Back Yard Antics

Hi everyone. Decided it was about my turn to share a little experience I had last week. As all of you know, your Dad has a headlamp that he uses outside, to work very late at night. It has been very beneficial, especially last summer getting ready for the wonderful open house. Well, you may have all heard that we had to do some quick cleaning up down at the bottom of our hillside. Someone turned us into the city, so we spent a day shredding branches, probably there from ten years back. It really was time to clean it up. Another thing we have to do is stack up the railroad ties, many of which have rebar coming out the ends. Another wonderful experience with landscapers. Anyway, dad was working out late in the dark last wednesday night. He slipped and fell on the hillside, and there was a spike sticking up out of one of the railroad ties. It pierced his leg. He continued to work for a while, and as we were getting ready for bed, he mentioned it to me. I could see the bloody hole--not too big--in his pants. He took them off, and he also had a hole in his garments, and HE ALSO HAD A HOLE IN HIS LEG! It wasn't huge, but it needed to be sewn up. Well, it was very late, and Dad proceeded to go through his black bag, found some suture, and asked/told me that I needed to put a suture in it. It really was gaping. I really wish you had been here, Colin. So he draws me a diagram, shows me what the needle needs to do, how I need to jab it in. He really is a very good teacher. Nest he laid down on our bed, and I begin to jab into the edge of the wound (he also told me how close to put it in). All this is with no anesthesia. He also showed me how to wrap the suture around my tweezers (didn't have the instrument you use to hold the needle), one way, then the other way, forming a square knot. Eventually, I got it done. It was definitely not a sterile procedure. He didn't wince or anything. I am happy to report that there are no signs of infection, and the wound is healing nicely. Jason if you had been here, maybe you would have been called upon to operate! Anyway, it was a very interesting experience for me. I know how to do it if I am ever called upon again to become a temporary surgeon. Life is always interesting here on 20th. mom

Having fun so far!!!

Hi family. Thanks for all the comments on my last entry. You guys are all so nice! Today Princess and I were playing a game to compensate for not being able to go to church, it was "I'm grateful for..." and one of my big ones was my awesome family!!

I won't say much about our trip out here, except that we were stuck in LA for 36 hours (we went to Disneyland) and when we got to China we were "detained" for awhile in a "marble prison" (along with the rest of the Americans on the flight) before we could proceed directly to our gate. I felt so welcome. But then, they gave us a stamp in our passport, so I guess we'll let it slide. I actually made a friend on the 15-hour flight named Xiaolong (sounds like Shaalom), and we got to have a great Gospel discussion. Apparently he'd been taught by many volunteer teachers from - of course - BYU. Mormons are so great.

When we got to Bangkok, it was about 2:00pm (3:00am DC time). We went down for a one hour nap that turned into four, and then we went out exploring. We made it as far as the nearest massage parlor and got the cheapest massage ever. (We hope to repeat this as much as possible.) We wandered down one of the most popular night market streets, Kao San Road, and may or may not have gotten weaves in our hair from one of the street vendors. (You'll see them in the pictures. Don't know how long they'll last...they're kind of annoying. But fun.) They said it'd take 2-4 hours. It took 6. We offered to pay more if they got some friends to come help them, but it didn't happen. So non-capitalistic. But we'd gotten used to sitting for long periods of time, and the people-watching options were fantastic. So we just sat and watched the world go by. That was our one night in Bangkok.

We had to catch our flight to Phuket later the next day so we only ended up getting about an hour and a half to see the Grand Palace (a golden and sparkly assault on the eyes) and Wat Pho, which holds the largest reclining Buddha statue in the world. It is seriously big. I'll put some pics at the end so you can all see. An interesting thought: they were building this palace around the same time we were about to start building the Constitution. Hmm...

Now we're in Phuket and it's beautiful. We're staying in the most southeasterly spot called Cape Panwa. Today, we went SCUBA diving. That's right, and I'm not even certified. We got an underwater camera so I'll show pics of that later. We actually checked around for an LDS church but stumbled upon a Muslim church instead. They directed us upstairs to the women's area, we said a prayer on the prayer rug, read a few verses of from the Qur'an, and were on our way. (I read a section with a pretty incomplete explanation of why they believe Jesus is only a Prophet, but they were letting us borrow their mosque for a few minutes, so I wasn't going to complain.)

I think I've gone on long enough. I just want to also say, I'm really glad I'm taking this trip with Princess. We've gone through some stressful situations already, but she takes it like a champ. I know a lot of people I probably wouldn't be friends with anymore after these things. She's great. Enjoy the photos.

Croshaw Book Club?

I was just looking at a book club blog, and I think it would be so fun if we took turns picking books each month and discuss them. We could even start a new blog for it and invite our friends to participate if they'd like. Tell me what you think.

The Best Father's Day Present.

This is the second father's day I've had since I got married more than a year ago from May. Yet on this father's day, my wife really out did herself. Crystal has kept to one of the traditional father's day presents. Like most events in her life though she added her own unique twist to an existing idea.

So here it is...



You'll notice that it's a tie. However, it's much more than that. The pattern shown is a picture of an ultrasound, but it's not just any ultrasound. This is Crystal's and my baby, Asher. The picture was taken at 12 weeks and if you're looking at the real tie up close you'll see her name and the hospital where the ultrasound was done. She always has had an amazing ability to make any gift for a holiday (Birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, etc.) very special. It's one of those areas where I hope to develop the ability to be more like her. She really made this Father's Day as special for me as possible. Thank you so much Crystal for this among many other reasons you've blessed my life.

It's Over... or just beginning

Well the job hunt for us is over!! Monday morning South Pointe hospital, where Colin currently works, freed up funding for an ER residency for 3 years. We prayed and feel very comfortable taking the offer. It is such a blessing because nothing changes financially and our insurance will continue as it always has. We feel this is the opportunity that we were waiting for and even though it is not radiology we feel confident that it is where the Lord wants us to be right now for whatever reason. Thank you all for your prayers!! I really don't think we could have done it without them.

On my way...

Hi everyone. I'm breaking from my trend of just posting pictures of adventures to give a good, old-fashioned update. Because I never really do just talk about what's going on in my life, and I don't know if anyone wonders, but I'm telling you anyway.

Tomorrow morning Princess and I are leaving for Southeast Asia. We won't technically get there until Thursday - partially because we have a 12-hour layover in LA (which we decided to spend at Disneyland), partially because we cross the international dateline, partially because it's a REALLY LONG flight! We're both extra-excited and we'll be real careful. Yes, I've seen Brokedown Palace and I promise to not accept anything from attractive strange men. I'll try to post pictures from time to time.

I've been moving forward with the grad school process. I applied to George Washington University and American University on the last possible application day (May 1), and I found out last week that they never got my transcripts from BYU. But they've been very accommodating since then - GW processed my app "unofficially" without it and AU has agreed to interview me before the transcript comes - which is actually happening in about 3 hours. Deep breaths. (I like AU better.)

Aside from the last-minute trip preparation and grad school craziness, I got to teach the lesson in my Relief Society yesterday, which is pretty intimidating because my ward is full of LDS superstars, and I haven't taught a lesson since I was at BYU-Hawaii in 2004. But I learned something yesterday: the superstars make teaching easy because they have so many comments to share! Still, the lesson prep has been on my mind for awhile.

Also on my mind a lot is Justin, of course. Things are going pretty well there, but there are some big decisions that I think need to be made soon, and we're both feeling the magnitude of that. That alone can be enough to drive anyone to the point of distraction - and I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about!

So, with the trip on the horizon, grad school possibly in the near future, RS lesson, and Justin, I've had a lot on my mind. I'm still doing what needs to be done at my job, but all these other things are giving me a lot of perspective, and it shows. The other day, I asked my boss if it was okay to make a change to one of my cases and he asked, "Is it life or death?" and I laughed in his face. Oops? I said, "Nothing we do is life or death!" Sure, my work is important and valuable to the economy and business world, but it ain't THAT important!

That is all. I love you all and I think a lot about everyone and your own unique current circumstances. I'm praying for you all the time.

xoxo

The drive down

Leaving Idaho....... Utah Somewhere in Utah Colorado New Mexico. Like the bullet holes in the sign? Nice touch. Somewhere in New MexicoAnd the mother of all state signs...........TEXAS!!!!!! We thought it was hilarious when we saw this one compared to all of the other states signs. I guess everything is bigger in Texas.

It has been a long week of unpacking (I'd say we're 90% done, thanks to Melissa) and the tinest bit of sight-seeing. More of that will come on the Delgadillo blog. (I copied Becky and Ray on the state sign pictures, thanks for the idea!)

Sweet little Elliot...

I was downstairs on the computer with Grace yesterday and when I went upstairs to check on Elliot, this is what I found...



Elliot is such a sweet little boy and I love the way that he falls asleep in the funniest places!! He used to do this much more often back when he took naps on a regular basis. This got me thinking about all of the little things I love about Elliot. Here is a little list:

I love the way he eats his pizza crust first.

I love the way that he plays with my hair whenever he is near me.

I love the way he hugs me and says, "I'm so sorry honey mommy".

I love the way he goes out in the back yard and lays on Max, hugging him for a half hour at a time.

I love it when you ask him what color something is and he answers with the spanish word for the color.

I love the way he gathers things up and lines them up, sometimes by color or shape. Here are two examples just from today.

His favorite cartoon is "Super Why" on PBS kids, I love it that he calls it "Super Want".

I love it that he loves letters and numbers so much. He will sit at the table for an hour writing all his letters and numbers on a piece of paper.

I love it that he writes smiley faces on everything.

I love it that he loves Charlie Brown so much. I love the way he and Grace will still act out scenes from Charlie Brown Christmas.

I love it that he always wants to dress up in Grace's dress up clothes and shoes whenever she is playing with them. (Ray doesn't love this so much!)

I love it that he loves primary songs so much and tries to make requests during singing time in nursery.

I love it when we are in the store and I hear a song I like and tell him to dance, and he does it.

The list could go on and on, but those are just a few reasons why I love Elliot so much!!

International Development on a Corporate Budget

Hey everybody! I'm sorry I don't ever post anything, but most things seem pretty boring compared to all of Abby's crazy adventures and your beautiful kids.

A few of you have asked me a couple of different times what I do for a living, besides just traveling around. An article in Time Magazine called Manufacturing: The Burden of Good Intentions just came out a couple of days ago, which more or less talks about the work I do. Levi's is mentioned, Michael (my boss) is quoted a couple of times, and it even talks about some of my particular projects.

It doesn't give a ton of context and as I read it, I kind of wondered if an outsider would understand all of it, so let me know if you need me to define any of the strange jargon. Happy Reading!

Let's go ride bikes!

Me and Princess rode bikes to Harpers Ferry last weekend. 70 miles of beautiful scenery. Look what I learned to do!

We Made It!!

For those of you who don't frequent the VanderLouw family blog (dad)...

So, after months of anticipation and preparation, we are finally here!! We actually got here a week ago, only to learn that the movers wouldn't be here with all of our stuff until FRIDAY!!! We are so lucky that Ray's work paid for movers, so I am totally not complaining, but 10 days?! That is how long it took from the time they loaded it until we got it. So we were living on air mattresses with a borrowed TV/DVD player for most of the week. We were so happy when they finally arrived on Friday. It was seriously exhausting trying to keep the kids all in check when they were unloading, but I was so relieved when I finally had my bed to sleep in (despite the fact that I am still waking up at 5 am every day!!). Anyway, the house is still a mess, but we have the kitchen and living room all unpacked. Ray is leaving tomorrow for the week for work, (nice timing, I know) so who knows when it will all get done! It has been absolutely frigid here since we arrived. I don't think it has gotten over 60 the entire week. The average has been the low to mid 50's. Needless to say, I didn't pack hardly any warm clothes (it was in the 80's in OK when we left!!) So the kid's clothes were seriously disgusting when we finally got our washer and dryer! It is supposed to start warming up next week, but Tuesday isn't supposed to get any warmer than 50!! Despite all that, it is so beautiful here. I sooo missed the mountains. It feels wonderful to be surrounded by them again!

Here is a little overview of our trip!

We stayed in Goodland, KS on our first night. I guess that Goodland is the sunflower growing capital of the US. There was this 80 ft. painting of Van Gough's "Sunflowers". The story is that when Van Gough painted this particular piece he did 7 different paintings. Some art teacher in Canada decided to do all 7 paintings on giant 80 ft. steel easels and place on on each continent in the world. Little ol' Goodland, KS got the North American painting! This was right by our hotel. We passed up the largest prairie dog in the world a few miles back!

Maggie wasn't in the Colorado pic because she was zonked!!

We actually missed the Wyoming sign when we got to WY because of construction. So we just crossed the street when we got to ID (we were on a little deserted 2 lane highway) and took the picture with they WY sign!

Yeah!! Back in beautiful Idaho!

We stopped in Pocatello and stayed for a day. It was a much needed break that all were grateful for. Unfortunately, grandma and grandpa were on vacation, but my sister Dana, her husband and kids are staying with my parents until they move to San Antonio next week. So we got to see them and all the cousins got to play. The had so much fun!!

Max was extremely grateful for the break. He loves grandma and grandpa's house more than just about anywhere else! (We had Max groomed before we left, when we picked him up Grace saw the green handkerchief around his neck and said "did they say that Max was a pioneer dog?" It was really cute.)

You can tell that Grace and Colby are related!! They had so much fun together!

Our trip to Walmart. I love the way Maggie is leaning over to get in the pic!!

Jez and Trina came to visit us while we were there. They are moving to Minnesota next week!

Ironically we didn't get a picture by the Washington sign because it was in the middle of the freeway, not on the left hand side. But we are here and very happy about it!

New Blog!

If you can believe it, blogadillo was taken, so it's www.theblogadillos.blogspot.com
Eva's birthday party post is on there. Yeehaw. :)

One Step Closer

I just wanted everyone to know how thankful I am for all the prayers and support you have given us. A couple weeks ago there was a program in Michigan that posted an opening, so I applied for it. About a week after that they emailed me inviting me to interview, along with 7 other applicants. So tomorrow I am driving up to Flint, MI to interview for probably the last available radiology spot in the country this year. I have a 1 in 7 chance to get this spot, so I feel very fortunate to even be interviewing. Luckily it is only about 3 hours drive away from us and they are providing a hotel room, so it is much easier to make the trip.

With no real prospects in the past 6 or 7 months, it is hard for me to not be overly excited and hopeful about this spot, but it's the only prospect I have to focus my hope on. I have been thinking a lot about all the times I have been told, in one way or another, about my future in radiology. There's a scripture in D&C I read that was pertinent to my situation. It talks about seeking signs. I find myself at times wanting a reconfirmation on something that has already been confirmed to me. D&C 63: 9-10 - "But, behold, faith cometh not by signs, but signs follow those that believe. Yea, signs come by faith, not by the will of men, nor as they pelase, but by the will of God."

It's something that is closer than it has been before, but it could still be out of reach. I try to tell myself if it's where we are supposed to be then a way will be made for us to be there. That's what I have to tell myself. So tomorrow I am going to fast again for good results on Monday. I would appreciate any last minute prayers on my behalf, maybe at about 8:30 Eastern time Monday morning. This post ended up being much longer than I thought it was going to be.

Again thanks for all your support.
Colin

Happy Birthday Eva!!

Our little Eva Jane is 2 today! Hard to believe, but she has definitely been acting the part this last week. Yikes! She's such a sweet and happy girl. Happy Birthday Eva!! (No current pictures, our computer is packed up.)

Memorial Day Fun

We had so much fun on Memorial Day this year. They have a parade just 2 blocks from our house that we went to. Of course the kids had a blast, it was hot!!! We also had some friends over for a BBQ. The kids played in the water and sandbox. It was quite the mess but I think we all had fun.

Air Guitarists, UNITE!

There has been too much inactivity here, so I'm breaking the silence. I talk about this more on my blog, but just in case no one looks there, I thought this was worth mentioning...I went to an Air Guitar Championship last night! It actually exists and I was there! The costumes were hilarious and the rockers were out of control. In a good way. Most of the time. It was a classic rock show. Fortunately, I had my celly so everyone can experience the magic that is Air Guitar. It was pretty surprising - some of these guys were actually very good! This guy below was the winner who will go on to Nationals in San Francisco, and possibly to the INTERNATIONAL competition in Norway. (Yeah. It's that big.) Some people were just born to rock, with or without guitars.