The Golden Scholar

She also turned 13 recently! What a fun party that was!

Yesterday was a big day for Hannah. After a very long school year, Hannah reaped the rewards of sticking to it and working hard, despite her health difficulties.

Hannah was awarded the prestigious Golden Scholar Award given to those students who maintain a 3.8 GPA or higher. Her GPA was on the higher side (.2 higher, to be exact). Not that I am bragging! Well, maybe a little.

In addition to this award she was also awarded "English Student of the Year" for all grades 7^th – 12th . She was also awarded her legion's award which goes to one student from each legion.

I am so proud of her and for her tenacity to get things done, despite ANY obstacle!

You may notice that her feeding tube is out for the pictures. Yeah! It has been out since Monday and she is able to eat a little. She is happy and hopeful. She is by no means out of the woods, but we are encouraged greatly!

And on top of all that, SHE is BEAUTIFUL! Inside and Out!

The Evils of Smoking

Joshua entered his school's creative writing contest. He entered in the Persuasive Essay category. We were so excited for him when he won for his class. Tonight he was awarded first place for Persuasive Essays in all of the 4^th Grade.

Way to Go Josh! Congratulations!

The Evils of Smoking

I believe people should not smoke for many different reasons. When I am around people that are smoking, my stomach hurts and my nose itches. I also plug my nose. I really dislike it when people smoke. I am going to list four reasons that smoking is bad.

The first reason smoking is bad for people is that smoking can cause many different types of cancers: kidney cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer, mouth cancer, throat cancer, nose cancer, larynx cancer, esophageal cancer, pancreatic cancer, bladder cancer, and leukemia. Over 400,000 people die in the United States every year because of diseases caused by smoking. If a person thinks about that, over the past ten years about 4 million people have died because of smoking.

Secondly, smoking is also bad for the environment. When people breathe out the smoke, it pollutes the air. Sometimes people are careless and throw cigarettes and cigars out the window of a car into a forest or a road. I once saw a movie called Pippi Longstocking. In the movie, a random guy burned down a children's home because he was careless with a cigarette.

Third, smoking causes health problems for smokers. For one of my sister's birthdays, she went to a body museum and saw a person's lungs that had smoked. They were charcoal black. In my research, I learned that consistent smokers get sick more often and sometimes die ten years earlier than nonsmokers. Smoking can also cause cataracts which make people not be able to see clearly and can even make them go blind. Also, arteries become blocked and can cause gangrene. Smoking can lead to hearing loss too.

The fourth reason smoking is bad is that even second-hand smoke is harmful. Second-hand smoke is toxic and especially dangerous to children. Second-hand smoke is smoke that is inhaled by someone nearby a person who is smoking. This person may be a child. By age five, a child living with a smoker has consumed the equivalent smoke of 102 packs of cigarettes. This can cause many problems for the child including, difficulty breathing, more ear infections, more pneumonia and bronchitis, coughing and asthma and even SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).

Beware of the evils of smoking. I have listed several evils of smoking that can be harmful to you and to those you love. I hope someday people will realize all of the evils of smoking and stop. Be smart, save yourself, and don't start. For free help on how to stop smoking you can contact www.ashline.org/help.

**Special thanks to Laurie Thomas, Maricopa County Public Health Department, for the information and statistics.**

Never Say Never!

If you want the short story here it is:

Joshua got a dog for his birthday!

If you want the long story, read on!

I have heard this saying a thousand times…but there were a few “nevers” I was absolutely certain were true “nevers!” One of them was getting a DOG….well, I guess I never anticipated what it would be like to love Josh so much that I would cave in!

A few months ago, Joshua began his birthday wish list which of course was lengthy and comprehensive. On the list was a new bike, DS games, Pokemon cards, a dog, games and many many other items. I began my search for his new bike…a perfectly appropriate gift for a young boy turning 9. I took Hal’s bike in for a repair and I took Josh with me. We began nosing around in the new bikes and before long the salesman had a very handsome blue bike down and was showing Josh all the cool new bike advancements since we had last bought a bike. Josh was so excited. I was so excited. It would be the perfect birthday present.

About a week later, Josh found his list and modified to contain only one item . . .a DOG! He began working the parental circuit telling his Dad that he could take everything else off of his list…he only wanted a dog. He didn’t care what kind but without a doubt his birthday present needed to be a dog. It was only fair: Becca has a horse & a turtle, Hannah has a cat and it was only fair that he deserved a dog. For me, his mother, his approach was slightly different. He made a sign that said DOG in big letters and posted on my nightstand. Then every time he talked to me during the day he would say, “Remember Mom I want a dog for my birthday!”
Not wanting to be a Grinch, I began thinking of things that would trump the dog gift…lets go back to the bike shop and look at that cool bike. An emphatic “NO!” followed. “I want a dog!” So I shifted gears…what about your own iPod! “No!” I was told again and again. I taunted him with color choices and all the amazing things one could do…we could download movies etc.
Then, Hal started in on me! “I really think he needs a dog. I just can’t imagine how we can tell him no. I think we have to do it. “

ARGGGGHHH!!

So I looked down in my tiny little heart and tried to plant the dog seed hoping that like the Grinch that my heart would grow big enough to include enough love for a dog. I decided that wouldn’t work but I could possibly find enough love for Josh to start to consider this possibility.

ARGGHHH!!

Was this really happening to me the most anti-dog person on the planet? A girl willing to forsake friendships if said friends acquired dogs? What was happening?

I started on Craig’s list and found very little of interest, except for a few. I sent a couple of emails and then began researching what kind of dog could possibly live in a back yard in Arizona. I began making my lists of things I was willing to tolerate and not. Definitely no licking, no jumping on people, no barking and no puppies! On the positive side we wanted a dog that was loving and would be good friends with Joshua. I talked to some rescues, which seemed to be the best situation for our family because we did not want a puppy. I was a lot overwhelmed by the rules and regulations of rescue organizations when I met with the Golden Rescue organization and after about a week decided that a rescue organization probably would not work for us.
In the meantime, I began corresponding via email with one of the dog owners I found on Craig’s list. I began describing this Brittany Spaniel to Hal. He immediately vetoed the idea as the dog was female, crate trained (read: in the house at night), and her name was Margo. Hal could not imagine a world where Josh would want a female dog, especially not one named Margo and he could not imagine a world where I would let a dog sleep in a crate in the house.

Our next move was a visit to the pound. This was a fateful day as this did little to bolster my heart towards dogs. That place is stinky and any dog that barked at us was immediately disqualified…which was most of them. We took one dog out and he jumped on me and that was the end. I came home and told Hal “I can’t do it! I have tried to find a place for this in my world and I can’t!” Hal was heartbroken and he was forlorn about what to tell Josh.

After a couple of days, I decided to email the owners of Margo one more time and see if they had sold her as others were looking at her also. I told Hal that I had strong feelings about this one dog and that I would like to try and go meet her to see if I could manage it. So last Sunday we ventured over to meet Margo! She was exactly how her owners described her….loving, kind, playful, great with kids, obedient, and loved to be outside! The owners did not have a big enough back yard for her: just a pool and about 10 square feet of grass plus two other dogs. We (yes, even me) really liked her and we called Aunt Brooke to bring Joshua over to meet her. He had no idea why we were there or why he needed to be there. Finally, I told him that this cute dog that he was playing with was for sale. He was so excited. Then the couple “interviewed” him about all the things necessary to take care of a dog and if he would be willing to do all the work involved with her care. Then they told Josh they would talk about it and get back to us if they thought we would be good owners. Of course, it was already agreed that we would purchase her and they would bring her over on the Saturday before his birthday. All week Josh asked every day, several times a day, if I had heard from them. He was head-over-heels in love with a dog named Margo. He worried about failing his interview with them. He worried they liked her too much to let her be sold. He prayed that they would decide he would be a good owner. He prayed that they wouldn’t be too sad to sell her. He prayed they would decide before his birthday. He talked of little else.

Now the girls were in on it and they loved secretly helping get ready for the dog but were anxious to meet the dog…at least Becca was. Hannah was not so sure.

Saturday morning, the girls watched from the front yard for the arrival. As I had Joshua open the front door to Margo, the girls moved Margo’s new crate into the house as part of the surprise. Josh was so excited and so were the girls. Margo was nervous until we opened the back door and then she just ran circles around the back yard. It took her forever to settle down and pay attention to Josh and the girls. The highlight was that she pooped in the backyard before the old owners left and Joshua was so excited to clean it up that it was completely cracking them up. I must admit that I have spent a great deal of time talking to Joshua about his responsibilities if he were to get a dog and he said he would “love” to clean up poop if it meant he could have a dog. It has been two days and he has held true to his word. He loves it and is even keeping a tally of how many times he has cleaned the poop up!

It has been a crazy and exciting weekend and no one is more surprised than me that my heart seems to have grown to not only include Josh but also a dog named Margo. I must say to Margo, “Thanks for not licking me, barking or jumping on me!”

Josh is totally smitten! I am so happy for him. Just wish that cat would start to like Margo too!

She only gives kisses if you ask for them...thankfully!

It was a Spanking!

We went to the Diamondbacks game tonight! It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, Hal had to work, but we managed to party without him....somehow.

The Diamondbacks were playing the Dodgers. I love to go to the games when we are playing the Dodgers and I love it even more when we win...and tonight we whooped them! It certainly is a lot more fun when the Diamondbacks run 9 people across home plate. Keeps the game interesting. There are always a lot of Dodger fans in the audience which makes it even more fun. Joshua could hardly contain himself and wanted to stand on his chair and scream...fun for me and everyone else near us!

We had tickets that allowed us to go under the stands to use the restroom and it is also near the visitor's dugout. So Joshua "had" to go to the bathroom a lot. He wanted to boo them in their own dugout. All I can say is thank heaven for security guards.

The only disappointment of the night was the cancellation of the fireworks due to wind. Dang! We like to go on Friday nights because when weather permits they have fireworks.

This is what the Diamondbacks website had to say about the game.

PHOENIX -- The D-backs got five runs in the third inning to support a strong debut by Jon Garland as they beat the Dodgers, 9-4, on Friday night in the first game of a three-game series at Chase Field.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the D-backs, who lost seven of their final eight games against the Dodgers last season.
Garland, signed as a free agent in the off season, allowed three runs on five hits over seven innings of work.
James McDonald started for the Dodgers, and after retiring the first six batters he faced, things fell apart for the right-hander in the third as he walked three and hit a batter during the five-run outburst.
Steve Gilbert is a reporter for MLB.c This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

In the Sun He Melted!

Sometimes Snowmen grow hair (or at least pine needles!). A highlight of the trip was building a snowman.