sparkle D and baby bird

our best friend, meag sparkle diamond, came to visit on her way to guatemala to visit her fiance, jose!

as a montessori teacher, she was easy-going with our attention-hogging perritos.

it was HOT that week so to beat the heat meag spent two days with me at work helping organize my office and our adult literacy library. it was a such a treat to have a friend see where i spend most of my week, eat lunch together and just do everyday stuff!

meag wuvs flora and flora wuvs meag...

the only bad part was that paco la pistola was on the move and ate ALL of meag's fish oil pills in her travel bag. i was FREAKED out so i gave him something to barf it up. i worried all night and then the next morning he showed me to his rubbery, cod-scented treasure. gross... but i'm sure someone can appreciate this story.

meag and n are old pals, too. the last time they had seen one another was in 2010 when nathanael was bed-bound. meag came to help me take care of him, including the delicate and intense task of lifting him out of bed each day and helping him walk. it was the most difficult time of our lives and i'll always remember the help of family and friends that God has provided during the hardest parts of this journey. 

               

Meag helping N walk in August 2010

Meag and N taking a walk in June 2012

speaking of precious familia, our little sister fee birdling came to be with us and help me out, too. she was a HUGE blessing to me. she kicked butt on many household chores i could NEVER get done, and was great company to cheer me up and cook me tasty salads. it was super special to have time together. we had lunch at cafe pasquals on my day off, and she even got to see meag the day before she headed to guatemala. we rarely get to see one another, so this was a wonderful time to catch up and just hang out during the day to day grind. thanks again, bird, for doing the nitty gritty, gnarlsburg chores like going to recycle, dump, cleaning closets and the terrifying, spidery garden bench o' crap.

hey, yo!

it's a been a busy summer. we have been able to spend time with old pals and new ones. for that we are thankful. 

N's health has been a major challenge since our visitors have left. he has lost more weight and isn't able to walk on the road right now (as pictured above) due to the fragility of his knees and ankles again. with God's grace we take it day by day and try not to worry about the future. our times our in His hands.

we hope to do another stem cell this month so we'll keep you posted. thank you to our dear family and friends who have been supporting us in that effort. we see your names on the fundraiser website and are very behind on thank yous so please know that WE THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!

thank you for reading, thinking of and praying for us!

roxie

special K

our best, wonderful, most specialist friend kathy hanawalt came to visit in june. we both lived with her in tacoma, WA during separate semesters in college at the parthenon-- our somewhat delapitated rental with giant greek columns looming over the front porch. kath traveled to see us from tacoma and left behind her hubby, Bill (Guillermo) with their adorable daughters Nora and Maryn. 

it was a blessed reunion.  

among many chores, kath picked all the sour cherries off our trees and made martha stewart's sour cherry and pistachio crisp. tasterific! 

 we also spent a wonderful saturday on a short hike in 90 degree heat where I turned into a tomato and had to baste myself in all the icepacks I could dig out of the grocery cooler. we then drove slowly up upper canyon road all the way to the randall davey audubon center. we enjoyed vast conversation topics while eating fruit and stopping to take pictures on this historical calle. it was soooo relaxing... and we followed it with burgers and milkshakes at flying star. happiness...

we ate lots of good food at home, too,  including green chile enchiladas.

on monday i had to work so kath busied herself pulling  some monster weeds, and then...

making us a special dinner of blackbean and quinoa salad and a side of watermelon/jicama/lime/cayenne salsa so we could watch emily date a bunch of superdorks on the bachelorette. totally my kind of day. 

 ... and paco now has a new auntie.

i was so blessed these guys could reunite as it has been seven years since N left our beloved tacoma.


thanks Jesus for such a special friend and such a refreshing visit.

amigoful weekend

our dear, dear buddies, tim, abby and avery isaacson visited last 

weekend.  

 we went to bandelier national monument on the pajarito plataeu!

li'l miss avery is an EXCELLENT hiker...

...just like her momma (pictured goin' up the ladders to the alcove house).








meanwhile, back at the ranch...

 N was heartily cheered up by his best friend, Dr. Bro.

and my co-worker, kevan and his fiance alex joined us for burgers on sunday! so especial.  

this is my burger... my gramma always says it's like feeding a marine... hmmm...thanks.

 i was sooooo blessed that kevan and alex could finally meet nathanael AND take a walk with us!!!

 public health nutritionist divas just rappin' away. so cute.

 my little buttercup poohead

 prayin' for the man

 she really has a romantic, little face when she puckers up for her goodbye kisses... kind of adorable!!!

but enough is enough!

that's all folks... it's so fun to have summertime visitors to make our hearts glad!

hello out there...

sorry for the delay after the last post!

the last batch of stem cells did not go well. N was so sick and fluish for a few weeks that it was all-consuming for us.

since it did not go well, and there was a hold up in the time-sensitive delivery (not on our part), we have agreed to have the doctor re-administer the treatment. right now he still needs time to stabilize with the yucky symptoms.

the upside is that he has been able to take mini-walks down the driveway and up the culdesac. that is incredible and blesses me to no end. i only hope it lasts...

the downside is that he has been losing weight and still feels weak, in pain, and battles the litany of indescribable lyme symptoms that only those who deal with it understand.

thanks for thinking of us and for praying for my N. sorry again for the delayed update...

y

....felices días de las madres...

love, chief big butt's mom

stem cells for my hero

back in the day

n and i were recalling a cute story a little over 8 years ago, just before we were married...

one afternoon in fall 2003, nathanael visited me for lunch at jennie reed elementary school in tacoma, washington where i worked as an ESL specialist. he was walking down the dim, linoleum hallway back from my classroom to his car (pictured above) when he came in step with a cute, african-american first grader. they walked silently together side by side when the conversation broke out.

"hey, spiderman," the little boy said as they marched on.

it must have been the sandy blond hair and glasses on the tall, white guy, or maybe it was his black oakley shoes with the white, web stitching!

"is that a complement?" nathanael replied as they continued in stride.

he finally looked up at him in surprise: "no, it's a superhero."

tomorrow spiderman receives a new and more powerful batch of stem cells than ever. he's nervous about going off his meds so thank you for praying for him.

C is for kookie

new mexikookie art by fee bird, hills, franco and rockie