Vancouver Olympics

The Olympics! Waiting in line for the bus to take us to Cypress for the Women's Moguls.

Friday, up at the Richmond Ozone. Not nearly the excitement we thought it would be, but the kids had fun.

We had the chance to go home for the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Our adventure started when our flight was 3 hours late, but then we almost missed it because they put us on a different flight without telling us, and then lost our luggage. Luckily Lily and Akaila are the same size, and Janica had brought some maternity clothes for me to borrow. We got there Thursday, Feb. 11, and got our clothes early Saturday morning. Lily and Akaila in their matching Olympic shirts. They became very quick friends and followed eachother around everywhere. I'm going to put a bunch more pictures on Facebook.

At the Richmond Ozone. Lily's wearing my baby hat, since hers was still lost in limbo at that point.

At the Women's Moguls-where the US won their first gold. It was so cold and rainy and wet, but we still had a great time. We stood for over 6 hours though! I was quite proud of myself-being 29 weeks pregnant and being able to stand like that. And Robby stood in line with Sarah for over an hour to get us pizza and hot chocolate. Poor guy. He was NOT dressed for the weather-a sweatshirt and raincoat was all he had on. I had on about 6 layers, and was still cold. But he didn't complain.

Coya, John's wife came with Mady, who we'd never met, from Rexburg. Yeah! And Janica passed out once we were up in Vancouver, so Coya passed Mady off to Grandma and went with me to the Pairs gold medal figure skating event. We made it to our seats 5 minutes before it started. We really had a great time and especially loved the Silver medal chinese couple. And we were glad that we weren't on the train ride home with everyone else where Ryan (who's 6) threw up into a Subway bag that Kacey (his dad) had to hold the entire train ride.

We were able to go and stay in Whistler for a night, and had a great time. That's where, besides the actual events, you could really feel the Olympic spirit. Notice my pins on my scarf? My dad collects Olympic pins and trades them, so I was trying to follow his tradition. I did trade once.

Lily with the mascots. We bought a small one of each. I could tell you the names and history of each one, if you really wanted to know!

Lily loved being with Grandma.

At Whistler. It was such a great vacation. I took over 200 pictures, so facebook is where most of them will be. It sure made me miss the North west!

Emily's experience on Earth

One year ago today Emily passed away. I could write about my thoughts and feelings, but don't really want to. But I thought I'd share again the poem that Robby wrote in the days that followed, that he read at Emily's funeral. I really believe that it describes Emily's life and mission so well, and reading it has brought me a lot of joy and peace over the last year. I hope you can get to know Emily a little bit by reading it, too.

"Emily’s Experience on Earth"

Before I was born and I still lived in Heaven,
Heavenly Father explained how life would be.
He said that it would be full of challenges and trials,
But that I would have a family who loves me.

I would have friends and loved ones who would do all that they could,
To make sure I was joyful and happy.
And when I asked him what my purpose on earth would be,
He smiled, with a tear in his eye, and simply said “You’ll see.”

My life on earth had a difficult start,
I could no longer see nor hear.
But it didn’t take long to understand,
That my parents loved me so dear.

They stayed at the hospital for the first seven weeks,
And had faith that I could breathe on my own.
And eventually the wonderful day came,
They were able to take me home.

I made so many friends along the way,
I was able to learn so many things.
And although I had my share of pain and struggles,
I felt the joy and the love that the Gospel brings.

I have a Mother, who sacrificed everything she could,
Who did her best to keep me healthy and strong.
I have a Father, who provided me safety and peace,
Who’s whistling and roaring helped me as my life moved along.

I have a Sister, who loves and cares for me,
Even though she liked to pull my hair.
Who when the time came for me to die in their arms,
Gave my parents peace with her happy stare.

I have grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins,
Who always treated me as one of their own.
I have classmates, friends, and fellow 18th Chromosome family,
Who reminded me that I’m never alone."

Through all of my challenges and obstacles overcome,
I began to realize my mission.
There would be so many people who's lives I could touch,
even without hearing and vision.

And now I can tell them at the end of my earthly life,
That God has a plan for everyone.
That because of the sacrifice of his son, Jesus Christ,
We can return to him in glory and perfection.

Now I can run and see and hear.
I can talk, and help, and serve.
I can help others know that the Gospel of Christ,
We lead them to the happiness they deserve.

As a final request to all who know me,
as we part, at least for awhile,
That when they think of Emily Hammond,
They share with me a laugh and a smile.

Rocket attack

I don't mean to sound trite, but please continue to pray for my dad. In a later email he said the rocket was actually 13 meters from their facility, and that if it would have happened 1/2 hour earlier their would have been fatalities from their station.

"A rocket apparently aimed at Camp Eggers slammed into a nearby location outside a store 200 meters as the crow flies from our facilities, causing one injury to a store guard but resulting in no other casualties. This was the first rocket I have been close enough to have felt the real dangers of rockets. The concussion was much like a bomb—in fact initially I grabbed the AK-47 and ran out of my room to check on our people—fearing that there might be a coordinated attack underway. The guards met me and asked for Mozhdah—and told her that it was a rocket. I didn’t hear it screaming in—but Fahim heard it from his home (about 700 meters away)—but he knows what they sound like. I heard only the ka-boom. As close as it was, it didn’t cause any glass breakage—so it wasn’t nearly as powerful as the car bomb from before Christmas.

Mozhdah’s response has been very interesting. Because she experienced first-hand many rocket attacks and gunship attacks when she was a small girl (age 5), this didn’t faze her a bit. She said a few minutes ago that she feels much safer here than she did in Vancouver. She said that she has lost several friends to gang-related ancillary violence—friends randomly in the wrong place at the wrong time where her family lives on Main Street near GM Place. She believes it would really be a random, unlikely event for our facility to be struck by a rocket, and I’m sure she’s right.

So when you hear about a rocket explosion in Kabul near Camp Eggers, be at peace—we’re OK."

One year ago

A year ago today was the last day Em had at home. We took her to the doctor in the morning, and he thought she was doing really well, even though she was on oxygen. We came home, I played with the girls-I remember playing on the floor with them moving Em's legs and arms getting her to laugh, and then doing it with Lily and getting her to laugh. That night we had Family Night and sang our favorite songs. And then at the same time the next day we were in the intensive care unit-we went in the middle of the night. If you want to read about all that you can look back to a year ago on the blog, because I'm not going to relive any of it. I try to concentrate on all our positive memories of Emily, and not the negative. So I try not to think about it or talk about it. I just remember today because I remember that it was the day Lily turned 5 months old!

We Made It!

Merry Christmas! This was a Christmas full of firsts for us, and we got through it. It was our first Christmas without Emily, our first Christmas in Texas, the first Christmas with no family around, the first Christmas we made gingerbread houses, the first we had a child who could drive around to see the Christmas lights (Emily couldn't see them to enjoy them), and the first Christmas with a kid who slept in on Christmas day! Emily would be up at 4:00 am, because we'd be in Washington, and it would be 6:00 her time.
We enjoyed our first Christmas in Texas. We really missed Emily and our family, but I think it was good for us be somewhere where we didn't have so many memories. On Monday we made gingerbread houses with some friends. Robby had never made one before! Lily loved the candy. Candy canes are her favorite. On Christmas Eve we went bowling-another first. We haven't been bowling since we've lived in Texas (almost 5 years). Lily was very fasinated with watching the ball.

Here's our family on Christmas Eve. As a disclaimer, this shirt makes me look bigger than I really am. Or at least that's what I tell myself, so lets just go with it, please!

My mom made all the girls Snow White dresses and got them the movie for Christmas. So I had to put her in it. Lily's favorite part was the shoes.

I gave her my old cell phone, and it was a hit. It was the first thing she wanted to have this morning, too.

I stained this rocking horse, and it was the first thing she went to on Christmas morning. After we unwrapped presents we watched old videos of Emily on Christmas. It was very bitter sweet. We had our good cry while watching it. I loved watching her roll around and concentrate so hard on what she was doing. I will try to put some video on sometime in the next month or so of little Em. One of my favorite parts was seeing her love Robby's family cat. She and Lily really share a love of animals! And to see her get so excited while in her bouncer. Christmas has been looming ahead for me since January when Em passed away, and now we need to get through next month!

Lily and Emily Share Christmas Dresses

So Lily grows a bit faster than Emily did (a bit of an understatement), so this year she's had several Christmas dresses that took Emily several years to fit into. This first one my mom made for Emily's 2nd Christmas, when she was 17 months old. Aren't they both cute! Lily's 16 months. So in these pictures, they're almost exactly the same age!

This was when Emily was 3 1/2 years old. The dress is size 24 months.

Lily wore this dress yesterday. When we got home from church she climbed into Emily's wheelchair, so I had to get a picture! We've kept the wheelchair so that our kids can play in it and remember Emily. Lily loves to go on rides in it!

Lily loves to try on people's glasses. I had these reading glasses, and so I gave them to her last night.

We thought that Lily would like Santa Clause. NOPE!

At the beginning of the month I went home and saw my mom and helped her get a Christmas tree. It was really cold-in the 20's the entire time we were there. Lily and Mom are going up the lane to get the mail. Lily thought it was great fun and didn't mind the cold. She's wearing Grandma's gloves in the picture.

Lily got all bundled up when we went to Seattle. She kept the hat on the entire time-I was shocked.

It's a .....Drum roll please.....

BOY! We were totally shocked. Both of us were expecting a girl. We're very excited. So now Robby will have a little boy to help him cheer on the Cougars. Not that us girls don't do a good job! Lily loves dancing to the BYU Fight Song.

I get the level 2 ultrasounds with the specialist, and so they look very closely at the brain, heart, lungs, etc. So far everything looks great! I'll go back in again in another month to take another look at the heart and stuff-he wasn't being very cooperative in that department. But he is FOR SURE a boy. He was quite cooperative for that! Robby now has someone to carry on the family name-he's the only boy in his family. I'm 18 weeks now, and due April 29th. So far everything's gone well, and I have more energy compared to the beginning, which is nice.