I woke up 9 years ago knowing I was going to have a baby that day. That’s all I knew. We were told he probably had Down Syndrome by a Doctor who did not realize what a miracle had just happened. She told us that this child would probably never speak or get potty trained, she went on to tell us of all the medical assistance we would need to have for him. It’s a wonder that any doctor in this day and age could believe such out dated and false lies!
Enoch is very excited to have his birthday today. It’s the first year he really understands that he is going from 8 to 9, an increase in years. When I asked him what he wanted for his special birthday meal he didn’t hesitate at all, Pancakes! And when I asked about his dessert, chocolate (ice cream). He knows it’s his day!
We are so blessed to have this angel in our family! He surpasses goals and expectations all the time. He loves so easily, plays so freely, and smiles so perfectly. He has made the Inman Clan a better group of people.
Happy Birthday Angel Boy!!
This is my family…at the zoo….without me.
I asked for it. I just wanted a day with the house. I needed to do some cleaning, and I wanted it to stay that way – at least for a few hours. I scrubbed down the bathrooms, vacuumed under couch cushions, dusted cobwebs out of corners, and washed 8 loads of laundry.
My goal was to lay on the couch and read and getting up every once in awhile to enjoying my clean house. I planned to walk into the kitchen and see no new dirty dishes or crumbs on the island, I wanted to stroll into the bedrooms and see empty laundry baskets and made beds, I wanted a chance to use both toilets before anyone else!
Of course I forgot about another commitment I had that evening and my hour of luxuriously lounging was never had. I feel a little cheated.
I was listening to a couple of young women in the green room the other day (we were in the cast of our local production of Mary Poppins) . One said, “I’m so glad my mom taught me to walk in heels!” What!?!?! Another thing I have inadvertently forgotten to teach my girls, and I have 4 daughters who are fully grown now!
OK – that’s a lie – I did not forget to teach them, because I didn’t know I was supposed to teach them, because I didn’t know there was “a way to walk in heels” that varied from wearing any other shoe.
Fortunately my daughters walk very well in heels despite my ignorance. They must have picked up the skill from someone else. But just in case your mother did not teach you either the trick (so the ladies in the green room say) is to walk toe heel, toe heel. I think I’ll stick to my vibrams!
Warning! This post may be a tad bit over dramatized – MAY BE!
Imagine my joy and pride as people all around me were falling to the sicknesses prevalent during this season and yet I was able to march on healthy and strong (ummm, I did not have joy for all the poor saps who did get sick!).
Then it hit me and hit me hard! I have no idea what ‘it’ was, I didn’t get diagnosed. But ‘it’ made every single muscle in my body feel like I had just spent 7 1/2 hours working them out leaving me barely able to move. And my head felt like a pressure cooker at the highest steam. I spent 2 days in bed with more pain than I could remember ever having. I really thought “This is the end”, and wished it many times. Day 3 head ache was gone, body aches were slighter, and a wheezing cough introduced himself. Day 4 I started venturing into the land of the living again, I even took a shower (which required a nap after). Today is day 5. I’m thinking about teaching yoga tonight, although Bill thinks I should hold off. We’ll see – maybe if I don’t do anything else…
The kicker in all this was that Bill took Tawny & Aurora to Nauvoo for a Young Single Adult trip the church had. He left the morning of Day 2. He did all he could for me that first day and offered to stay – but how could I have him miss out on such a wonderful trip? Danni, Enoch, Baby D and I were on our own. My sister came by after work and helped with baby D and took the kids to the park. A sweet sister from the ward brought us food and took baby D for a day. Little life saving blessings!
So I traveled through the valley of death, or maybe it was a ridge above the valley, or maybe it was just the valley of ‘get over it, you get sick once in a while’. But whatever path it was I am through it and have prevailed!
(please forgive any spelling, grammatical, or other errors….I will not remember having written this after my nap I’m going up for now…)
How do we celebrate the life of the man that means the most to us? Well it should be skiing on the powdery slopes in Colorado or on the sandy beaches of some tropical ocean, but on our budget it’s with sushi, silly string, and sparkling cider.
We are so blessed to have this kind, intelligent, talented, Christ-like, and very handsome man in our lives.
About 15 years ago I felt my life was finally getting some stability. All 5 kids were old enough to discard all baby toys, beds, clothes, and worries. David was old enough to baby sit and Bill and I had a little freedom. I was able to clean the house while they were at school. 
Then kids started doing their own laundry. Soon each of them had a dinner night where they would make and clan up after dinner. I was still busy, but I was able to include some selfish pursuits, like my BS degree, and training my horse. A move out to Hays disrupted it a bit, but I quickly found my niche there.
Then came Danni.
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That was a shocker! 9 years after the twins! We really thought we were done and were making plans for our empty nest. It proves that Heavenly Father knows what we need more than we do. We needed Danni girl! But we couldn’t have an ‘only child’. She was so far apart in age from her siblings we thought she could use a little brother, so we had Enoch. 
Enoch just turned 8. 
Danni is doing her own laundry and can make a mean batch of cookies. Enoch is picking up his toys and brushes his own teeth with out being asked. They are at school and that lets me clean. My house is finally feeling like a house of order. So I should know that this is a temporary situation….
Meet Dean.
No- I did not go through a secret pregnancy, He is my niece’s baby. Right now she and her husband are facing some legal allegations and Dean needs a place to live for while. We have no idea how long we will get to keep him, but we are enjoying every second so far. Needless to say – my life is taking another detour from the one I had planned. I’m having to sacrifice a lot of my freedoms and selfish pursuits. I will admit, I have cried some about it all, but I know that I am doing a work that has eternal consequences – and that is what “it’s” all about.
This is a personal blog post – you’re still welcome to read it, it just won’t have a lot of my pithy wisdom or view points. I may pepper some in just for consistency sake.
I just want to update you on what we are up to right now, starting with the eldest –
David graduated from basic training this past weekend. He is now an official Airman. Of course he graduated with honors, what else did we expect? He will be at Ft Sam Houston in San Antonio for training for about 3 months, than who knows where they’ll be off to? His training will be in the mental health field.
While it’s nice to applaud his achievements I think it only fitting to also applaud his wife and son – mostly his wife, and my dear daughter in law Camden. She doesn’t get to be with him during basic training, and she probably won’t be there with him much during his professional training either. She is so strong and supportive and I don’t think she complained a bit! She is now in the middle of trying to figure out the best way to continue supporting David, find a place to give birth to their second son, and keep an almost two year old under control. I think she should be getting some kind of award! 
Tawnymara is now in the Missionary Training Center (MTC). She’s only in there for 10 days, so her sojourn there is half over. Then she heads up to the Wisconsin, Milwaukee mission. When she went into the MTC Eve was able to stop by and say ‘Hi’ briefly. Tawny’s good friend Colleen was there and got the pictures. This one melts my heart: 
Eve is loving her mission so much and threatens not to come home all the time. Her 1 year mark is September 17th. 6 months to go.
Aurora (who went out to help Camden at David’s graduation) Is enjoying her life in Provo. She works at a rec center there and is fully ensconced in the social life Provo offers.
Our Indianapolis temple was dedicated a couple of weeks ago. The first time I tried calling to set up an appointment for a session I had to hang up because I got so emotional. It’s such a blessing to have a temple so nearby! I can just go after the kids go to school and be home before they are. A dream come true!
Harrison is being used by the YSA branch here. He’s a Gospel Essentials teacher, branch clerk and is a temple ordinance worker on Friday nights. He’s sort of in a holding pattern until December and then he’ll be making his way into the Air Force like his brother. Except his field will be Linguistics.
Danni & Enoch are Burris Owls. They are both finding their footing in their new grades. Danni in middle school
& Enoch in first grade. 
I am busy with a couple of local theater productions: You can’t Take it With you which has one more weekend of shows. Then I’m Granny in Into the Woods, small part, but I’m happy with that.
Bill is producing a series of instructional art videos that will be marketed this week. We’re very excited about them! He’s put in months of work and creativity and study and it’s apparent.
That’s us – at least for now – but wait a couple of months and things will change:-)
D
The other day at the playground Enoch climbed up the slide, a little girl was following him and stared up, her mom immediately grabbed her and told her slides were for going down. Hmmmm, 
I understand at school certain rules need to be followed to ensure the safety of the hoard of kids running around, and if there are kids waiting to come down the slide then going up would be rude, but when no one is there – why not? Going up the slide builds kids’ leg muscles, balance, and coordination, plus they get a sense of accomplishment by tackling the challenge. It’s why I will still go up a down escalator and get in trouble with mall security.
Danni has been dicing and chopping for a couple of years now. It’s important to me that my children feel comfortable in the kitchen and that they can cook without me looking over their shoulder. That’s mostly because I’m lazy and having more people around to cook means less cooking for me. But this laziness has produced some very talented and creative children in the kitchen.
So while I’m pointing out some of my rebellious ways, let me really impress you!
If I am at a red light and I see no other vehicles around me I will run it.
If my dogs poop in the long grass (not the cut and groomed lawn areas) I will not pick it up. My dad used to say, “Why take one of the most biodegradable things and put it into a non-biodegradable bag?”
When I ride my bike I do not follow the rules of the road, I go the wrong way on streets and don’t stop at lights or stop signs if I don’t see any traffic.
I let my family eat dessert first sometimes.
I know! I know! I’m a menace to society.
Maybe I should start a support group, “rebels who feel justified”….I’ll start working on the t shirts!
This is Buffy. She was my horse from the time she was 2 years old – nobody wanted her because she wasn’t showing signs of the speed she was breed for. She’s part thoroughbred and part quarter horse, and a late bloomer. Her speed came – boy did it come! She was my therapist through my parent’s divorce, she was my best friend and confidant. Last I heard we still hold records in some arenas in Colorado.
I had a dream last night that I was in the old Bergstrom Arena in Woodland Park on Buffy bareback, as I so often was in my youth. With just a halter we were galloping around the arena as smooth as melted chocolate. I would lean a little and she would lean with me, switching leads, stretching out her neck – enjoying the freedom of movement when all is in sync and right with the world. This dream had me waking to wonderful memories.
Before Buffy was Chip. She was a fine mare, but didn’t have the power or speed Buffy had, but she ran pretty, and many times her consistency shaved enough seconds to place or win.
An awful accident took place and Buffy broke her leg. It was the end of my life – at least it felt that way at the time. I used my mom’s horse, Rocky, for a bit. But sharing a horse is never a good idea between people who are ultra competitive. Rocky has a fun horse to ride though, and in the short time I got to compete with him we did rather well.
It happened that a foal of Buffy’s had a foal at about that time and my dad purchased him and gave him to me for a graduation gift. I trained him and took him to college with me. Eventually Bill and I got pregnant and owning a horse was a luxury we could no longer afford, so I gave him to my sister.
After a few years of marriage it worked out that I could finally purchase a horse – Tigger. He was amazing! But he was temporary, just a couple years later I had to sell him so we could move our family to Kansas and then to Muncie. 
Every once in awhile I beg rides from friends or go visit family.
I would have never guessed myself going from a mountain grown rodeo queen to living in a city with bass beating at my windows and cops visiting our street weekly.
It’s hard not to fall into the mind frame of pity party-ness. But I look at what I do have, and hundreds of acres of horses couldn’t replace the amazing children and husband I’ve been blessed to be around. I may or may not ever own a horse again. I keep waiting for a call from that horse ranch in need of a family to come live with them and care for and train their horses – then will the ranch to us. It could happen, but probably not.
It’s the dreams like last night that keep those feelings of riding alive in my heart, just enough to wake up with a smile!
The camp site & food:
Corn hole:
Knife throwing:
Frisbee:
Cricket smash ( A totally made up game with very fluid rules:-)
Scoopball:
Chinese Lanterns and sparklers:
Hiking (there would be more pictures but the camera died….):
theinmanclan 