Trial by fire

Had my 2nd session with new clients at LDS social services. Had 3 lovely clients with big problems, but I feel they are making small but gratifying steps to health and to change. On the other hand, Family therapy is really, really wild. I was trying to problem solve with a family and I had one parent get really mad at me, blow a gasket, storm out of the room, refuse to come back into the room. This person was so mad and I was alone at the agency. I was at a loss at what to do! This moment was really tense. I didn't ever have this happen at Mental Health corp of Denver and all my sessions in my home office have been really subdued. What an adventure! Finally I was able to get the client calmed down.

Visit to See Lucas, LDS Social Services

On Monday, I flew to Provo to visit my new Grandson Lucas. I got to play with Sammy and make a dinner. Mark sent me flowers for valentines while I was there.
Bryce lives in such a beautiful place. When Sam and I went for a walk one morning and threw chunks of ice into the holding pond, you could see snowy mountains all around.
Sam has a LOT of energy. When he gets wound up, he runs around saying things in Portuguese, his little legs spinning like a turbine out of control. I made the mistake of showing him the non-violent parts of Spiderman I. He was shooting webs out of his wrists and talking about "pidaman" all the rest of the week. He is doing something really cute. He is in the "why" stage. I say "Sammy, we need to put some long pants on because it's cold."
Instead of saying "why?" 400 times an hour like Bryce did, Sam says, "Porcause" which is a cross between "Porque" and "because"
On Friday, when I got home from Utah, I began to do therapy at LDS social services. Doing counseling at this agency has been a dream of mine for the last 15 years. I had 3 clients and I started learn the agencies computer system. I wore slacks instead of a dress(no one told me!), but all in all, it was wonderful. It feels so nice to do the thing I was trained to do. I am able to use my EFT training as well. There is an added aspect, another layer of help from God you can access that was never there when I did therapy at MHCD.
Nagham brought her brother to church who is visiting from Lebanon. I was assigned to teach the gospel essentials lesson on the Holy Ghost. My goal was to get everyone to participate at least 2x and share their experiences with inspiration and promptings. Nagham had an amazing experience this week helping another student get to her inclecs test in the blizzard….. No taxi’s would venture out. She was able to convince someone who knew how to drive but had no license to drive an ancient car out into the streets. Then that got stuck down and they were stranded. The nurse was weeping and wailing. Nagham prayed and stuck out her thumb and God sent a woman to pick them up. The woman couldn’t make it through the snow, but her husband was pressed into service. They arrived 1.5 hours late and were able to convince the testing center to let her take the test . This girl passed the inclecs! This is a huge accomplishment for these nurses and we are all praying for Nagham to be able to take her test soon.
After church, Sam and nagahm came over for Mexican food. I love these kids. They call me their American mom. The necklace and earrings I am wearing is from her Lebanese mom.

The First Discussion

We've been praying about the nurses. We felt they should be going to the singles ward. So today was their first day. There was no gospel essentials class organized so a FT elders and Paul Kamit who went to Arapahoe with Don and Aus taught them a first. What great elders! This picture shows blonde Elder Penrod. It was so amazing, it took my breath away! It flows and covers so many awesome things. It reminds me of watching a well choreographed musical number. I started to cry, thinking of what was going on, feeling the spirit and seeing how much the Elders faces lit up and thinking about Austin and Tiana giving first discussions far, far away. Nagahm was relly touched and got me kleenex and rubbed my back. I am her official American mom now. Both Enkey (from Albania) and Mem (from Thailand) accepted a BOM and the challenge to read. It was the most fun I've had in months. Afterward dad cooked his famous salmon on the barby and they loved the double chocolate cheesecake from the cheesecake factory.

Valentine's PX 2008

2/08
Hidee y'all
We were fixin on last years Christmas picture bein our last. But Tiana, serving in the West Virginia Charleston Mission, goes and gits her overalls in a bunch about endin the tradition of getting all the kin together for a pichur. So to honor her, and cause Bryce had been aimin to marry Marcinia since Sam was born, we did a “Shotgun Weddin”. Even though a bear et the preacher right after the “I do’s” we were able to take this pichur by feedin it the reception food; Vienna sausages, beef jerky, moon pies and nacho cheese Doritos. Plans for the honeymoon include tickets to the Monster Truck Show.
Mark is still doing Financial planin for rich folks. He started a new hobby of volunteerin at the aquarium so he can swim evrsoften (mountainism for “ever so often”) with the sharks in those newfangled breathing tanks they call scubee or some such. His lazy bone took over and he decided it was easier to spray weedkiller on the lawn than mow it. Couple of the trees died, but now we don’t have to rake the leaves.
Tracy finally found a hairdo that attracts bees. She is still teachin psychology at the community college, working on her PhD so she won’t be so ignert. For instance, juhere (Mountainism for “Did you hear”) that even if you're certain that you are included in the will, it's considered tacky to drive a U-Haul to the funeral home?
Celeste is a stay at home mom in Illinois with her lil one Brooklyn (8 mo). She sashays around teaching daints and choreographing high school plays. It’s goin to be diffcult cawse cute lil Brooklyn is real real attached to her ma and persnickkity about who she’ll let hold her. Brad is getting his PhD so he won’t be so ignert in some kinda computer robotics. He will be a classic product of the superior Nawthun educational system,
Bryce is completing his MBA and is a project manager over flash programmers for a web design or some such. Bryce’s new rugrat will be born pert nigh Valentines. Shucky dern, Marcia will be excited to pop this one out. Samuel (age 3) is a very active and imaginative lil tyke and sometimes Bryce has to use the scope on his huntin rifle to locate him in the marsh by Utah Lake.

Nemmine (Never mind) that, Ah just can’t understand all this computer stuff my sons are doin. Ah thought DOWNLOAD was gettin the farwood ofn the truck, MICRO CHIP was whuts left in the munchie bag, and LAP TOP was whur the kitty sleeps and SOFTWEAR was them dang plastik forks and knives.
Danica is also stain’ at home with JJ (22 mo) and Lily (3 mo). Sumpins goin' on with her husband Dave. He might intern here in Denver after he gradjeates in April in geology and geological information systems and they’d live in our basement for a few months. OOOEEE!!!! I love holding Tiger Lily and runnin after Jensen. Course Jensen and Lily are always picken up things ofen the groun and putting them in their mouths and we have to yell “Warsh that squarsh, Bubba ... you don't know where its been!"
Tiana is servin in Lynnchberg VA. Oer yonner her Landlord called us to tell us what a great missionary she was. I cudnt unnerstand a wurd he sed ... must be from some farn (foreign) country. She asks folks all the time, “Jew want to read attair (that there) Book of Mormon, son, or just stand there and gawk at us sisters?" She always was purty as a speckled pup.
Don is serving Uncle Sam in Iraq. It’s a fur piece and it’s hotter than hades down thar. He’s been tryin to be a good example to his new LDS friend (Lewis) in his Marines unit because he knows if he doesn’t his mama’s gonna whup him fer sayin' cuss words and such. He only cum across one unexploded grenade so far, and that didn’t amount to doodly squat, at least that’s whut he tells us.
Austin is servin in Londun, Ontario Canada. It's phraisin (freezing) up thar. Lans-sake he is bold. He met a wild lookin motorcycle man on a Harley and said “Can Ah cyst you with the rest of your life, sir?” and that guy ended up joining the church along with his family. He met three young men at a bus stop and said, “Ah bleeve we ought to teach you the gospel.” Austin inhales any food he is brung. You should be there when he hits the dinner table, attair food flys everwhichaways and for long it’s all in his gullet.
Muchablige for readin our family news,
The Barrand Family

Mark accidently posted on my blog! Good thing!

This From Mark: We had a fantastic surprise early this morning around 1 am. Don called from Iraq and talked to us for awhile. He was in a place where he could use a satellite phone and gave us a call. I’m afraid I was a little groggy and not responsible for any silly thing I might have said, such as “watch out for the rocks on your driveway.” But I was awake enough to get the idea that Don is doing well by dodging the bullets fired his way and he said he has returned fire a few times. He is still patrolling with the Iraqis and filling sandbags and he really likes all his Christmas gifts, including the Bongo Drums and camera. He will be bringing home lots of pictures. He and Tiana have it scheduled perfectly – they will be here in April, just in time for Tiana’s homecoming talk. Don would like us all to pray for his friend Lewis whose wife is having some problems with the baby. She is due in a few weeks and they have pulled Lewis out of the field so he can help his wife. Don asked us to include her in our prayers.

Mom and I are on a quest to find a new house to move to. We think with prices low it would be a good time to get into something smaller and more updated with built in equity and rent out our current home. I want equity and mom wants a view of the mountains so we spent the afternoon looking around and had some fun.

We didn't make it to Costa Rica :(

Well, January 2nd came and we feverishly shopped for the stuff for our trip to Costa Rica. It was going to be so fun. We excitedly got to the airport for our red eye flight with 6 adults and 2 babies in flip flops and shorts and suntan lotion and high hopes. When we got to the counter they said we didn’t have a reservation. I have never felt such a sinking feeling. Unfortunately we had misread the itinerary and were supposed to be there at midnight the 1st. We were 24 hours late. TWe tried to get on another flight or Cancun or anything but it would have been 3 or 400 dollars per person extra and they were overbooked. It was so disheartening. I kept thinking about those poor people on "Amazing Race" and how horrible they feel when they miss their plane. Mark was especially sad to loose his chance of scuba. Luckily, trying to salvage the vacation, we got our timeshare at Breckenridge and went skiing and painted pottery. Guess we'll try again next Christmas when Bryce and Tiana and Don might come. Oh well, it was 2 degrees instead of 80 degrees. We still had fun on the water.....it's just that it was frozen.

Christmas 2007

Jensen loves to yell! He loves to eat! He loves to play! He really needs a bath by the end of the day!

Sammy is so imaginative! He gets under my sofa table and says he is in "Mac" who is the semi from his favorite movie "cars".

We went to the aquarium to see Dad for the New year. It's pretty exciting when the diver in the restaurant aquarium is your husband.

First Bryce Marcinia and Sam came to the house on the 22nd. We also had Christmas dinner with Nagham Mem and Wasana. They really took to the ornament making craft we were doing and we sat for hours and folded an pinned into Styrofoam balls. They called themselves the Asian factory.


We made the super dooper mother of all gingerbread houses with lights inside and Sammy sorted all the red and green skittles and Noga wrote "ho ho ho" in skittles and baked all the gingerbread reindeer.


Marcia really fooled Bryce. He thought this guitar hero was for Mark. When you invite 20 year olds to Christmas, you get technical stuff.

20 blissful days of holding at least one Grandchild each day.
Then Dave and Danica came with JJ and Lily. Lily is fatter and smiles more than ever. Then Celeste and Brad and Brooklyn rolled in on the 29th. They all played heroscapes with awesome sweet silver surfer. We took our Christmas px which evolved into a West Virginia gunshot wedding.

Pasadena EFT training

This last week I want to Beautiful Sunny, warm California for my Emotion Focused Therapy training. It was fantastic training, I can't wait to use this couples therapy in my practice. It's one of the few types that actually has empirical testing that shows good results. People have such a strong experience that after 13 orchestrated sessions, they are better and the change is permanent. When I was going into the Fuller Seminary Guest house, a woman dropped her magazines and they were the Ensign and New Era. This cool French woman named Gwenaelle does counseling at BYU Idaho Student center. We had a blast running around the Rose Bowl Parade route doing some shopping during our lunch breaks. Another woman I met is a runner and we ran in SHORTS in the morning. Here are some px. Then, all too soon, the dream was over and I had to come home to 7 degrees and snow.

But, that's OK, because I am so excited to see the kids and Grandkids for Christmas, I can't stand it. I've been going through the bedrooms, getting them ready like a hotel manager. I'm cleaning them, bought a new queen bed, putting flowers and vases and decorations in them, bought new towels and blankets and sheets and air fresheners and wall decor. At night mark and I sit and watch movies and make Christmas ornaments for them (our only gifts to the adult kids, since their gift this year was a plane tx to Costa Rica). It was so gratifying to see Bryce and Marcinia's tree at thanksgiving and see that many ornaments they owned were the ones we gave them.

I am so thankful that Mark paid for my EFT training tuition and I think it will change my life for the better :) I have an interview with LDS social services on Tuesday the 18th. It's been a lifelong dream to work there and to open up my own counseling practice.

Thanksgiving 07

I am so thankful for my thanksgiving.
1) I got to hold, kiss, change and cuddle Lily. We blessed her this morning at Bryce's house. She is the sweetest baby, easy to smile, easy to comfort. Perfectly proportioned from her tiny head, ample cheeks and thunder thighs....
2) I got to spend the night with my Mom and Dad in Ogden. I cleaned Mom's kitchen, we did a Ghantt chart on preparing the turkey, gravy, stuffing, etc etc. We took a walk on the mountain path by their house. Got to spend time with my Brother Rick and his 3 youngest kids who are all tall and attractive and funny.
3) I got to stay with Bryce and Marcinia. U of U who was ahead of BYU 10 to 9 in the last 2 minutes. The dog in the back yard dug up the cable to the TV and we lost the picture. I've never seen Bryce so upset. Finally we got it back on just in time to see the last shining touchdown of the game for BYU! We won!
4) Sammy has a new bedroom and we played a game I call "Christmas presents"
5) Shopping, shopping, shopping in wonderful Utah. They have stores we don't have in Denver. Danica who I could never get to go shopping with me in her creative element buying card making supplies, Marcinia showing us all the Cool stuff at Ikeya- Scandinavian design furniture, I bought a platform birch bed. And Tiapan trading.
There's no place like Utah.....There's no place like Utah....

Teaching Art History

So, I teach 2 sections of Art History this quarter and I absolutely love it! This week I was preparing a lecture on Neo-Classical Art and I came across an amazing picture. This is by an Italian trained, Swiss Artist named Angelica Kauffman. She was one of only 2 women artists in the Royal Academy in London. This painting is from an incident from ancient Republican Rome where a rich lady visitor who was showing Cornelia her jewels. She then requested to see those of her hostess. Cornelia replies as she indicates to her children, "These are my jewels".
That is so true! I'm so proud of my kids! They were worth all the years I stayed home.

Hawaiian Haystacks with Thailand, Lebanon and India

Well, most of my week was spent at this computer. For three online classes to prepare and present an online chat and to correct 200 papers it took me 55 hours this week. I'm rather burned out. I've got to find another job....quickly. I really miss people too, I find myself having facial ticks, talking to myself, having delusions of owning a horse in Wyoming and hanging out with country girls who talk about "green broke". Mark comes home and I'm so happy to see him and so alone, I say things like "I'll watch the world series with you, we don't have to go to the ballet". I am really loosing it. There was a bright spot in my week. The nurses at church and the elders came over for dinner.

The Amazing Thai Dinner

Sunday, October 21, 2007
It snowed! And we were out in the hot tub with Kizzy’s nurses, Nagham from Lebanon, Mem from Thailand and Tosh from Jamaica. They had never sat in a hot tub and they had never seen snow like Colorado Snow. They kept going outside and taking pictures. It was cute. Nagham had a steam burn on her neck so I gave her some snow to put on it and oops some went down her shirt.
The nurses told us that all they serve at the college cafeteria is potatoes and turkey—processed in several ways: turkey sausage in the morning and turkey slices with more potatoes at night. So, they are rather tired of it. On Sunday, after church Mem cooked us the most amazing Thai dinner. The elders pressed the garlic. There was coconut milk lemon grass soup and this chicken curry and some hot shrimp that was to die for. Dad and I SO went off our diet. The White chocolate cookie ice cream sandwich didn’t help either.

The Bright and Beautiful in my fall quarter 2007

You are looking at a px of my new Nissan Z convertible. 320 HP 6 speed. Here's my schedule. Monday, Wednesday prepare all day for 3 online classes. Two in Art appreciation and one on Ethics. Tuesday Thursday, prepare all day to teach Business and Psychology. OK. So I'm so thankful I get to teach. But it it is pretty lonely at this computer. Still....I can have a totally crappy day sitting all alone preparing and delivering the online chats. But, then I take a break and just drive up the street to the post office I'm very happy again. The other thing is our tree out front. It's really beautiful. Look how much it changed in just a week. Sometimes there is so much pressure to get prepared, I have to reflect on the 2 hours I spend with Danica when I went up to see Lily. You know how Danica has the reputation for being a tom-boy. I was so shocked when she suggested this. We went for my first ever pedicure at a beauty school in Rexburg. They put your feet in warm water and rub them with lotion and I sat in a massage chair! Oh, it was relaxing. I was transported to an other worldly plane of existence.

Don's Px and Nagham's Baptism

I found my camera and there were these px of Don the day before he went to Iraq. We took them at the temple. They are very serious.

Nagham is an incredible Lebanese girl who always felt she was searching for something. Her mom saw a website for nurses to come to the USA to get licensed and work here. Kizzy in our ward told the nurses to come to LDS services as a cultural experience. Nagham decided to take the lessons and she read the Book of Mormon and felt it was true. She reminds me of Tiana and I've adopted her. We went shopping last night for her birthday and I made her a quilt because it's getting cold. Yesterday we went to visit Nagham with the missionaries to take her some baptism clothes and practice how to be baptized. She was staying at Kizzy’s mom Pricilla’s house. Pricilla mostly speaks Ebo, but she was going on and on about how she was reincarnated and Kizzy was her dad and she was his reincarnated daughter. I was watching Nagham’s face and here she is going to be a brand new member today and false doctrine already. You can barely understand her but finally I said, “Oh so those are Ebo (Nigerian) beliefs right! To our relief she said yes.
We got to take the missionaries and Nagham to eat Lebanese food. Elder Bowen did not eat much of his lamb. I got to give the talk on Baptism for her tonight. She so sweet, I told her that while we were giving her the lesson on commandments, I felt impressed not to study on Sunday, so she said she is also not going to study! She has a ton of homework!

Grandchild #4 Lily Elaine McDonald 6lbs 12 oz 9/15/07

She's here! And she sure is cute! And tiny! And kissable! And she looks and acts just like Danica. A dream baby who just eats well and sleeps alot.I'm in Rexburg Idaho. My favorite trick with her is I kiss her when she's hungry and she is really strong for a 1 week old human being and she tries to suck my cheeks. I'm going to put some px of her on my blog when Danica and Dave wake up. Dave just built himself a new computer and it has a dual processor and he said it's twice as powerful as his old one and a high definition graphics card. I run around after Jensen most the day. He is a dynamo of energy. Danica and Dave live next to friends who have a boy Jensen's age. This is the process Danica has to go through just to do laundry. #1. Go to the store and pay 10 bucks for a roll of quarters. Oh, and it's really more complicated than that because it takes 1/2 hour to get the 2 babies ready for the store and another 15 minutes to get them both buckled into their car seats. #2. Sort all the dirty laundry. Each kid gets 2-4 outfits dirty every day. #3. Take the kids over to Mandy's apartment while you make 2 to three trips to lug the baskets of laundry down steep steps to the coin operated machines in a separate building. Put 3$ in quarters in. #4. Pick up the kids from Mandy's. Go back in 37 minutes Take the kids to Mandy's again and move the three loads into three dryers. Put another $4 in quarters in.Pick up the kids. #5. Take the kids to Mandy's again while you make two trips to lug the dry laundry back up the stairs to the apt. Pick up the kids #6. Spend the rest of the day trying to sort and fold and put away the Laundry while you are nursing the baby and trying to keep Jensen away from your work. Oh my gosh, I forgotten how much work 2 babies are! I don't know how Danica is going to do this! I need to write a 20 page paper that is Due Monday on Pentecostal Christians and I need to prepare my live chat for Monday night and grade!!!! ACH. I have to run, Jensen the human terror, the powerhouse of destruction is waking up! He stole a cupcake off some child's plate at the neighborhood BBQ and smeared alot of it on his face but the part that reached his blood stream made him into a supercharged atomic particle.

Labor Day Driving Vacation

Friday the 31st of August, Mark had business in Provo, so I got to play and go running with my grandchild Sammy. Sammy makes me feel special because he speaks Portugese all month to his parents but when I visit him, he switches to English. What a brilliant kid. He came up with this cute ritualfor singing his birthday song. He swings his Lighty McQueen(from the Disney movies "Cars") birthday bag and sings Portuguese style and then he pulls out his presents. He seemed to enjoy it and he'd always say "again" at the end so we did it 57 times. I've included the movie. Marcinia told me that she wanted to buy Sammy some Lighty McQueen underwear. Sammy jumped up and down and sang "underwear! underwear!" Then he said "Mommy, do I like underwear?"
On the way home to Denver, by way of Aspen, Mark planned a surprise for me. After 16 years of living in Colorado, we saw one of it's most spectacular beauties. We hiked up to Maroon Bells. It's my new favorite place. These 2 metamorphosed mountains have a maroon tint to them in the sunlight and are shaped a little like bells. There's several gemstone colored lakes to reflect the mts. Because there are so many aspen trees there, and the beetle kill is negligible, we are going again for the fall leaves and it will look like this px.