for posterity...: Thoughts and Prayers...

HISTORY

A Little History:

Our story begins in Pocatello, Idaho, circa 1972, when the lovely Debby Christensen agreed to a first, though fateful date with admirer, David Croshaw. Long story-short, he bade her follow him, and they went arm-in-arm to the Logan, Utah temple for establishment of an eternal family unit, Generation 1, on May 23 1973.

From their first blissful summer in Salt Lake City, educational pursuits took them to Provo/Orem, Utah, birthplace of Leslie and Rebecca, and to San Francisco/Oakland California, birthplace of Colin and Matt. Then, for establishment of livelihood, expansion of the tribe with Abby and Dana, and for raising/unifying of Generation 2, it was back to the roots in Pocatello for a rewarding sojourn.

In time, driven by a raging, but commonly shared sense of adventure and independence, one-by-one, Generation 2 escaped the homeland to distant regions of the country and the world, each ultimately developing their own tribal expansions by pairing with worthy mates and initiating Generation 3.

Now sensing fulfillment of their purpose in Pocatello, Generation 1 has also left those roots and transplanted to Cascade Idaho, from which base, they anticipate more abundant contact with The Posterity, Generations 2 and 3, in the future. That contact however, awaits fulfillment of a call to LDS missionary service in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, wherein they hope to help the state of the world by sharing the love of Jesus Christ.

So now, including Generation 0 (Grandma and Grandpa Christensen) home base includes Yuma, Arizona, Pocatello, Idaho, Cascade, Idaho, Vancouver, BC, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Spokane, Washington, Boise, Idaho, Los Angeles, California, back to Boise, Idaho, and on and on (Generation 3+) to infinity.

Our Mission Statement:

This is the blog of our eternal family unit. Initiated years ago, it served well as a journal, but even more so, as an archive of our personal interaction. It was a gathering place, a confabulation instrument, a unifying force for four generations of widely dispersed and progressively prolific posterity, and their valued associates. Though it served these purposes well for many years, it eventually took a back seat to new-kids-on-the-block, Facebook, and Instagram, and was sadly forgotten.

We now move to resurrect this blog with an added functional purpose of archiving the missionary experiences of Generation 1, of their movements and activities as they participate with The Gathering of Israel in the land northward. In so doing, we hope that via their own comments and posts, this blog will again serve to gather and unify the posterity and their friends.

As in the past, that the young and vibrant may know the old and tired, that enduring bonds may be fostered and maintained, that experience and encouragement may be openly shared, that posterity may embrace truth, and that hearts may be knit together, we must resist detachment despite our geographic divergence. We shall do so here.

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Sunday, July 4, 2010

Thoughts and Prayers...

GRR! My camera has really left me upset this day. It will not take photos with a flash, it will not zoom-in, but I have been able to do flashless, in-focus pictures outside. Now that is not even happening. I am at a loss... I think it is because it has had over 10,000 images taken with it and is just losing function. Still though... Sad!

So, most of you probably know although Matt and I have kept it quiet... he was fired Friday. What a smack in the face. This time, I feel, very sad for Matt and at the point of anger of the guy who owns UMA. Matt finished the project- it needs to be painted- and he was fired.

The infuriating aspect is that it was done. That we were supposed to (finally) get health insurance and that Matt had been promised a raised at the end of the project. The fact that he was fired left me feeling like the breath had been knocked from me.

There is real concern for me here... considering that this is the fourth time... Considering that yes, I do have a great job that starts in August, but since I work 9 of 12 months, my salary is not stellar (though much better than before) and I have no plans to be the provider for our family long-term. I took this job as a "do what I have to for now" sort of thing.

We really need clear direction as to how best to move forward. Both of us have individually felt the best way to not allow this to happen again is to open a business. Matt absolutely DOES take a "long" time to do things, but to his credit, he is meticulous. The problem is, he is meticulous to a fault in the eyes of an employer. The only way for this to not be an issue is for Matt to be his own boss (well, he and I), I am certain. The impression has been undeniable. However, figuring out what to do with this is what needs to be determined next.

In other (sad) news (what a weekend)....

I found out 2 Mondays ago I was pregnant. Of course, I was of mixed feelings about this since we have no insurance and honestly, since Asher is such a handful... but I started getting really excited about it in the last several days. We told Valerie, Jennifer and Debby. This morning, we were just talking about boy -v- girl, names, where "the baby" would sleep...

I am miscarrying. The interesting thing was that I actually saw the embryonic sac. I am a developmental embryologist by training, so I spent a lot more time than a normal miscarrying mother inspecting it. I even called Matt in. Sad. This is our SIXTH miscarriage (for one pregnancy that ended with an Asher). I have protectively sort of been like, "oh, well..." but it really is sad. Maybe some day in the future...

anyway, we just wanted you all to know what is going on and I do not feel like putting it on my blog since I have so many frequenters (which is why I added ads to my blog)...

Here is the thing, though:

My best friends had to have their baby delivered by c section Friday because of pre-ecclampsia and something (scarier) called HELLP. They had been medically controlling it for four weeks, so the baby (Madison) had be administered four doses of steriods. It was looking incredible, because Madison started kicking and screaming at birth. That is unheard of in a 25 weeker. Clearly, the steriods really helped speed her lung development. Instead of a ventilator, "all" the needed was a CPAP to keep positive pressure in her lungs.

Well, last night, the NICU ( army hospital, Hawaii ) had to intervene to save Maddi... Come to find out, the blood pressure-lowering medications to control the pre-ecclampsia Krissy was given decreased flow to her placenta. What that meant is that the baby was getting much less reduced blood flow. That caused her GI tract to start dying and decaying. Also, in 4 weeks, she did not grow at all.

It is a horrifying nightmare. As you can imagine, this can get bad quickly. Please pray for this family. They really had to work to get this baby and with all the complications, Krissy and Joel decided to have a tubal ligation at c-section.

This all made Matt's job loss seem almost... Not as serious. I found out she was going to be born about 5 minutes before I got home from Asher's photoshoot where Matt told me he had been fired. It was not good, but it seemed so small in comparison to the imminent birth of a baby 25 weeks gestationally... but my miscarriage feels all the more sad. One thing I plan on asking my Heavenly Father about is why these things happen. It is so hard on us mommies...

I hope you all had a great fourth. Ours was good. We even had a sparkler-induced grass fire.