Winter “Affections”

Winter, you’re early… oh how I love you!
My warm breath swirls in the air as I take you in.
Through frosty windows I marvel at the first snow,
each flake so unique, so perfect... so beautiful.
The pumpkins and trees are clothed with a shimmering, pearly coat.
Maybe we’ll have a white Christmas this year.

Winter… you’ve given us ice, we shiver.
The power lines weigh heavy,
and the evergreens bow down involuntarily from the weight.
Now a blanket of powdery snow covers the earth and everything in it.
It’s too magnificent not to share.
We’ll capture smiling faces with the frozen creek as our backdrop.
It’s amazing!
Oops, Ciara and I have both slipped on the ice –
her ankle throbs and my camera is broken.

Winter… you’ve dumped several inches of snow on us.
It was pretty as it came down, but how will we get out the door?
Brandon will spend hours shoveling alone,
as Luke’s broken leg won’t allow him to get out and help.
So my boy makes a path for us all as Trixie dog prances in the snow.
“Snow plow man” Grandpa Don and his bobcat clear the driveways.
Thank God for him!He also helps pick up the slack as Luke continues to heal.

Winter, why don’t you like me?
More snow and blizzard like conditions…
I haven’t seen this much winter weather in the last 5 years combined!
I’m worried about how the kids will get to school safely.
School is never delayed or called off for bad weather, how unnerving.
Should I keep the kids home or should I drive them myself
and hope that we’ll be alright?
Luke sits in the grassy median off interstate near Russell,
waiting for a tow truck to wench him and his Toyota Tacoma out.
I praise God that my husband is unharmed,
but I still feel anxious about him being on the road.
He travels on to Wichita alone… just him and his broken leg.
I hope that his cane and careful steps will keep him from falling -
on the ice that refuses to melt.

Winter – you’re giving us temperatures in the teens and single digits, BRR!
The snow won’t disappear we all complain about the cold.
As I brave the weather, the piercing air cuts right through my scarf
and coat - it chills me to the bone.
I can’t seem to get warm. Where is the sun? I miss it.
My lips burn from the howling, icy winds, my eyes sting and tear.
I scurry for shelter, shelter from you and the elements.
Where can I go to get away from you?

Winter… oh how I hate you!
You depress me, I’m so sick of you.
You’ve stolen autumn from me and cause me nothing but worry.
How dare you!I wish you’d go away, you are no longer welcome here.
I want to hear the birds sing,
I want to feel the warmth of the sun on my face.
I want to go somewhere without piling on layers of clothing,
to protect myself from you. I want to breathe warm, fresh air that doesn’t stab my lungs and freeze my nostrils. Why did you have to come so early and when will you depart? It won’t be soon enough for me!
Oh, I do hate you, winter.

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I know how silly it is to say that I "hate" winter, but I wrote this poem for no reason other than to vent my frustrations with the miserable winter we've had so far. Maybe I'm just a wimp, but It's been rough and somewhat depressing already and I can hardly wait for spring. I just hope our spring lasts longer than our autumn did! Tina commented that we don't have fall in Kansas. Tell me about it! :)So there you have it... yet another - jamimania type rambling. :)

"Flyin' Solo"

We're getting closer to seeing Luke walk on his own two feet without assistance, and it's really exciting. He is now off the Rx Pain meds and limiting the amount of Ibuprofen he's taking for pain and swelling. He's glad to be off the Percoset and said that he feels better without it in his system, though he is experiencing more discomfort, but coping. I'm so proud of how strong he is and how determined to speed along his healing. He took off today for Wichita - BY HIMSELF! This is the second trip he's made without me - but he takes his ice pack along because by evening he's swelled up pretty good. He says he's experiencing lots of aching where the screws are holding the rod to the bone, ICK. I suppose the cold weather probably doesn't help, it was 4 degrees here this morning. Luke will go back for a 2 month followup visit on Feb. 18th to see how he's healing. I'm hoping that the jolt he got when he tripped on the steps coming into the house won't have set him back any.

I've got Ciara home sick today. She started a wicked miserable cold/flu bug while we were in Nebraska this past weekend at Luke's Mom's. It would seem that our car can't leave the Hays area without someone breaking something or being sick. I don't get it... but I guess that's the way it goes. What's even more frustrating to me is the wretchedly cold weather and all the snow and ice we've had here. Winters generally look like this in Nebraska, not Kansas. It wouldn't bother me except for I've got a husband in a truck driving 3 hours to Wichita and a teenage daughter driving 10 miles one way for school with the other 2 kids. I'm just so tired of worrying about if it's safe for them to be driving. When the snow melts off from one storm it sets in again. Seems like we just can't get a break. Grr. I'm ready for spring!

Ciara and Tina are getting excited for Snoball - the winter formal dance. It will be on February 9th. We had to take Tina shopping for a formal dress, she went ahead and got a dress for prom too so she won't have to worry about it then. We still need to shop for shoes for Ciara - but we bought her dresses at an exceedingly discounted price this summer when nobody was looking for formals. That girl is a bargain shopper, gotta love it!

Well... I'm really busy with Valentine's products and preparing for an upcoming soap party, and I've got 3 orders to fill plus need to turn in 2 or 3 supply orders, so I suppose I ought to get to it. I guess I'm procrastinating, I'm just so cold it's hard to get motivated. More later.........

Hespe Christmas ~ 2007

We had a wonderful CHRISTmas this year, and really enjoyed our time together as a family, especially sharing our traditions with Tina. Even though Luke's broken leg was a bummer... the up side is that he was able to spend lots of quality time at home with us. Tina's family was so generous and sent wonderful gifts and chocolate from Germany, it was really thoughtful of them and much appreciated. :) You'll see photos of us with the goodies from the Jaekel family, and also several others from our gift opening. Hope your Christmas was a good one... and may you be blessed in the New Year! The Hespe's

New Years Eve ~ Bringing in 2008!

The kids had a New Year's Eve party at our house and had a great time! (as you can see from the slides) :) If you want to stop the photo to get a better look, just put your mouse on it and it will stop. Enjoy!

Puttin' some miles on this "baby"!

We're now more than 8 weeks into the healing process since Luke's accident. It's been a long row to hoe so far and as his wife, it's been really hard to watch him struggle with crutches and his enormous, swollen foot. He has cut back on the pain meds and is trying to get off of them all together. He is out of the walking boot and back into some "normal" shoes - of course the swelling is so bad that we've had to purchase some bigger, roomier shoes to get him through to total healing. The doctor says that the swelling is normal and that it could take up to 6 months before the swelling stops. He feels a little discouraged by that, because whenever he's on his feet for any amount of time he swells up terribly and has to get his feet up with ice.

Right about the first of the year I went out and purchased for my dear hobbly husband, a snazzy metalic blue and black walking cane. As you can imagine the kids are having the time of their life teasing him about being an old man, etc., and he's enjoying whacking them with his cane just for fun. :) He's actually doing very well with it, I'm pretty proud of his determination. I guess since he's already making plans to scramble through airports independently for his work... he thought maybe he ought to press on toward walking without assistance. The doctor told him that putting some weight on the leg will actually help accelerate the healing process. Hard to believe, but surprisingly it appears to be working as he is getting stronger every day and beginning to do more and more for himself. This is good!I think he feels good too, even though he somewhat enjoyed being waited on, he is happy to be able to make himself a pot of coffee, shower without the shower chair and so many other things that the rest of us take for granted every day. Thank you all for your prayers that I KNOW have gotten him this far, and please don't quit prayin'... his goal is to walk without crutches or cane by the end of the month!