Dear Family,
Jared’s birth mom is getting married! And we have been invited to the whole event. Jared’s about as happy for Leslie as an 8 year old boy can be. His main concern isn’t so much that Leslie’s getting married, but more so that he will have to wear a suit to the wedding. “It’ll be SO boring in church clothes!” We’ve tried to explain that just because he has to wear a suit doesn’t mean it won’t be fun, but he doesn’t believe us. And it will be more fun than the traditional wedding. Leslie and Bryan (the fiancé) are having the reception the night before the wedding. It’s carnival theme, casual dress, and will be a big party with lots of kid friendly games. Then the next day Jared gets to hang out in the temple waiting room during the ceremony with all his cousins (I really hope they won’t be too rowdy). Leslie wants to be there early with her family so we can be in her family pictures and she wants pictures of just her and Jared at the temple. Jared is tired having his picture taken (and I’m strictly forbidden to post anymore pictures of him on Facebook, sad!) so I hope we can get at least one smile out of him.
Ryan can’t wait to ask for the day off for our wedding. He says it’s going to be so funny:
“Why are you taking the day off?”
“Oh, my son’s mom is getting married.”
“What??? Are you and Sherry ok???”
“Yeah. It’s a Utah thing. I’ll explain later.”
Hee hee :0)
Life has been rather stressful over here in the Keller home lately. I’m still in physical therapy. I have some stubborn scar tissue under my rib cage that’s really painful and is pulling on that whole fascia line there. I’m almost always wearing a belly brace and really miss being able to run and play the way I used to. However, I am back to running again. It’s only 15 minutes (no inclines) and I have to wear my brace, but for that 15 minutes I feel much more like myself.
Ryan has a new boss at work. OC Tanner hired a new CTO a year ago (?) who came in and planned to revolutionize everything. He brought in a bunch of his own people and wanted to rewrite everything in Ruby and move in a different direction with the technology. Then a few months ago he suddenly announced he’d gotten a better job someplace else that he couldn’t pass up and he left. It took a couple months to find a new guy to replace him and Ryan just met that guy last week. He thinks the new guy seems ok, a little less ADD than the last guy, so we’ll see how that goes for him.
We’re still fighting the bully battle with that kid in Jared’s class. Things have gotten bad enough that we’ve been talking to his teacher, the principal, vice principal, the “special teacher on assignment”, and the guidance counselor. We had a meeting last week that wasn’t very encouraging. The teacher kept assuring me that she was talking to Christian’s parents every day and maybe was Jared just too sensitive? And she kept saying that the kids weren’t doing the potty talk anymore because otherwise she’d know. I assured her that it was still going on and still very much a problem. I’ve talked to some of the other moms in the class, besides which Jared has been very upset.
Finally we’re making some headway though. The teacher called some of the other moms to see what their kids were saying about Christian and she had a very serious talk with ALL the boys in the class about inappropriate jokes, etc. She’s now sending anyone straight to the principal at the slightest drop of potty talk. We also discovered that Jared won’t move away from Christian at lunch. Christian always sits by Jared and Jared doesn’t want to give up his favorite seat even if it means getting away from this kid. We had a nice talk with Jared, complete with a great story about a little boy who stick his inside a fence every day to pet the dog on the other side and got bit by said dog every day. We talked about how sometimes the best way to stand up for yourself is to leave. Jared remained adamant. He was NOT moving his seat. So the next day I gave him an ultimatum. “Today is your last chance to choose to sit someplace else,” I said. “If you don’t, then I am going to have your teacher assign you a seat.” That made him so mad at me! But I told him, “I knew that would make you mad but I decided to do it anyway because it’s just that important.”
Well, guess what? He moved seats! That was huge for Jared! And what a difference it made right away! He was like a new boy when he got home from school. He was so much happier than he’s been in months and more cheerful, self-confident, optimistic, and is even thinking more creatively again. It is amazing what standing up for yourself can do. We’re not out of the woods yet though. We’re going to to give this 2 weeks and if things aren’t better, we’re going to have to move Jared to a different class. It breaks my heart (Ryan’s too) to see Jared so hurt because of this kid. I just keep repeating over and over again, “opportunity for growth……………opportunity for growth…………this can be good for Jared……….”
Did I tell you we wrecked our car last month? Ryan’s work does the occasional free nerd movie for everyone in his dept plus a date. We were on our way to the theater in Sandy to see the Hobbit and Ryan was worried because we were running late. He was driving flustered, hit a patch of black ice, and rear ended the car in front of us, which hit the car in front of him. (That has set me back in my belly healing, ouch!) Luckily we have great insurance and didn’t have to pay for anything. The body shop had to replace the hood, bumper, side something or other, radiator, both headlights, and something behind the right headlight (I forgot what). After 2 weeks we have our car back and it looks like new! That’s probably because of all those new parts. ;0) One really cool thing about the crash is that for about 2 weeks before it I was starting to feel better and better with my belly and starting to wear my brace less and less. Every time I got in the car to drive tho I had the distinct impression that I should wear my brace when I’m in the car because it would really hurt if we hit someone and I wasn’t wearing my brace. That was a real blessing to me and one of the Lord’s tender mercies that let me know He’s watching out for me.
And one last story. ? Before I married Ryan I was really independent. I was the kind of girl who knew I could do anything a guy could. I thought gender roles in the home were pretty lame. But Ryan came from a family where the women did almost all the inside work and the men did all the outside work and any of the hard labor. Well, I have gotten soft since marrying Ryan. I still like to mow the lawn and shovel the driveway from time to time, but I really, really like knowing that I don’t have to because Ryan will always take care of it. Last week I had a moment that showed me just how much I rely on Ryan to do the more “manly” jobs.
This is what happened: our toilet clogged while he was at work and I was home alone. And, of course, it clogged after I’d pooped so it was EXTRA gross! As I went for the plunger I realized something. I couldn’t remember when the last time was that I’d plunged a toilet! And I wasn’t sure if I could even do it! Well, I plunged my heart out and that toilet just would not unclog. The water would slowly drain away, leaving chunks of toilet paper and poop. I’d try to flush it again and it would fill to the brim with swirly, poopy water. Finally I called Ryan in desperation. “I clogged the toilet and I can’t plunge it! Help me!!!” I pleaded. Then Ryan talked me through it until I finally got it unclogged. Oh, it was pretty funny and Ryan definitely found it amusing. I’d say that experience made me appreciate his “50s ways” a lot more. And it showed Ryan how happy I am that he is always the one to take on the toilets and other less pleasant jobs around the house!
Time to take Jared for a haircut. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I’m just now realizing that I didn’t even mention our Christmas. It was great! Love to you all!
Love,
Sherry, Ryan, and Jared
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