Why Did I Go To Radford, Virginia?

Once upon a time there was a most excellent Mom and Dad named Jaime and Jack.  They had three sons named Finnegan (left), who is 11 and in the 6th grade, Grayson (middle), who is 6 and in the 1st grade and Sawyer (right), who is 3 and attends preschool 3 mornings per week.  This is their recent family photo taken in October at a local railroad.  Aren't they a very nice looking family?     : )

Jaime, Jack and the boys live in a charming, small rural town in

by the name of

On Sunday, October 25, 2009, Jaime and her family went to their local Radford Ward where Jack is their Bishop. 

Jaime wasn't feeling well so she stood up to leave her Relief Society meeting, and fainted.  Thankfully she did not know at that time what was happening.  And, I cannot get the image out of my mind of the horror Jack must have experienced as he quickly heard that someone had collapsed, and then discovered it was his own wife.  Jaime was rushed to the local hospital via ambulance but had lost a lot of blood due to the internal bleeding which caused her to faint.   In Jaime's own words as posted on their blog, called "My Three Son's", she said,

 "Jack and I had been trying to get pregnant for 7 months. I was finally pregnant, went in to the doctor at 10 weeks and found out I was having a miscarriage. At what I thought was near the end of the miscarriage my fallopian tube exploded because it turned out I had an ectopic pregnancy. I fainted due to the internal bleeding from my tube rupturing. I am skipping the remainder of the gory details of what it entailed with the exception of:  lots of internal bleeding, fatally low blood pressure, possible organ failure, a touch and go night, Jack sleeping on a couch in the ICU waiting room, and a chain of international phone calls for blessings to heaven to plead for my life. Heavenly Father heard your prayers, sent amazing doctors and nurses my way, and now I am here to dictate this post to you."

Here is a picture of Jaime four days after she was admitted into the hospital.  There were way too many hours on that Sunday night during and after her emergency surgery and into Monday when we were all very scared and worried for her.  She may have been bruised and in pain, but the most important thing is that she is A-L-I-V-E.

Because she had lost so much blood, they weren't able to find a vein and her poor arms were so sore.

So, after the trauma of emergency surgery and being in the hospital for a week, she was finally able to be driven up her wonderful rural street in Radford, Virginia

and return H O M E. 

Anyone who has been in the hospital for even a day knows how wonderful it is released, to get out of the hospital, with the not so comfortable hospital bed, noise, constant poking and prodding, and return to your own wonderful home and bed.  Their home is the first white house you see with the stairs.

Brittany, Jaime's younger sister and her two kids made the 6 hour drive down from Ohio for the first week Jaime was home from the hospital to take care of her and the kids since Jack needed to return to his job as Principal of the new elementary school in town (where Finn attends). Here is a picture of Brittany with Maya, age 3 and Jasper, age 18 months.  They are adorable as well!    : )

But Jaime needed help after Brittany left, and I was so willing and happy to provide this assistance, so this

namely, me, booked a flight to Virginia to help Jaime for the next two weeks after the

that Jaime and her family had experienced. 

While I wasn't happy at the chain of events that caused my sudden trip , I was

to be able to care for Jaime and my grandkids and help Jack during this time.

So, Grandma Nita boarded a plane in Ontario, California
to fly to Virginia.

But, since Jaime lives in a very rural town in Virginia, I flew into Charlotte, North Carolina on Saturday, 11/7/09, and Brittany picked me up.  It was a 2.5 hour drive to Jaime's home in Virginia which passed quickly as Brittany and I had many things to talk about after having not seen each other for one year.

This post was all about my reason for going to Virginia.  See my next post for the fun details about my trip and time with Jaime, Jack, Brittany and my five adorable grandkids.   I have tons of pictures and fun experiences I can't wait to share!   : )

Fight or Flight Syndrome - I Chose Flight

This morning as I got the boys up for school, I noticed Champ was acting more animated than normal for 6 a.m.  He is not a morning puppy but was running around my bedroom excitedly.  I immediately felt horror, since he acted this same way at Christmas last year when he cornered a mouse in the formal living room (said mouse having been brought in with the Christmas decorations from the garage).  Sure enough, as I sat outside my bedroom door in the upstairs hall, watching the action in my bedroom, and hoping for the best but fearing the worst, I saw the M-O-U-S-E run from under my sleigh bed, and it was running right toward where I sat.  Of course, in typical girl fashion, I screamed and leapt upon the cedar chest where I had been sitting.  Once the mouse was under the cedar chest, which I had thought was a safe haven, I jumped off and ran back into my bedroom and leapt effortlessly (fear will do that to you) upon the bench at the foot of my bed, screaming all the while.  I didn't realize I could jump so fast and easily until this moment.  The three men in the house were not amused but did come quickly to my aid.  I'm not afraid of some normal pests but am not fond of mice.  I can tolerate them in the garage occassionally but NEVER in the house, especially in my bedroom. 

You see, I've always had a fear of a MOUSE IN THE HOUSE.  Sharyn's Grandma Kennington told a story of sleeping one night and awakening when a mouse ran across her face and I've always been horrified at the thought.  Bedrooms should be a sacred refuge from the worries (and pests) of the world.  But living with hills, trees and the Cleveland National Forest practically in our front yard brings other pests, namely mice.  So Chris bought mouse hotels or something like that so the puppy couldn't get hurt and put them under the bed and cedar chest but no luck yet.  (Can you believe I have glorified mousetraps under my bed?  UGGGGHHHHH).  As you can imagine, I am not looking forward to going to bed tonight as mice are nocturnal and I'm not.  Luckily, my ever vigilant puppy will be standing watch and I awake anytime I hear him moving since his licenses and dog tags jingle jangle.  Oh, and here's the last weird part:  As I stood atop the bench rigid with fear (yes, it's true) well after Chris took the boys to school, I kept composing this blog in my head.  Now that is scary.