All it takes is all you've got

So glad you picked this day to touch base. I was thinking of you when I ran Boston today, and how tough you were last year. I hope all is well with you!

What a beautiful blog post! I love your perspective on the seasons of life!! Glad you are doing well and how awesome that your husband ran Boston this year and got such a great time despite the heat!

You're so wise, Nan. I'm glad you posted. Eric and I were talking about you guys a few days ago and wondering how you're doing.

Thanks for touching base. How's life?

i always love reading your posts. great to hear from you and glad you are doing well. congrats to aaron yesterday!

You really do care about us. Have fun being pregnant :)

So nice to "see" you -- I had been hoping for a blog update, and here it is!!! Hugs to you and all 4.7 of the rest of your family ;-)

Good to see you poking around the blog. I have been a super-bad blogger as well. Life. I gotta go check out your post.

Nice to hear from you, Nan. Good luck with your upcoming event. It will be sacred, and definitely add again to your reservoir.

thanks for your posts Nan. I really was inspired to gain some hope for my current 7 weeks and counting injury that I off and on try to run through...waiting for pain free days to come!! So glad yours has a happy ending!! I too have tried many of those you listed for help--- it started with what I thought was just PF but has progressed my entire foot calf and hip. It is going no where with massage, ice, ultasound, steroid shots. I think the MRI was read wrong and after reading your post I should get a second opinion to what is going on. Thanks again!! hope the baby is taking it easy on you!!

I love what you had to say Nan. I want to be more like that. Good luck on your upcoming birthing experience!

Thanks for the post Nan. I appreciate your thoughtful perspective.

Congratulations on the pregnancy! We are expecting as well, due date around Christmas.

Awesome Sasha! Is that going to be double digits for you?

Burt - not yet, only eighth, but we'll take double digits if the Lord will give it to us, we already have a 15 passenger van.

We have a 12 passenger, and we stopped at 6, which I think is the perfect ratio. You should have stopped at 7.5.

Having an empty seat between each kid cuts down on the bugging. We have a 7 passenger van and 3 children. Maybe Sasha's kids sit calmly and respect each other's personal space more than our's do Burt. By that I mean your kids and my kids seperately.

I've got a couple of daughters the same age as your boys. They might get along good.

Once the size of the family reaches the point where providing personal space would require the vehicle driver to have CDL, the gas mileage at 5 mpg, and not being able to park in a normal parking lot, you have no choice but to teach the children to behave. I find that when you teach them correct principles consistently, and then fully expect them to apply those, things tend to work out. For example, you can stop a fight by reminding them about what king Benjamin taught in Mosiah 4:14, or what Christ taught about contention when he visited the Nephites. Sometimes adult intervention is not necessary as one or more of the children remember and explain the doctrine before you think of it yourself. This works, of course, only if the children are sufficiently familiar with the scriptures and have proper respect for them. This happens naturally if you read the scriptures together as a family every day and encourage the children to read on their own. It took us some time to figure it out, but now we start the adult or older sibling assisted personal study for each child at the age of five - about the time they learn to read with the Book of Mormon being an important part of their reading instruction. I was amazed at how interested a five year old can be in the parts of the scriptures where many adults get stuck and quit. Eventually around the age of 8 the child has the maturity to study on his own and becomes a reading helper for younger children.

Did you have your baby yet??

Somehow you are on the lone faithful list, Nan. Welcome back. We loved your birth story. I'm glad you had good midwifery and imagery working in your favor! Congratulations. Your hard running might seem a little bit easier after that ordeal.

HI Nan! Your story is AMAZING!! Wow! You did so great! SO happy you and Kelsie came through it all! And you now have a healthy and beautiful little girl to add to you awesome family! Congrats!!

Wow!! What a birth story! I am so happy your little lady is here and everyone is healthy and happy, congratulations!!!!

Emily and I were just talking about your story the other day. You are amazing Nan!

Loved your workout in runners world! Congrats on the baby.

I didn't expect to see someone I knew in Runner's World. And I saw you plus 3 or 4 guys from St. George in the same issue!

Nan:

I am always late when it comes to important events, but better late than never. Congratulations on the addition!

Got a message from Lindsey Dunkley that Aaron is the hospital with ulcerative colitis. We are obviously concerned. Not sure if you are up to answering questions online at this point, but if you are - How serious is it? How is he doing? Is there anything we can do to help?

Hi Sasha thanks for saying Hi. We checked Aaron into the hospital on Monday because of this severe flare of ulcerative colitis. He has lost 30 lbs in the past month, he was in a great deal of pain even on pain medication, and he was becoming extremely weak to where he needed more assistance than I could provide him at home. His colon does not seem to be responding to the GAPS diet we started him on a month ago or the meds they have given him and the Doctors are going to try others drugs to see if they can find one that works. Yesterday they said his colon was dilated and warned us that if it perforated he would need emergency surgery to remove the colon but now today they are saying it looks a little better. The Doctors have not given us a timeline for how long he will need to be hospitalized. Right now they are waiting for his colon to look a little healthier before they dare scope it. The most helpful thing for now is to keep him in your prayers. Our Ward here has been SUPER helpful with meals and childcare so that I can support Aaron and we have already felt many tender mercies from the Lord. We are hopeful that things will turn around and eventually he will be restored to full health hopefully sooner rather than later. Thanks for your care and concern.

You are in my prayer, keep you chin up and keep us updated.

Sorry about Aaron- you're both in our thoughts and prayers.