She Can Hear!!

Let's start with a bit of back story.  Since our sweet little Jocelyn was born she has not been able to pass a hearing test.  She really doesn't respond much to loud noises (which, with 4 siblings who tend to get loud, can actually be quite nice during nap time.)  We have been going through the process of testing, monitoring, and waiting for her to grow.  She has had liquid junk in her middle ear which has blocked the ability for sound to travel to her inner ear.  There were times we thought it was clearing on it's own, but just as soon as we were hopeful, it would get all blocked again.

 So . . . At her 9 month follow-up and failure of another auditory test on Tuesday, and checking-up with the ENT on Wednesday, it was decided that she needs tubes put in her ears on Thursday!!    So . . . bright and early Thursday morning we arrived at the hospital. Now I know this is a totally routine surgery, (our second had it done at 9M for ear infections) and that the physician's will do a wonderful job, and that Josie would do great, but I still couldn't help but get nervous.  I guess that is just part of being a mom, we worry!!!

Jocelyn got to wear a cute little gown with tiger's on it. Isn't she cute!! She was a pro waiting for the surgery.  She just played with her toys and examined her new surroundings.  I was quite impressed considering she should have been super hungry.  She is such a good little girl.

Her new favorite toy arrived in the form of a monitor.  This one was hard to keep out of her mouth :)  She liked that the part on her toe kept glowing red.   . . .   And before you knew it she was headed back for surgery.

I didn't take anymore pictures as she came back feeling pretty lousy trying to shake off the anesthesia.  We took her home and after a bottle and a nap she was back to her happy self . . . with one slight change.  When I hollered down the stairs for the kids to come up for lunch (I am to lazy to walk down them) I was shocked that Josie started crying behind me.  I had startled her with my hollering.   This has never happened before.   And then a few minutes later, when my son let out a Hooray for Mac and Cheese shout, she startled again and began to cry.

Those tears are such a blessing!!!  She can hear.  I am just so happy for her.  What a wonderful ending to a nerve-racking 9 months.  We started out fearing she was deaf, to hoping she would be able to hear with hearing aids, to perfect hearing (I hope, we have to follow up in a few weeks) with the aid of tubes.  I am just overjoyed.  Now the kids and I just have to work on keeping our voices down.  I can't imagine how it must be to go from a soundless/muffled world to a noisy and loud world. But, I can say, I am so happy that we will be going through the transition!!

Spring Break!!

The end of last week was Spring Break for the kids so we loaded them up and headed for Castle County to go play with our best friends ( We all lived in IN and then they moved to Salt Lake when we moved to Cedar City)  at Goblin Valley.  

We camped in our new (to us) little tent trailer.  It was a bit cold at night but a propane heater solved that problem.  Camping also means we ate like kings!!  There are few foods that I like more than campfire cooking.  We had Lasagna, Ribs, Scones, Dutch Oven Potatoes, Roasted Pigs in a Blanket, and of course, Smores :)  

We hiked a ton, and the kids were quite the little hikers.  Most of the time it was me dragging in the back.  My favorite hike was this cool slot canyon.  So fun!!!

 And we played a ton!!  Hide and seek in these Hoodoos is such a blast.  Although, there were a few times when the kids were a little to good at hiding.  You could seriously loose someone in here if you aren't careful :)

We enjoyed time with our friends.  Here's one of all the kids minus Baby Jocelyn.  (She was taking a nap :)  And ya, as you can see from their faces, we got quite a lot of sun :)

Aren't family vacations so fun!!!  Thanks again Clint and Becca for inviting us!  We had a blast!!

And now the only bummer of the weekend.  The Monday Aftermath :)

Construction Trucks

 We had a major landslide up the canyon last fall.  The talk is that it will be fixed before summer with limited access on weekends in May.  I have my doubts, but that didn't stop us from driving up to the mouth of the canyon to see the dump trucks they are planning to use to move the dirt.  After driving these up and down the canyon a few times I wonder how long it will be before they have to fix the rest of the road.

Kami wanted a picture of her own so here we are.

I wish I would have gotten a picture with the Yukon in the background,but oh well.  I'm sure the trucks aren't going anywhere soon.

Gratitude

My mission president passed away this past week and I miss him dearly.  I haven't seen him, or his wife and family, since they finished their mission 14 years ago.  They came up from Brazil for a mission reunion last spring and I longed to be there but the end of residency did not allow that to happen.  Marcos Prieto, along with my Father and brothers, is a man of profound influence in my life.  Much of what I am and hope to be I learned from this man and I was deeply saddened to hear of his passing.  I have wet my pillow not a few times over the past week praying for his wife and children and I am secure in the knowledge that the Lord will bless them for his service.

In this state I have been able to think of some of the many blessings in my life.

I am grateful that cancer didn't take my dad.  I wasn't here when he was diagnosed nor did I see him during his year of chemo, but I am reminded of the miracle that is his remission every day I see his former patients who never forget to ask how my dad is doing.  I love telling people that he is 3 years free of cancer, and I love living 2 doors from my parents.  I have taken my parents for granted my whole life and thanks to modern medicine I look forward to continuing to do that for quite a few years to come.

I am grateful that after a decade and a half of living away from Cedar I am back and living in the same town as my brother.  I go running with my brother three mornings a week and though it is still difficult to pull myself out of bed on those mornings, I cherish that time.  I enjoy the exercise and the company.

I'm grateful for a job that keeps me from being worried about the upcoming presidential election.  Frustrated, yes, but not worried.  I once arrogantly thought that I wouldn't have too many trials concerning personal finances because I understand them and I do a pretty good job at saving.  The likelihood of having to worry about finances is not very high for us and I'm not so dumb as to not be able to recognize the blessing in that.

I'm grateful for a mother who is the greatest grandmother in the world.  Jessi absolutely adores my mom.  When grandma was gone last week for a convention Jessi was a shell of herself each day as she had to do her reading at home with mom or dad.  Every day she asked when grandma was coming back.  Once again I love having my parents 2 doors away, because, heaven knows, we all need help raising kids and I think I may be on the lower portion of that bell curve.

I'm grateful for Kentucky, Washington, and Indiana and how they have shaped my thoughts.  I have met wonderful people who do not believe as I do and yet are great contributors to society.  The "yet" in that past sentence makes me sound as though only those who believe as I do can truly be good people and I have to admit that growing up I may have felt that way a time or two, but I was very very wrong and I'm glad to have been wrong.

I'm grateful for Melissa for every reason imaginable.  I'm sad that she was never able to meet President Prieto, but I know he would thank her for continuing what he and the other great influences in my life have done with me.

I am grateful for my time on my mission when I was able to work so closely with a chosen servant of the Lord.  I am grateful for the knowledge that I will see him again and be able to feel his warm embrace.

The Annual Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

                I am happy to be writing another Christmas letter.  Many of you may remember (not so happily) from last year that the tone of the Christmas letter tends to be set by the outcome of a certain football game, and though it’s been over 2 months I still have a little celebration each morning at 6 minutes to 11.               

                Of course the biggest news of the year is that we added another member to the family.  She’s wonderful and perfect and sometimes I just like to stare at her and think about all the good times we’re going to have together.  That’s right folks I bought a truck in July (that last part about staring at the truck really is true, Melissa says I’m pathetic, and she’s probably right).

                It really has been a wonderful year and we have been very blessed with the addition of Jocelyn Melissa Corry to our family.  She was born September 22, and has been a joy in our lives (more of a joy for Melissa than myself as I tend to like children much more than babies, but I am warming up to her).  Both mom and baby are very healthy.

                We moved home to Cedar City in July and have loved every minute of being home.  I finished residency in South Bend, IN at the end of June and we said goodbye to a number of great friends and made our way across the country for what we consider to be our last cross-country move.   I’ve been approached numerous times in the past 5 months and asked if it was all worth it now that we’re home.   My response each time (as corny as it sounds) has been: The experience itself has always been worth it the job and being back home are just icing on the cake.

                Melissa continues to stay busy with our 5 children at home.  Four of the kids have school at some time of the week, but not all together so she spends a fair amount of time running from place to place.  She continues to design, sew, quilt, write tutorials and then blog about it all.  We now live two doors from my mother (which I love) and I have found that the trips to the fabric store are a little more expensive than they were in South Bend, but when you move to a larger sewing room you have to fill up that space with something.  I’m not complaining, I had to fill and empty carport a few months ago.  With all that keeps her so busy, Melissa did find time to participate in a Triathlon with my brother and me last Saturday.  She swam while I biked and Robert ran.  It was a lot of fun and something I hope to do again.

                Spencer, 8, was baptized in January and has amazed his parents with his understanding of that ordinance.  He is currently in 3^rd grade at South Elementary.  He enjoys his class and is being taught by a woman who taught one of the two kindergarten classes when I attended kindergarten there.  He also got glasses a month ago and has been commenting quite a bit about how much he has missed seeing in the past.  He was very surprised to see the Bishops eyes in church his first Sunday with his glasses.  Spencer also went on his first deer hunt this year and enjoyed it immensely.  He wasn’t there when I got my deer (it happened later on in the hunt while he was in school), but is still excited to have the antlers go up on his wall (mom’s not too enamored with that, but she’s not ready to let me build a cabin and it’s not safe to drive around with a rack of antlers in my truck).

                Jessica, 6, is in first grade at South Elementary and loves it.  She reads with her grandmother every day after school.  It’s interesting because she reads for 20 minutes each day but often times we don’t see her until dinner time which is well over an hour after she gets home from school.  She is happy to have her own bedroom downstairs with an attached bathroom and walk-in closet.  I’m a little worried about a 6 year-old being that excited about those things, but whatcha gonna do?

                Kristian, 4, (probably 5 by the time you get this letter, unless you read it on the blog) goes to preschool 4 days a week at a school that is located in what was part of the playground when I was a student at South Elementary.  He’s in class with his cousin and they have really warmed up to each other after what was a little bit of a rocky start.  Kristian is our little athlete as his favorite pastime is wrestling, wrestling and wrestling.  When his uncle Mark came down to visit he had a wrestling camp with the kids.  The other 3 tired quickly, but Kristian was still ready to “belly down” after 30 minutes of drills.

                Kamryn, 2, continues to grow into her personality.  We haven’t figured her out quite yet as she gets into more trouble than the first 3 kids combined ever did.  I can’t remember the last time her feet were free of marker.  She is enamored with her new baby sister and often becomes sad when Josie cries for more than 30 seconds.  She attends a preschool 1 day a week to help with her speech as she tests at the level of a 4 year old for understanding, but at the age of a 1 year old for her speech.  I’m not entirely sure how they measure that stuff, but I believe it as Kami always seems to know the perfect time to flash a smile or give a kiss or hug to get out of trouble.

                Jocelyn, 0, is a baby and I don’t particularly enjoy babies so I have nothing to say here.  Okay that’s probably not nice.  We were very worried about Josie because she failed her first 2 hearing screens and when she went in for the definitive test the machine broke, but she didn’t seem to respond to anything before the machine broke.  A lot of prayers were said and tears were shed.  Two weeks ago she had another test and while she does have some decreased hearing she can, in fact, hear.  She has a repeat test in a couple of months, and we are much less afraid about it.  It’s a new experience for us to be happy when our baby wakes up crying because her siblings are screaming in the hall, but the two times it has happened have been very joyful moments for us.

                We wish you all the best this holiday season.  It has been a wonderful year for our family and we have certainly felt the hand of the Savior in our lives.

Love,

Jacob, Melissa,

 Spencer (Spence) , Jessica (Jessi), Kristian (Nader), Kamryn (Kami, Bubbles), and Jocelyn (Josie)

In case your were wondering we have not lost any from the ranks of the Ute faithful this year, but Nader is still holding strong to his Irish.