The Seven of Us

My dad. McKenna, Isaac and Corbin Taylor and Gramma Droddy Kenna, Ike, and  Tay My parents on an air boat in the Florida Everglades. Dave and Bonnie Droddy, winter 2011, Marco Island, FL

 This post is about Taylor. The photos were taken at her 8th grade promotion on May 25th. One of the things I love most about Taylor is her sense of humor. She's always willing to laugh at herself or to make a goofy, off-the-wall comment about a situation.  Not long ago I'd taken her to Sterling to babysit.  I made a quick stop at Sunmart to check out their sale items (they usually have good deals on meat and cereal).  The line was VERY long and I was worried Taylor would be late, so I sent her a text. She fired back:  "Tell the line that your daughter is in LABOR in the parking lot!"   If I could laugh a little more  would life be a little more light-hearted?  I'm grateful I have a daughter to help me with that. Youth and laughter are great anecdotes for middle-aged and serious.  

Well, summer is here, which means my blog is in trouble for two reasons:  I don't have time to post anything, and I don't have a fast computer to use (unless I want to use Jared's work computer between 10:30pm or 6 am).  This post is really a reminder list for me to use when I do have time to elaborate, but maybe it will keep you updated as well.  *Taylor graduated from 8th grade on May 18th.  In spite of the dress drama, it was a nice ceremony.  She was complimented about her dress many times.  People's reactions were generally, "It was SO nice to see someone in a dress that was appropriate for an eighth grade girl." (Thanks, Stalina, for the dress.) +McKenna, Caleb, and Taylor all finished the school year on the Superintendent's honor roll. +Isaac finished the year reading at Level 15 in his Early Prevention books. He worked really, really hard to get there. He is glad not to have homework.  We are reviewing by reading, doing a math worksheet, ...

I have to admit:  I'm plaigarizing again.  I love this post, not because it's about adoption, though I do think posts about adoption are intesting. Nope, I love this post because it addresses something I think most of us struggle with: allowing ourselves to be offended.  My friend Lia (well, not really my friend, just my cyberfriend) is not LDS.  She struggles with a lot of stuff.  She's very honest (almost blunt). But I love her closing statement. If she can see the need to "drop all charges", then shouldn't I, a member of the Church who professes to believe in the Savior and follow him, also be able to do that?  Food for thought. Everything that follows is from Lia. Enjoy. Thunderbolt. Posted on May 28, 2011 So, I was watching a commercial for ancestry.com, thinking about how Before I would never have thought twice about said commercial, and After I’m like, man, it would suck to be in a closed adoption and see these commercials, the...

Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets. -Paul Batlden, MD Even me.  The results I get are rarely the results I want, but I can take heart in the fact that my Creator knows me, planned this, and, therefore, the results I get are okay. I can settle for that .

Spring is beautiful, but I am miserable. To paraphrase another blogger, I am miserably enduring my worst-ever spring allergy season.  Ten springs ago I had moderately annoying ear pain in the spring. That year I realized that my body had decided to stop getting sinus infections and was going to bless me with allergies instead. Maybe every spring has been miserable since, but I don't think any have been like this. (Lightbulb moment: I think progesterone, pregnancy, and lactation hormones inhibit the inflammatory reponse! They must, because that would explain why I probably had 3 or 4 years that weren't too bad at all.)  This year is bad. I can't sleep.  I can feel the postnasal drip coating my throat like chocolate dip coats an ice cream cone. I cough. I sniffle. I buy more claritin, take one, notice that it helps.  Twelve hours later I take two sudafed pills hoping that my pounding headache will go away. All of this from a person who is gravitating...

1.  Getting my BYU Alumni magazine in the mail and opening it up to find a full-size profile photo of Jimmer that  looks a lot like Caleb. Very fun. 2.  Hearing that the temp.erature outside may actually be warmer than 65* on any given day. 3. Knowing that baseball season is starting Friday. 4. Letters (or email, or facebook messages) from family/friends. 5. Along those lines, a good conversation--via text, of course--with my brother. 6. Extra money. 7.  Nowhere to go all afternoon (class is done). 8. Being excited about anything in life. 9.  Baseball is coming, and Caleb was asked to play up a level. 10. Hearing that the price if gas may go down.  That's good news, because if it goes up I'll be sending Caleb to ballgames with friends... 11.  Thinking about going home to NY sometime. 12.  Making my house better. Can't happen fast enough. 13. A good night's sleep. 14. Strawberries.