Harmony and Havoc: Thanksgiving and other tales

Let me catch you up on the Whicker goings-on from the last couple of weeks.

Two weeks ago, most of us went to Billings so Cora (who has albinism and is legally blind) could attend a day camp for blind athletes. She was able to learn some cool martial arts moves, and also finally learned out to play goalball with a bunch of other visually impaired kids. The people who sponsored the program were kind enough to put the traveling families up in a hotel for the night, so we made the most of it and enjoyed some other activities while there, including a little salon time at Zoe's cosmetology school. Thalia got her nails done, Beck got his hair rebraided (I'm still unable to braid for long periods due to my dislocated shoulder problems), and Jack got a sweet fade. ;)

We also ventured into our ginormous new Scheels for the first time. We didn't buy anything, but against my better judgment, we rode the indoor ferris wheel. For the second time that week I was wishing I had a little Valium on my person. I'm horribly afraid of heights. And enclosed spaces. (Having an MRI on my shoulder was the first time that week I was praying for drugs.)

Last week I took Thalia into Curtis' office to get her ears checked. I was pretty sure one or both of her tubes was plugged, and it turned out I was right. We'll wait a couple of weeks and retest her, but we may have to go see the ENT again if the problem persists. We're in the middle of losing our insurance yet again due to our premiums DOUBLING, so we'll have to wait until we have new insurance in place before delving further into that problem. We've done our application for a government marketplace plan, and now we just need to choose from one of 40 incredibly expensive options. Fun, fun!

And then there was Thanksgiving. I will go on record as saying that it was probably our smoothest Thanksgivings ever. We actually ate at 3:30. Stunning.

We were joined by our missionaries and my sister's in-laws, plus since Zoe and Teffy were here, we had our whole family home for the holiday. I'm grateful for these moments, because I know after this Christmas, they won't happen very often anymore. I hate thinking about that, so for now I'll enjoy what I have, which is a freaky fun family that (mostly) makes me happy every day!