Sad News

Today at work I went into a co-workers office that I have been working closely with for awhile. She is an amazing mom of 9 kids. Her oldest is 37 and her youngest is 18. When she had 7 kids, (6 boys and 1 girl) her husband left her and refused to pay child support. She was a single mom for 10 years and then met her second husband who married her with seven kids. What a cool guy!! They had two more girls together.

Last year she lost one son in Iraq. He was a marine and was killed in Baghdad by a roadside bomb.

This year her mom and her ex husband passed away. Not that she cared too much about her ex husband, but he was her kids father.

Today she just found out that her oldest child has Lou Gerigs disease and shouldn't make it more than five years. She is beside herself. She said, I don't know what is worse, losing a child suddenly or knowing it's going to happen and just having to sit by and watch.

She said, why is life so hard! I have been praying all day to know how to comfort her without pushing beliefs on her or not taking the time to listen. I know that the right time will come for me to share insights of the gospel with her. But for now, I am just so grateful for my blessings and the knowledge I have of the plan of salvation.

The Dementor Debacle

So for the last few months, Max has been obsessed with being a Dementor for Halloween. See picture above....A Dementor for all of you who are not into Harry Potter are these terribly scary wraith like things that float around turning the world around them into ice and they suck out all the happiness in your soul. Yes very enlightening. Max thinks they are awesome. Well at first I thought it was too scary and that Max is five. If we start with a dementor this year, what in the world will he be next year?

We went to the Halloween store last night to look for costumes. Jackson picked out a very cute Thomas costume and was very happy. Max could not find anything that would work. We tried to make a pirate look scary. It didn't work. We told him before we went in, NO MASKS. Eventually we got him to think that Malfoy from Harry Potter would be ok, but of course they didn't have any Slytherin costumes, only Harry Potter and Gryffandor.

Eldon even recommended that he be a nice Police Officer with a giant nail sticking out of his head. Not scary enough. So we learned about compromise. We found that the Dementor costume had a mask that you wear under the hood. See the costume above and note that the mask can be removed. If we removed the mask, he still got the scary outfit without looking too scary. So he won and we compromised. I still wonder why he has no heroes that are not evil?? It's a little troubling.

SO THE BIG NEWS IS???????

BABY # 3 IS ON IT'S WAY!!!
Yep, we are expecting! Around mid-April, the next little Gale will introduce itself to the world. We can't wait!

Yikes Ike

I know many of you have posted with pictures regarding the typhoon that swept through Columbus. I really have no desire to remember it. I especially have no desire to remember how I looked during it. I have special hair. It has to be washed and fixed everyday. That doesn't sound like much of a selling point on this hairstyle, but really it only takes 3 minutes to do. So I like it. You are probably wondering why I am talking about my hair while I am posting on Hurricane Ike. Well this was really all that I could think about over the last few days. " How am I supposed to do my hair?" We just got power back this afternoon (Tuesday). Luckily one by one people I knew were getting theirs back so I could do my hair at their home.

On Sunday I wasn't feeling well and so I was going to go home right after Sacrament Meeting. I was detained by some RS issues but got home about 3:15. I found within in me some energy to get the dishes in the dish washer and a load of laundry done. I had no idea the storm was tracking to be so awful. When Eldon got home, we put the dinner in the oven and started boiling the potatoes. We had power right up until the dinner was done. We ate, left an awful mess and then joined our neighbors in the street to see what was happening. We were very lucky to not lose any trees. I was told that our home lost lots of trees in storms from the past, so we had good sturdy ones left. The craziest thing was all of the flying acorns. There are 10000000's of them. If anyone has any kids who want or need acorns, we have TONS.

My sister and her family had come over for dinner and it was really fun to have them there to ride out the storm. We put the kids to bed and then sat out on the deck with a candle and some scotch - a - roos that my sister had made. It was fun, dark, and kind of weird.

The next morning, Eldon got up and went to work, and I stayed home with the kids. I went out into the panic looking for a way to charge my cell phone. I bought some bread and a few things and we just hung out all day. It was fun at times, and really not at others. But luckily we were able to escape to the park and play with friends. That night the kids were filthy and exhausted. Not my favorite combination while at a restaurant. But we went to Max and Erma's for dinner and then put the kids in a dark tub and to bed. Eldon and I watched some You Tube on his iPhone and that was about it.

Today was fine because my sister got power and I was able to do my hair. I did go through the Wendy's drive through with wet hair, but other than that I made it to work ok. When I got home, the power was back on and I did the happiest happy dance in the driveway. Now we are throwing away all of our food and I get to go to the store!

Thanks Ike for the Adventure!

Jack the shopper

This story was relayed to me by Kristine Washburn who watches my kids while I am at work. Yesterday she just had Jackson at home with her and so she took him shopping at Kohls with her. While she was trying on clothes, Jack would say..."ooooh Cute!" Eldon has always been a fantastic shopper. I would have to say if I have any clothes that have been successful, either he has helped me pick them out or has brought them home for me. In fact when Eldon and I were dating I took him shopping with me all the time to pick out new outfits for my job. He has a fantastic eye and is a good sport to help me.

So to Jackson, although most men don't enjoy shopping, I think it's wonderful if you do and you will one day make your wife very happy as your dad has me.