remove personal Posse stuff and to be appropriate for all readers.)Then you'll be caught up. Wow, that was easy!

Here's the email:

Hi Posse,

I am loooooong overdue in emailing all of you. You've all been on my mind but it has just seemed daunting to sit down and try to type a letter to you. But here I finally am!

Our big news first: we are moving to Colorado! It might seem like a sudden decision to you, but in truth it has been a long journey to get here. Jeremy and I have known for a while that we would not live in Texas in the long run, but with my mom's health in question we weren't focusing on timing. Now that she's gone, we feel a freedom to move on, even though it means leaving my dad and my sisters and their families. For a whole host of reasons, we are both confident this will be a very good move for us, and we plan to make Colorado our home for the long haul. We visited the Fort Collins/Loveland area back in late September and Jeremy interviewed for a job in the OR at a hospital there.

We put our house on the market just a little over 2 weeks ago, and we are praising God because we got an offer and are under contract! We are a bit stunned that it happened so quickly, but that's our God and we are taking it as confirmation that we're on the right path. We'll close the 3rd week of January, and we'll be off to Colorado in February!

We're taking some time to have fun in January. We'll go on a 5 day cruise out of Galveston, just the two of us, and then we're headed to Oregon with the 4 of us to visit Jeremy's family for 2 weeks.

Westin is turning 4 on Friday and he's becoming such a big boy. Camden is a fully talking 2 and a half year old and they are getting to be really fun. We can't wait to explore the Colorado foothills and mountains with our little men.

This has been a really hard season of life over the past year or so, and I think I could probably have been diagnosed as clinically depressed. We are SO ready to get back into a good church community, as that has been totally lacking here in Texas for us. I desperately need godly women in my life. We're ready to have friends that we can do life with that share our same values and also appreciate the outdoors. We're ready for cooler weather, beautiful scenery, closer amenities, and the list goes on. The ONLY sad part is moving away from my family. But I have a peace about it, as does my husband. He has been a gentle, loving leader during this time of decision making, and he has been a great comfort to me during my mom's funeral and in the months of grieving since then.

I love all of you!

Joey

Colorado part III

2012-11-05T14:24:00.000-06:00

And now... the next installment of our all-important, perhaps life-changing trip to Colorado.

If you remember, we left off with our wonderful hike in the mountains, where I had a wardrobe malfunction (not THAT kind of malfunction, thank you very much!) My trusty Lowa hiking shoes, which I'd had pretty much since I met Jeremy, fell apart on me before we really got started. I had no idea they were in bad shape.... that should tell you the sad story of how often (or rather NOT often) they got used. It was quickly apparent that they would not only do me no good, but they would do me harm. So, who to the rescue but our precious LouAnn?? She just happened to have her Chaco sandals with her. How fortuitous!

Yes, they were too big, and yes I felt like I had flippers on for part of they hike, but they got the job done and by the end of the 4 or 5 miles or so they felt almost, dare I say.... normal!


Lou Ann's Chacos saved the day!

Lou carrying my old hiking shoes.

The hiking crew

One of the really crazy things that happened on the trail is that Jeremy and I ran into someone we knew! What are the odds, right?? Her parents worked at the ranch when we lived there in 2000 - 2002. It was a fun surprise.

Stay tuned for Part 4... or IV.... of our Colorado extravaganza.

Colorado Part II

2012-10-26T14:11:00.003-05:00

After Jeremy's interview at Medical Center of the Rockies ("MCR" if you want to be cool), we wanted to debrief a bit and let him tell me all about it. So, what better place to sit and talk but a brewpub? Jeremy had previously looked up breweries in the Fort Collins and Loveland area, and there happened to be one just a few miles away from the hospital. So off we went to sample some local beer and to talk. The name of the brewery was Grimm Brothers, and we enjoyed it.

When we were done, we headed off to Boulder to meet our friends. It was quite a trip down memory lane to drive through Longmont and go right past our old church, and then head into Boulder where we lived for nearly 2 years. It was all so familiar to us, yet it had been 9 years since we'd moved away.

We met our dear friend Lou Ann and some of her friends, and then our friends Erik and Jessica met us at a cool restaurant called Salt in downtown Boulder. It was a lovely evening, except for the fact that I was as tired as I have been in a long, long time and could barely keep my head in the game. I think everyone felt sorry for me. For some reason Jeremy was just fine, but man I was longing for a bed.


Buddies! Jeremy and Erik


Silly Lou

Exhibit A: Not conducive to hiking....

We spent the night at Lou's house and it felt soooo good to sleep in! I don't think we got up until 9am. Then it was off to breakfast in Boulder at one of our favorite places, Le Peep. Very nostalgic for us. After that, we headed into the mountain for a hike near Lost Lake. It was a gorgeous day and a great hike, except for one small detail. My hiking shoes literally fell apart on me! Please see exhibit A. This should NOT happen. Stay tuned for the next installment of our Colorado adventure.

Colorado part I

2012-10-23T10:56:00.000-05:00

In late September, Jeremy and I went on a much needed weekend getaway to Colorado. My sister Sharon graciously agreed to come to our house to stay with our little monkeys, so off we went to visit the state where Jeremy and I met and got married.

Not sure what we were thinking, but we (meaning I) booked a 6am flight out of San Antonio. Which meant we needed to be at the airport by 5am. Which meant we needed to leave our house by 3:45am. Which meant we had to wake up at 2:50am. Which meant we were ridiculously tired the entire day! But we made it, and it was a great weekend.

We landed in Denver at 10am and rented a car and headed directly to Loveland, CO. The airport was so familiar to me, and in a strange way, seemed like my "home" airport even though I haven't lived in Colorado for 9 years. I kind of forgot how in-the-middle-of-nowhere it was, but was also surprised to see how much has grown up around it. Loveland was only about 45-50 minutes away and it seemed like a hop, skip, and a jump.

Why were we in Loveland, you ask? Good question. I'll share a little secret with you.... my husband interviewed for a job at a hospital there! It's called Medical Center of the Rockies, and it's a gorgeous 5-year old facility with 8 operating rooms. Here's a picture I took of the hospital right after I dropped Jeremy off for his interview:

He was blown away by the people he met, the quality of the equipment and the rooms, and the general mentality of the hospital system. He walked away from the interview and told me it would be an honor if he got a job offer from them. Quite honestly, it has been hard to go back to his current job, now that he knows what else is out there.

The interview itself was somewhat of a step of faith, because we're not officially ready to move just yet. And the manager that he interviewed with knew that, and was still willing to meet with him. Jeremy told them that we'd be looking at early next year at the soonest, and they understood. But for us, finding a job is a very large piece of the moving puzzle, as we don't feel like it would be wise to just pick up our family and move without knowing what kind of employment is available. It ended up being a huge relief to us, knowing that the area we're interested in for a bunch of reasons ALSO happens to have a fantastic hospital system.

I'll have to save the rest of our Colorado trip for my next post, so stay tuned!

MOM

2012-10-15T10:43:00.000-05:00

I had a dream about my mom last night.

In the dream, my sisters and mom and I were attending the funeral of a family friend. I don't even remember who the person was, but it wasn't someone that was very close to us. My mom sat right beside me at the funeral, and all of a sudden, it was like she had come back to life, even though she had died. I started crying in the dream because I was remembering HER funeral, and with her sitting there with me, I wanted to know if she had any idea of what her funeral was like, and how we all felt about it. I wanted to tell her all about her funeral, and about how there were so many people there, and how special and honoring it was. I wanted her to know how much she was loved and remembered. But I couldn't tell her, because we were in the middle of the other person's funeral and we had to be quiet. So I just sat there and cried, not being able to tell my mom all that I wanted to.

WOW. Tears came just typing that. I think there's so much underlying truth to the dream. There IS a lot I want to tell my mom, but can't. I DO want her to know how much she was loved, and how people came out of the woodwork to be at her funeral. I wish she could have seen it (but maybe somehow she did from Heaven? Who knows.) I wish she could have heard the stories and awesome things her friends said to me after the funeral. I wish she could read the letters that I got from some of her friends that blessed me beyond measure.

In the broader sense, I wish she knew how much my sisters and Dad think of her still, and how we're all struggling in our own ways because she's not here anymore. I wish she knew that all of us want to call her and see her and tell her things simply because she's our Mom. Even though she wasn't the same mom in recent years as she had been, she was still MY mom, and there is a gaping hole in her absence.

When I was at my dad's house last month, I found this picture. I think it was the last one taken of the two of them, and it was on a cruise in February 2012. Don't they look great?? The picture itself is kind of fuzzy, but I think my mom looks absolutely beautiful. Hard to believe that just 6 months later she was gone from the earth.

The only comfort that I have is knowing that she is now healed and whole. She is not hurting. She is not depressed. She has no physical ailments. She has no insecurities. She has Jesus himself! Glorious thought.

Just another day in the Hansen home...

2012-10-14T09:52:00.000-05:00

Pretty normal for us. Aren't all homes like this?

Who says white boys can't dance?

2012-09-11T15:42:00.001-05:00

The Hansen boys gettin' their groove on...

My boys

2012-09-02T22:10:00.001-05:00

Someday my two boys will stop doing this. I don't want to ever, ever forget how this feels, because it is pure joy. I am one blessed mama.

What's for dinner?

2012-08-29T22:49:00.001-05:00

Here's what I'm making tonight. I splurged a little and bought beef tenderloin steaks (for me and my love... kiddos get plain jane food until they can appreciate the good stuff!). So on the menu is beef tenderloin steaks (still raw in the picture) with an Alton Brown recipe for fingerling potatoes with butter and chives, and fruit salad. Oh, and a nice Pinot Noir. It was absolutely delish, if I don't say so myself!

Plus, this is the first time I've ever blogged from my iPhone. How cool is that???

Camden's surgery

2012-08-25T14:17:00.000-05:00

With so much "other" stuff going on in the past few weeks, I didn't mention or chronicle our little boy's surgery to get tubes put in his ears.

As previously mentioned, Camden was on antibiotics a dozen times in 2011 and already 5 times in 2012 when we decided to put the tubes in. He's a tough little guy and would rarely complain of the pain, but if he woke up crying in the middle of the night or was especially grumpy or whiny, we always went "uh-oh, must be another ear infection"... and it always was.

The surgeon was someone that Jeremy has worked with in the OR many times before. TOTAL perk of having your husband be an RN in the operating room is that he got to hand pick who he wanted involved!

Here is the surgery in photos:

Big boy waiting for his surgery consultation

Chillaxing at the doctor's office with Daddy's iPhone

Getting his hospital wristband put on. He has his ever-present ducky and a monster truck in hand. Gotta have the important things, right?


Showing off the tiger gown...

He looks like such a little baby in this picture!

Killing time waiting for the surgery. Big brother Westin did great too.

Headed into surgery, being held by the anesthesiologist

Back at home! Successful surgery, tired boys.

Post surgery, poor little sleepy guy.

And just like that...

2012-08-17T15:13:00.000-05:00

.....my world changed.

Remember a few posts ago when I said that I felt a change coming on? Little did I know exactly what that change would be. I lost my mother on August 1st, 2012.

She had been in decline for the past few months, since about the end of May. Lost a lot of weight. Got very frail looking. Would only eat teeny tiny bits and was not getting nearly enough calories. Moved from bed to couch to bathroom and back to bed. Slept on and off most of the day. Stopped doing things she enjoyed, such as Facebook, reading her Kindle, and playing Words with Friends. Basically, she was in the process of dying. Her mental capacities had certainly diminished, and talking to her just wasn't quite the same. She was on a whole slew of drugs, so who knows what that does to your brain and your entire body!

It is an odd thing, watching someone decline before your very eyes. I got to see her every few weeks or so, and talked to her nearly every day in between, and little by little I just knew she was wasting away and preparing to die. But I can honestly say that I was completely shocked on the day she actually did pass away.

August 1st.... Jeremy and I started our day at the hospital with Camden, who got tubes put in his ears. We lugged our whole family to the hospital at 6am, and it was all over with and we were home before 9am. Surgery was successful and Camden was a trooper. About 10am or so, my dad called to check on Camden. I told him all was well. He asked my mom if she wanted to talk to me, and she said no. Dad said she wasn't feeling up to talking.

Two hours later, around Noon, my dad called and said he'd called an ambulance for Mom, because she was really sick and her stomach hurt (more than likely it was her chest, but he told me stomach at the time.) He was going to follow the ambulance to MD Anderson, but then at the last minute decided to ride in the front of the ambulance. Apparently when the EMT guys got there, she was responsive and talking, but on the way to the hospital they lost her. They intubated and resuscitated her, but her pulse was faint and there wasn't any blood pressure.

Once in the ER, they did all the things doctors do, and after some time they determined she'd likely had a pulmonary embolism. She didn't have any brain activity, and the damage was done. My mom was a DNR, so they moved her to the ICU and for the rest of the day they kept her on the ventilator so she could breathe for as long as her heart was beating. At 6:27pm, her heart stopped beating and my mom got to go meet Jesus.

I got to be there with her, and I'm so grateful. Once I got the call about her condition and I understood what it meant, I left my house within 17 minutes (yes, I clocked it) and arrived in Houston in time to be by her side for a bit before she died. I got spend a few minutes alone with her and talked to her. I will treasure that time forever.

I think God was gracious to her and to us by letting her pass away in the manner that she did. It was fairly quick and mostly painless. She didn't have to endure the agony of dying a painful and miserable death from lung cancer. She didn't have to spend her last weeks/months in a hospital bed surrounded by machines and white sheets. And now..... well, now she has met Jesus face to face and I can't even imagine what awesome thing's she's doing. Tears come to my eyes just typing that, but I am so happy that she is free and whole.

I am grieving. My heart hurts and I am so sad that she is not here. I want to talk to her, and hug her. I want to tell her the funny things my boys are doing, because she loved hearing those stories. I feel LOSS in a way I've never felt it before. I miss her. And yet, I am happy for her.

I love you, Mom. I will never forget you, and I will most likely think of you every day for the rest of my life. I look forward to seeing you again one day in Heaven.

Who knew that on August 1st, 2012 I would start my day in one hospital with my son, and end my day in another hospital 4 hours away with the death of my mother.

Yes, change is here.

Tubes for Camden

2012-07-30T13:56:00.000-05:00

Sweet little 2-year old Camden is headed to the hospital on Wednesday to get tubes put in his ears. Our pediatrician strongly recommended it due to the number of ear infections he's had over the past year and a half. Plus, he's had several this summer, which is the "off-season" of sorts for ear infections.

I had one of the nurses at the pediatrician's office tell us just how many medications we've given him for ear infections in his short lifetime. It was WAY more than I remembered!

So - tubes are going in, and I really, really hope this will do the trick. Poor little dude has been in pain for most of his life!

Dreaming up a life

2012-07-29T16:53:00.000-05:00

Maybe one of the "perks" of approaching 40 is that my husband and I are very serious about determining exactly what we want from the rest of our lives. We know for sure that we desire to do the Lord's will and follow His principles for our lives. But we both firmly believe that the exact what/where/why/how is left up to US. God is not a puppet master, telling us to "live here, do that, be this", etc. (And yes, you can find instances in the Bible where God did in fact tell one of His children to do something specific, but there are many more guiding principles that would indicate that He is ultimately more interested in our hearts than our location/vocation.) Perhaps you disagree, and that's okay. Jeremy and I are carving out a life for ourselves that we believe will honor God while bringing us joy on earth, and we feel pretty good about that.

So... what do we want for our lives, other than to honor God and to raise our children to do the same?

- Live in an area of beauty, where we can look at God's creation and be filled with awe.

- Play in said creation, whether it's walking, hiking, biking, climbing, sitting, eating, drinking etc.

- Be a part of a Christ-centered church where we can grow, learn, serve, and find friends that want the same.

- Live in a community of people that love the outdoors, and where bike trails, parks, etc. are a norm.

- Have friends that share the same values as we do (God, outdoors, etc.) and want to band together and "do life".

- Have men invest in our boys that love God and share our values, so that when our influence wanes, theirs is steady.

- Weather that is cold but not miserable in the winters, and warm but not unbearably hot in the summers. Light snow is good; humidity and heat are bad.

- A city that is large enough to have all the amenities that we desire, but small enough that it still feels like a "town".

- An area where music, culture, food, outdoors, and God can all be welcome and appreciated.

- Relative accessibility to our families, so that they can visit us and we can visit them without excessive cost (this is a TOUGH one).

Does that list sound unrealistic? Who knows. I do think that we've identified an area that fits our general criteria, though it shall remain nameless for now. And trust me, we've researched/discussed/dreamed of MANY places in the past few years. To potentially be narrowing it down is pretty exciting. We are praying and talking LOTS about our future.

What is this thing called blogging?

2012-07-28T08:55:00.000-05:00

Hi.... my name is Joey and I used to blog.

Somewhere along the way I just stopped doing it. Maybe having two little boys that consume so much of my time did it to me. Maybe trying to cram a full time job into part time hours did it to me. Maybe the "pressure" of trying to run a household, keep a job, be a wife, and raise some boys did it to me. Maybe some discontent in my heart caused my "want to" to quit on me. Not sure.

But a year and a half later, I feel a change coming on. Which is funny, because I think that blogging isn't really "fashionable" anymore. It seems to have been largely replaced by Facebook, Twitter, etc. And I'm guilty of using Facebook to pseudo-blog. But now.... change is coming. My mother is dying of lung cancer. My boys are now 2 and 3 and growing and talking and going tee-tee and poopie on the potty (at least part of the time!) My husband is still his awesome self but we have gone through a very weary and rough season. And we are both longing for mountains, and feel pulled there. For now, we're still in small town Texas and are trying to appreciate and enjoy the beauty that surrounds us, but I feel a greater and greater longing for higher elevations, cooler weather, and fresh air.

I'm also approaching my 40th birthday. I've still got nearly 7 months until the big milestone, but I'm feeling more reflective lately, and something about saying that I'm almost FORTY has got me really pondering my life. Maybe I'll post my ponderings. Maybe not. We'll see.

Here are my sweet little monkeys. They bring more love, joy, frustration, anger, and happiness to my life than I ever thought possible!

Sick of Sick

2011-01-13T20:21:00.004-06:00

When I was in junior high, I remember my parents saying that they had bought my orthodontist that fancy Corvette he drove. Even at that age, I totally got the joke. My parents paid for braces for all 3 of their daughters, and so every time we saw that shiny car parked in front of his office, my parents were reminded of how much they were shelling out for our pretty teeth.

Fast forward 25 years, and now I feel the same way about my kids' pediatric office! It seems like we're in that office a ridiculous number of times each month. It goes something like this: ear infection for Westin, routine appointment for Camden, then ear infection for Camden, then strep throat for Westin, then routine appointment for Camden, then ear infection for Westin, then routine appointment for Westin, then strep throat for Camden, then ear infections again....... and so on and so on. Sheesh! Certainly between our co-pays and what the insurance company dishes out, we've at least paid for a semester at a ritzy private college that surely one of my pediatrician's kids will go to one day.

And while I'm whining about the time and money spent in a doctor's office, my poor little kiddos are the ones that are suffering. Oops... I forgot this wasn't all about me! I hate seeing my kids sick. It breaks my heart. You should see Westin right now. He looks like he's been hit by a truck. He has strep throat and the nastiest cold and chunky cough. His eyes are so droopy and he looks just pitiful. One of the ONLY good things to come from him being sick is that I get extra snuggles and cuddle time, and that is absolutely priceless. Westin loves to be held when he's sick (heck, so do I!), and if I have to pay someone else's college tuition in order to hold my son for extended periods of time, then so be it. You're welcome, Dr. Rick and Dr. Bray.

A Fresh New Year

2011-01-08T15:05:00.003-06:00

It's 2011, and I thought, hey, what the heck...... why not blog again? It has been nearly 5 months since my last post. Crazy.

In that time, LOTS has happened, but the biggest thing is that my mom was diagnosed with Stage 3 lung cancer. She had a very large tumor on the lower lobe of her right lung. I learned about it in September, just a few days after returning from a wonderful trip to Oregon to visit Jeremy's family. To be honest, it kind of turned my world a little upside down, and I just didn't feel like blogging much after that. She's now about 3/4 of the way through her treatment, which consists of radiation and chemotherapy at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. So far, she's responding well, although she is extremely weak and tired. She has some soreness when she swallows from the radiation being aimed in that area, and her voice is a little hoarse, and her appetite has significantly decreased, but she hasn't lost her hair, and she hasn't any major side effects. The doctors are saying that she is holding up very well, and they are encouraged by what they're seeing so far. I know she is SO ready to feel better and to get some energy back. I absolutely hate seeing my mom not feeling well. Truthfully, she hasn't felt well in years, and I've hated it for her for years. I guess now we know why.

Other than that, our family is doing quite well. Our boys are growing like weeds. Westin is 2, Camden is 10 months, and Jeremy and I are starting to get little glimpses here and there of what normalcy might look like. I feel like I am finally, FINALLY coming out of the fog of having 2 kids just 15 months apart, and I am rediscovering ME again. I didn't even realize that I wasn't "me", until I started feeling like "me" again. Does that make sense?

We'll see what this year holds for blogging. I really do have a desire to document the journeys of The Hansen Family, and I'm constantly writing little blog posts in my head, but they just don't seem to make it to my fingers and onto the computer. But hey, if normalcy really and truly does return, you never know.

Happy New Year!

No tubes!

2010-08-13T10:40:00.003-05:00

We took Westin to an ENT yesterday in San Antonio. Fortunately, he did not recommend tubes right now. He said that because he's only had one ear infection this summer that he'd like to just wait and see if he gets more infections this fall and winter. We were very happy with that news!

Lately I've been catching small glimpses of the buddies that Westin and Camden will become. Just this morning the two of them were laughing out loud at each other. I think Westin was amusing Camden, and Camden was amusing Westin! It was a precious moment. And then.... just one minute later I caught a glimpse of the battles that lie ahead as well. Westin had given Camden a little toy to play with, and then decided a moment later that he wanted it back. Camden had a death grip on it and wasn't giving it up, and Westin got quite huffy! It cracked me up that little 5 month old Camden is already giving his big brother a run for his money! Gotta love it.

Tubes?

2010-08-04T14:39:00.007-05:00

I had to take Westin to the doctor this morning (both kids went, which is always interesting trying to keep 2 children occupied while we wait for the doc to come in the room... but I digress). We suspected yet another ear infection. Poor guy has been tugging and scratching his ears. He scratched his right ear so much that he drew blood! And... we were right. "Terrible" infections in both ears, said the doc. Again. For the 5th or 6th time since December (I've lost count now....). Apparently the "ear infection season" is from October to May, so the fact that it's August and he is still getting them is indicative that he may need some extra help with those ears. The doc gave us a few recommendations for pediatric ENTs, and we'll be headed to see them very soon. We're fairly certain he'll have to have tubes put in his ears. I know this really isn't a big deal, but still.... it's surgery! And as my RN husband reminds me, any time you're dealing with anesthesia and surgery, there are risks. I'll be glad for our little man to feel better and stop getting these pesky ear infections, but I'm not thrilled that he has to have minor surgery to relieve the infections.

I'm so grateful that he's healthy other than this. It could be so much worse. And if the tubes will help, then I guess bring it on! We'll know more in the next couple of weeks.

Thank You Uncle Sam

2010-07-28T07:25:00.004-05:00

There were some very attractive tax credits for home buyers over the past year and a half or so, and The Hansens took full advantage. Late last year, The Homebuyer Tax Credit was extended and expanded to also include "repeat" home buyers who met certain criteria. One of the criteria was that you had to have owned a home for at least 5 consecutive years out of the past 8 years. And fortunately for us, we owned our home in NC for a little over 5 and a half years! The maximum credit for repeat buyers was $6,500, and the law stated that you had to be under contract for a house by April 30th, 2010, and close on the home by June 30th, 2010 (although the June date has since been extended to September 2010 because of the bog-down with loans being underwritten in a timely manner).

When the expanded tax credit was announced late last fall, Jeremy and I had just signed a 9 month lease on a rental house. Our lease was set to expire July 31st, 2010. The lease expiration put us beyond the expiration for the tax credit, so this put us in a bit of a pickle: Do we go ahead and buy a home and just know that we'd have to pay a month or two in rent for a home we were no longer living in (at $1375 a month, that would be giving up a good chunk of cash!)? Or do we wait until our lease expired and then buy a home at that point, and forego the tax credit of $6,500?

Fortunately there was a happy ending for all. We talked to the property management company that handled our lease, and they were able to negotiate with our landlord to amend our rental contract to get out of it by the end of April and pay no penalties! (It didn't hurt that the property management company was also the realtor we used for the purchase of our house, so they certainly had a financial interest in helping us get out of the lease.)

I had already filed our 2009 tax returns long before we closed on the house in April, so my options were to wait and claim the credit on my 2010 returns, or to amend my 2009 tax returns. I chose the latter... I'm all about instant gratification when it comes to money owed to me! You cannot file an amended return electronically, so I mailed it in at the beginning of June, and we got a nice fat check in the mail a couple of weeks ago!

The money is already earmarked for several things. A portion of it will go towards installing granite counter tops in our kitchen (I'm in the process of researching what company we want to use for the installation). YAY! Another portion will go towards paying our $2,000 deductible for our homeowner's insurance claim from the hail storm back in May that damaged our roof. BOO. And the rest will go in savings. YAY!

So the question that many economists and pundits are asking is.... did the tax credit get us off the fence and into a home? My answer is - we still would have purchased a home, but it might not have been so soon. So, simply put: the tax credit got us into a house sooner, but didn't otherwise influence us. Is that considered a success by the economists' and pundits' standards? Who knows. In the end, we have 6500 smackers and we're in a home we love. Thank you Uncle Sam.