The Anniversary Approaches

"What anniversary is that?" you might ask. Well, Independence Day, of course!

So much has happened in the past year. There have been incredible challenges and incredible blessings.

A year ago, our lives were cruising along; so well, in fact, that I began to wonder what challenges the Lord had in store for us. You know, like, being called to teach Gospel Doctrine or something. Little did we know.

To begin with, Joe graduated with his MBA in July, 2008 and the next day, our angel baby was born. Ariana has Down syndrome, which makes us just about the most blessed family on the face of the planet. However, her heart needed fixing. Here is a run-down of some of the events in our lives, starting from about that time:

• June: Ridge moves to Flagstaff to get ready to attend NAU
• July 20: Ari is born
• July 21: We find out that there is a serious heart defect which will require surgery
• The end of July: I start a new job as a curriculum specialist for the District. It is a HUGE challenge, with lots of stress, but I work with wonderful people and learn more than I thought possible
• August: Gabe moves in with us (he is our second-oldest grandson) and starts school in Show Low
• Life cruises along for a couple of months
• The first part of November: Joe and Whitney move to Casa Grande. Casa Dorame is a large home with plenty of room for a growing family. I go down to help paint, clean, and arrange
• November 12: Rick loses his job (see an earlier post if you need details)
• November 13: Ari has open-heart surgery. The stress is insane, the repair is successful, and our angel warrior is released from the hospital in just seven days - the fastest release the charge nurse has ever done
• Ward and Brianne come down for Thanksgiving. It was wonderful!!
• December: Brianne graduates from BYU-Idaho
• January 2009: She takes the NCLEX, passes, and gets hired at Huntsman Cancer Hospital
• February: The McCombies move to Salt Lake to begin their new lives as college grads. No more homework!!!
• The end of March: Ridge receives his mission call to the Guatemala City South mission.
• April: we gather in Salt Lake for General Conference at Ridge's request. He is awaiting his mission call and wants to have the family together for Conference one more time before he leaves
• May: I finish my first year in the new job. Cue up Reba, cuz I'm a Survivor!
• June: Three more grandchildren come to live with us. One tends to clash with law enforcement, one is ADHD, and one is just a five-year-old girl who loves to sing and talk, and who misses her mommy intensely. Our house is very full, very hectic, and our empty-nest days are over in a New York Minute.
• July: Rick starts working overnights at Wal-Mart so we can keep up with the bills while his business grows. He works all night, comes home and works all day building an insurance agency, and sleeps for a few hours in the evenings. He can't figure out why he's so tired. . .and I'm finding out how it feels to be a single mom. He still insists on doing the laundry.
• August: We take Ridge to the MTC in Provo. Yes, I cried. But only until we got out of the parking lot. I am so excited for this wonderful missionary son, who is so excited to be serving in Latin America!
• Year two of my job starts.

That just about brings us up to speed. See below for this month's excitement, the Buddy Walk.

Which brings me to the opening line of this installment: Independence Day. The desire of Rick's heart was to break away and do his own thing. The co-workers were. . .hmmm. . .how shall I put this (Thumper, what did your father tell you? If you can't say something nice, don't say nuthin' at all). You get the picture. But he couldn't bring himself to walk, because after all, how would we survive? Well, the decision was taken out of our hands, and we did survive. It has been quite a year. But we are free and independent. Tired and independent. Exhausted physically and emotionally, but. . .yes, independent. When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one family to break the ties of tyranny, it also becomes necessary for them to declare the causes that impel them to the seperation. We wouldn't have chosen it for ourselves, but here we are - free at last, free at last. Happy Anniversay to us!

Buddy Walk 2009

We have just experienced our second annual Buddy Walk, put on by Sharing Down Syndrome Arizona. Team Ari exceeded the fundraising goal by $10.00 - woot, woot! Here is Team Ari:

Mommy, Ariana Brielle, and yet-to-be-born sister, Keira Brylee. Mommy's shirt said "Proud Mommy" on the left sleeve, and "Proud Sister" on the belly. Love it!!

Mommy, Daddy, and Ari:

The backs of the shirts were the best:

At the end of the day, Ari signed "all done".

Yes, indeedy. . .



See you all next year at Buddy Walk 2010!

Our Guy in Guatemala!

Well, here is the Ridger in Guatemala at last! Above is his district in the CCM (the Guatemala Missionary Training Center).


They got to go to the temple each week and he loved it! They attended English-speaking sessions because, as President Christensen said, they were there to feel the Spirit, not to learn the language.

Elder Davis was Ridge's companion in Provo, and again in the CCM in Guatemala. Elder Davis was ALWAYS studying, and Ridge so appreciated the good example.

Ridge with President and Sister Christensen. And now. . .drum roll, please:

Here is Ridge with his first trainer/companion out in the honest-to-goodness mission field. Elder Hall is from Portland, Oregon. His family has been in touch with us, and I've been able to see pictures on their blog that give me a much better idea of where Ridge is living and how everything looks. It's GREAT!! Thanks, Hall Family!

Ridge's first day in Chiquimulilla found him taking care of Elder Hall, who had eaten some nasty snails and gotten really sick. Ooohhhh. . .No Snails, Ridge - No Snails!!

Our missionary is so excited and loves meeting and talking to people. We're so happy for him!

First Pics of the MTC!

Woo-hoo!! We got our first pictures from the MTC today (Saturday, August 22, 2009)! Here they are, everyone:

On the back of this one, he says: "My companion is always studying! What's up with that?"

Picture 2:

Caption: "Yes, quite an unfortunate sunspot. Makes me look like a pirate."

And, #3:

This is the Ridger's zone at the MTC. I love it that he labeled all of the members. On the back of the photo, he gives each name, where they are from, who is companions with whom, where they are going, and the fact that two of the Elders in this photo have identical twins who are also in the MTC right now.

Some of my favorite excerpts from his latest letter:

"Sorry for the food stains on this letter. I am writing it during dinner. P-day ends in 15 minutes and I am not supposed to write after this. . . Mom, to assure you, I have gained 5 pounds since I have been here. The food is so amazing! Some ppl complain, but I haven't had a bad meal since I have been here." Moms LOVE to hear this, by the way.

He had to have some additional immunizations this past week. His letters and emails have been so amazing to read. He is excited about his mission, about teaching the Gospel, and about the fact that he has now taught the entire first and second discussions in Spanish.

Ridge's enthusiasm just spills of the pages of his letters. We are so blessed to have a wonderful missionary in the field. He is scheduled to fly out to Guatemala's MTC on the 24th or 25th. I'll post again when I know for sure. His address at the MTC down there is:

Guatemala MTC

Bulevar Vista Hermosa 23-71

Vista Hermosa I, Zona 15

01015 Guatemala

Guatemala

We have also been using dearelder.com to write letters. It's really convenient. You can put a little money in an account you set up and they will mail the letters for you. I'm sure that Ridge would want me to tell you that you can also send care packages through the website - lol!

He loves to get letters, so write away!

Ariana's First Birthday!!

Our warrior angel is a year old; can you believe it?!

In typical one-year-old fashion, she was not excited about the gooey frosting on her hands. Mommy ended up with sticky purple frosting on her shirt and in her hair as she rescued her daughter from the dangers of pink, sparkly gel lettering and the attack of the killer cake.

"Mom, rescue me here. . ."

Happy, happy birthday, Ariana Brielle Dorame!!

Happy 4th of July!

The 4th of July in Show Low is a long-standing tradition that we all enjoy. This year, as usual, the parade included the large:

The not-so-large:

And in the "I-am-way-more-proud-of-my-product-than-I-should-be" catagory:

We start with the parade, come home and eat (and eat, and eat. . .), and head for the football field in the evening for the fireworks. This year, I splurged and bought a smoker. The ribs and chicken are on, the potato salad is made, and the watermelon is chilling. Aaahhhhhhh. . .

Prom 2009 - Gabe and Helena

The pictures say it all. Aren't they gorgeous?!

My Birthday Party at Work

The ladies I work with surprised me on my birthday with a great breakfast and flowers. I LOVE working with these women; they are respected professionals and truly great friends. Thanks, girls!

General Conference with the Family

What a great weekend! We drove to Salt Lake this weekend to attend Conference and to spend time together. Whitney and Joe picked Ridge up in Flagstaff and drove up while we brought Damien and Zoey with us. It was my favorite birthday ever!

More photos

Here are some more photos that I couldn't help posting. I was in Casa Grande last weekend and did a photo shoot with Ari. You can also follow Brianne's link at the right to see pictures of Monica and Carter. I also realized that we don't really have any pictures of Gabe in here. He's the one behind the camera most of the time, but occasionally I do get a candid shot of him.

He's cheesin' for the camera at Oregano's on Ridge's birthday. He keeps his Nanny laughing with all his trash talk and teasing.

Dear Elder Goodman:

Ridge's mission call came in the mail yesterday, so we hopped in the car and headed for Flagstaff. I wish I had taken a picture of the sky as we were coming into Holbrook - it reminded me of the Dust Bowl pictures I used to show my students. At one point, Rick had to pull off the Interstate because we literally could not see the end of the hood of our car. Scary! I just kept silently praying, "Heavenly Father, please help us get this mission call into Ridge's hands safely." I guess He heard the prayers. I also didn't get a photo of the worst of the storm (too scared to think about the camera), but here are some of the ones Gabe and I did take:

We managed to get to Flagstaff in one piece, thanks to Dad's wicked driving skills. The crowd started gathering in Ridge's apartment. We had been working on webcam setup for a couple of days so that Whitney, Joe, Ward, and Brianne could watch Little Brudder open his call. However, the Internet connection in Ridge's apartment is too slow to support high tech, so the girls had to settle for listening in on phone calls.

And the call? Guatemala, Guatemala City South Mission! Ridger reports on August 5.

We went to Olive Garden to celebrate, and Ridge had a definite "deer-in-the-headlights" look about him during dinner.

Guatemala, here he comes!

http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/guatemalacity/

http://www.mission.net/guatemala/el-salvador/cgi-bin/rmdb41.cgi?action=view_all_pres

The Future Missionary at NAU

It's so hard for me to believe, but our son is ready for his mission! We went to Flagstaff on Saturday to celebrate his 19th birthday with him and his friends. His papers are ready to go and it looks to us like he has lots of good support from his great friends at NAU. We had fun eating at Oregano's (gotta love that pizzookie!), going shopping at Sam's Club, seeing a movie ("Taken" - it was intensely awesome), and then watching the party get started. They had lots of fun after we left - we hear that the party didn't break up until 4:00 a.m.