Logan Marie's Birthday Post

My mom asked each of us kids to do a post about our year on our birthday. My birthday was a few weeks ago, so i guess it’s my turn. 

July 30th of last year was probably the most interesting birthday I’ve ever had and this year has probably over all been the most eventful of my life. Last year I was in a wheel chair being taught how to function without the use of my legs. Through out this year I’ve learned (through therapy and a little trial and error) how to use my legs again. I went from crutches, to a cane, to my very own legs with a hobbly little walk. 

Although that is enough to put anyone out for a year I was determined to “be normal.”

I spent the fall in Kansas City with my family, they went from waiting on my hand and broken feet to pushing me over and telling me to do things for myself. (Which is probably the best way to get back on you’re feet.) Winter set in to the midwest and i decided that “I just couldn’t.”

Mom and Uncle Mikey worked out a plan for me to leave Kansas City. The Doctor said I could go back to school and MikaJo let me move into their spare room. Arizona was a nice change from the ice in KC and I loved being an adult out of my parents basement. 

It was an amazing semester, i got to spend time with Mikey, Becca, and Tori. I loved spending time at home with Mikey and Becca, going to institute with Becca, and doing everything from grocery shopping to road tripping with my sister. 

The day to day was pretty normal; school, therapy, institute, and family dinners once or twice a month. 

In early March Mikey, Becca, Parker, and I went to a cabin in Pine, Arizona. Shortly after that trip Parker and I started dating. 

Everything was amazing and sparkly, and the time flew by way too fast. 

In May I flew home to Kansas City to have more operations on my legs. They ended up sending me to New York where I spent about a month for surgery and recovery (Thanks UP and AD.) 

When I got home Parker surprised me and proposed! Then, as I’m sure you’ve read about, My family finished out the summer with a trip to Nauvoo, IL and then the majority of us moved back to Arizona again! 

It’s been an eventful year, I’ve learned a lot about the hardships of life and how simple it is to turn a bad day into a good one. I learned that things can get really really hard and even though everything seems hopeless and terrifying there will always someone you can turn to. I used to think that when you were sad, you were sad. When you’re having a bad day that, that was it. I would go to bed and listen to sad music and be mellow dramatic and that was my day. This year I learned that you can be lower than you ever dreamed you’d be and also be happier than you ever thought you could be. It’s all in the attitude and really, even more about drawing strength from inside and around you. People have asked me (more so when I was operating without legs) how I’ve stayed so positive and I can honestly say that its in perspective. 

I fully plan on using that and many other lessons that I’ve learned this year to move into this next year! And I couldn’t be more excited! I’m 90% back to “normal” I’m getting married at the end of December and until then I get to live with Seth, Paige, and Mom. I’d say that everything is looking up. 

Projection for next year? 

Hmm.. well, like I mentioned earlier, I’ll be getting married. So I’ll be trading “Strode” for “Stanley” and my family will all be off on crazy adventures, Italy and who knows where else. So hopefully we’ll be visiting and adventuring on our own! As for the day to day, I’m excited to see what's in store. 

Eagle Scout Project

It was a three week project that Seth did after EFY, before Trek, and during packing up for an international move.

The Plan: Collect 150 pairs of shoes from our community with the help of scouts and other youth in our area to donate to the organization "Soles 4 souls"

The Job : Make and put out collection boxes, with permission from local businesses. Check on them weekly with help of Scouts. On the final week collect, tie and bundle all the shoes with the proper paper work.

The end: Take all the boxes of shoes to a collection point in downtown Kansas city for shipment to the "Soles 4 Souls" head quarters, and then off to needy feet!

 When we he was done- they had collect 206 pairs of shoes for the needy! Great Job Seth!

(now to finish those last few merit badges and get this thing done)

Happy Birthday to me!

We decided that as our family is growing and not always with us everyday (Sad but true) in order to keep our family history journal up to date and accurate we will have each family member write their own post once a year on their birthday. Use what ever pictures they want and tell whats new in their life for this last year.

As this was my idea, I will go first:

Last year around this time I was graduating child #2 from High school and Child #3 from eight grade.

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It is hard when the kids start getting older and you do not feel like it was that long ago that you were graduating and  it seems impossible that you are actually the one that brought these fully functioning people into the world and that it actually was a long time ago....

However, I was working on a move and pretty excited about being in the mid- west for the first time, Dan and I had been living a commuter marriage for quite a while and ending that struggle was pretty exciting!

So I was busy saying good by to great friends and see you later to great family!

We took a crazy fun road trip across to the Mid- West

With all the dumb stops at the stupidest sights in America (Use roadtrippers.com - it's great) I realized that I love this way of traveling. I have always been about getting in the car and not stopping till you get where you are going. I have missed great things along the way. I vowed from that time on to be more aware of what I was passing and not to let my agenda ruin my experience. Thats a big deal for me, and I might have to keep working on it!

We got to Kansas and found a house and on the day that we got the keys and were going to  go over and clean the house a bit in order to move in, I got the call that every mother dreads. My child had been hurt and it was an emergency room nurse on the other end. The memory of that call and the way the nurse falsely tried to make the situation less , makes me cry to this day, however that is not how I handled it then. I was pretty calm "Wait till we know more" "Call Dan at work- "  "Inform family members"   "go clean the house- there isn't anything else to do"

People would call me and text me with questions, many I didn't know the answer to, my gut would wrench, to the point where I had to bend over and clutch it tightly in order to breath.  What I have to say now about the time then, is that I am amazed at the calm and efficient way that Dan and I were able to deal with the situation, it was out of character and a complete blessing to have that control and clear mind.  

So in my attempt to  stop and smell the roses :

Logan wasn't paralyzed, or worse! It was so painful , and there were days she  cried and screamed and  I cried and didn't sleep and ate horrible food or none at all and was living with the same 4 outfits in a hospital dorm in another state and my little kids were struggling with Dad being  at work and me being gone everyday for months. Tori who was supposed to come home for the summer vacation but,was on her own and sad and scared for her sister. It was all very overwhelming, but Logan was going to be OK!

I also was shown the gift of amazing family!

My sister, My mother, My aunts, and uncles,My cousins, My best friend Kasey- It was out of this world amazing the people who came to NY and saw us from far away states like Michigan, Arizona, Baltimore, Connecticut. My Aunt Debbie who lives in NY was hands on the scene right away! 

This was also overwhelming , but,in the most beautiful way! They brought food, birthday wishes, balloons, magazines, company, a relieving outing, smiles,clothes,and so much more.

Healing was great and love was plentiful, who would have thought such a difficult situation would have been a highlight of my year. 

 Oh, and getting away from the hospital and not passing the chance to go to Rhode Island to see my grandfather and spend a day with my cousin Cindy. It was so peaceful and wonderful. To be honest, the healing and going home part was my favorite.

I was able to get back just before this handsome man had to go off on assignment and I could be with the cuties all again. When he got back he had a minor surgery that turned into a big deal with blood clots and hospitalization. So yup- I think the theme of my year might be "Hospitalization. " - No, the theme of my year is "Discovering hidden blessings" 

Other than the blessing that Dan caught the problems early enough for them to be healed, we were told because of his healthy life style he was still alive. If he had not been in such good shape, he would have had a harder time, or possibly died. This is a testament to me of the word of wisdom and the true blessings received by following it. I am also very thankful he didn't die!

I am still looking for the hidden blessing  that is in our sweet little Meg passing on. Dan always liked to call her my shadow because she followed me every where. She was a member of our family longer than Paige had been around and we miss her a lot. Its been  ten months since she passed, and we still sometimes hear her collar jingle, or think we saw her sitting on the couch. 

I found that in December when all of my kids were home, that it is a great place in life to really appreciate life! My husband was well, my daughter was healing and my kids and love abounded. I really am very blessed in so many ways.

One of my favorite things to do is travel. I really love to see new places and new things and I save all my money for just that. 

In January I took a fun trip to MD and attended my fiends  birthday party! 

We had a great time! She's the best! We also got to have company in May , My mom and her husband came to visit and we  saw lots of fun things and tried new restaurants in Kansas city.

In  June  we had her to our house!

Thats some pretty good times!

As well as the road trip I recently posted about with Dan's parents and we were anxiously awaiting our orders and visas to go to Italy. So wonderful the travel, the friends, the healing - Life is great!

Day's pass and as I've said before in my posts about being a military wife, the Army is an unpredictable beast. Dan get all his paper work done and in line to go, but they are taking forever to get the family paper work done and we are supposed to report Aug 1st. Its my birthday July 20th and still no papers, but we did just get back from our road trip and jumped right into the final stages of Seth's Eagle scout project!

More on that later!

Logan made me a lovely cheese cake . It's great when you can see the fruits of your labors, and taste them! But... my mind is still on those papers. 

It's late on my birthday and everyone has gone to bed. Dan and I sit down and discuss the "What if" what if the visas do not come back in time for the paper work to get done? "What if " we can't travel together? What will we do, where will we go? 

We made a plan B and a plan C and a plan D but we were praying hard that plan A came off without a hitch. 

Well in actuality I am not writing this post on my birthday because the next few days were spent packing and movers and NO  VISAS!

We decided to put into action plan D - I starting looking for a place to live in AZ .

Plan D was to go back to AZ where we had lived before where the kids have friends, where we have family and stay for a whole semester. Let the kids go to their old school and help Logan do wedding planning, Help Tori with her mission papers and let Dan go to Italy to set up for us. Surely our visas will show up some time in that time frame, and honestly it will be cheaper than flying us all back for a wedding in December. 

Within 3 day's it became more and more clear that this was what we should have done anyway. Perfect housing situation opened, Dan was able to drive with us, we are able to help some friends who are in need by being there and share some of our blessings with others we had not thought about. 

Dan flew out yesterday for Italy alone. I am not going to lie- I was pretty sad. 

I am so happy for the opportunity to help others and for the ability to be with my college girls and for a husband who works hard and makes sacrifices for our betterment. I am so lucky to have to opportunity to see all of that and through all these trials this year, the happy places are so much more appreciated and the blessings in the struggle are so real.

This was my 2014-15  and my 42nd year of life- It's amazing!

I think more excitement is on the horizon for this 43rd year!