Sevark Central

I've missed Kami at church the past few months as she now attends the nearby single's branch, but she's really been enjoying meeting new friends her age there.  This week she received a call to meet with the Bishopric and they've asked her to be the director of the Genealogy Indexing for the Single's branch.  Of course Kami gladly accepted the calling and will now be figuring out creative ways to promote indexing among the single adults.  I was privileged to be there today as they set her apart for the calling.  Her Bishop told me how proud I should be to have such a super daughter as Kami...he sure thinks very highly of her and can tell she's such a great person.  I couldn't be more proud of her and the outstanding young lady she's become...and I know Cindy is every bit as proud as well (Cindy always beamed with pride in having Kami as her daughter...and I'm sure she's still doing so).  Way to go Kambo!  You are amazing!! You're just like your mother...I love that about you.  You are such a great example to all of us...Thank You!!  

We have been so blessed to part of the most amazing families...each and everyone one of them.  From the Clark's to the Glasgow's, and from the Porter's to the Severtson's...we have four families we feel a part of and who continue to bless and enriched our lives. This year for Thanksgiving we celebrated the Clark's at the usual Augusta Ranch ward building which they reserve each year for the large family turnout...and now with the addition of the Sevark's -- we take 10 seats ourselves!  :-)  Anyway, we had a wonderful time visiting and eating turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, Lexine's prize winning rolls (yes, she was up early making them even in her weakened condition), Uncle Dave's famous gravy, a wonderful salad Dave's sister brought, pie, ice cream and much more!

Later in the evening we went over to Stan & Lori's house for "pie with the Glasgow's" and had a great time visiting with them as well -- especially watching Porter search for his shoes that Kami & Bentley were hiding from him.  What a nice, relaxing day...we could use a few more of those!  :-)

It's been over a year since our last family picture, so we figured it was time to work that too into our busy schedules...since time isn't waiting around for us!  We are sure appreciative and thankful for the thoughtfulness of Lexine's nephew & niece-in-law (Clint & Elizabeth Lawlor) who spied one of our needs and charitably offered their time & talents to take our pictures.  We had them over for dinner afterwards -- sweet pork salads (yum!) -- as a small token of our gratitude to them.  So...stay tuned for when I post the results in a few days!

Today was an interesting day.  We started off with an appointment at a company called "Divine Nature" that offered to treat Lexine for free -- because they heard of what she's been suffering though and believe they could help her.  Lexine's sister Lona had heard of them and told them of her situation.  I have to admit that I was a little skeptical at first because I've been to so many people like this as she battled her breast cancer...unfortunately nothing ever seemed to work except for chemo treatments.  But this one intrigued me since they were willing to put their money where their mouth is -- something none of the others would ever do...and you can bet I would ask them to!  :-)  The appointment started out with them taking a drop of blood from her finger and analyzing it right there on the screen in front of us.  It was amazing to see all the types of cells moving around and absorbing sugars or attacking bacteria.  Lexine's blood cells were all clumped together which meant that she were not effective in absorbing nutrients or oxygen into her body -- so they gave her a few different types of enzymes which they believe will improve her intake of them and result in her health beginning to improve.

I can hardly do justice to the explanation of how this all works, but I was so impressed with the explanation and that they believed in it enough that they would offer it for free...so I decided to have them test me as well...it was only $70 for me.  The nutritionist explained he can also treat conditions like ulcer's and celiac disease -- which are caused by our bodies having used up all the necessary enzymes to digest certain types of proteins...in my cases gluten.  So I figured with my recent stomach issues that showed I possibly have ulcers again, it is worth a try...and I can prove whether or not it worked next month when I have a follow-up colonoscopy. Sure enough my blood also showed needed enzymes, so I purchased the supplements they recommended for me.  I've been on them for 3 days now and have to admit that my stomach is feeling a little better -- but I 'm not sure if that's just because its healing on its own from my episode a couple weeks back, or if the supplements are actually working.  Regardless, we'll know which it is by the end of next month when I have my procedure!  :-)  Anyway, below are the blood pictures they took for Lexine and I (if you're interested).  Fascinating stuff!  :-)

The one thing I'm not sure anyone looks forward too...but today was Maizey's turn to speak in Church!  She was a little nervous this morning, then as the moment approached more of the anxiety set in...which is always followed by the most wonderful sensation of relief once its all over.  Maizey did a splendid job!  She wrote the talk all by herself, and delivered it beautifully...I doubt anyone could even tell she was nervous. She did so well that we may have just found another of Maizey's talents!  She spoke on the importance of good language and its affect on us and others...a very good message we can all learn from.  We are sure proud of Maizey and the beautiful young woman that she is...Great Job Maizey!!

Flag Football Saturday...yes, once again, only a few more to go!  Today was an awesome game...we were losing by 3 touchdowns at half-time, then came back to win it in the 2nd half!  It was one of those intense games I usually don't like to attend because the parents of the other team were yelling at the parents on our side...but the game went on.  Jonah did an amazing snatch of a flag right before the other team could score again. Caleb had 3 excellent catches...two which resulted in him scoring touchdowns and another crowd-awing catch for the extra point. Noah made a couple of awesome catches as well which you can see below...the one in the picture was incredible, unfortunately he thought he was in the endzone when really he was just short of it...by the time he realized it the other team grabbed his flag before he could score and he was quite upset with himself for it.  But all three of them played great and did their best!  We won 20 to 19!  Great job guys!!






  

Jonah's a bear!  Not a 'bear' as in being a grumpy, miserable person to be around, because he's definitely a happy, fun boy who brings lots of joy and laughter to our family, but he has earned his Bear award in Cub Scouts...and for his hard work and accomplishment we are very proud of him!  He even had to go the extra mile and work extra hard to earn this rank because some how he lost his book a few months back (maybe it was with his iPod :-) and had to do some things twice and was blind to his progress in completing it.  However, he did not let this stop him from achieving his goal, and he did it!! I just wish I could have been in the picture of him, but they awarded it to him early in the Pack meeting and I was off teaching the 11 year old boy scouts. I want to make sure I have some picture's with him, so when he's rich & famous someday!!  :-)   'Ol Jonah is on the right track and I couldn't be more proud of him!

Yesterday morning I woke up with stomach cramps, nothing too terrible, so I ate breakfast and planned to get started on my busy day.  After about an hour my stomach started hurting worse, so I laid down for a little bit trying to calm it, but it just kept getting worse and worse.  Around 11am it started hurting so bad that I began to feel very nauseous. I couldn't get comfortable to matter what I tried.  Then it happened...I lost my over 27 year streak of not throwing-up...my self-proclaimed world-record all down the drain (or the toilet in my case). :-)   Its been so long since I last threw-up that even Cindy never saw me do it in all our years together.  But even throwing-up didn't help my stomach pain which kept getting worse and worse...and I couldn't keep any liquids down.  Around 6pm I felt so terrible that I figured I would have my dad take me to the Emergency Room since Lexine is still in no condition to do so, but at this time I was starting to hurt even more intensely -- to the point that I was dehydrated, too weak to move, couldn't find any source of comfort, and didn't even think I could make it to the ER any longer.  So finally I was to the point that I told Lexine, "call 911, I'm hurting too bad".  The paramedics and ambulance were there within a couple moments, got an IV in me and rushed me to the hospital.  I kept throwing up on the way and groaning in severe pain.  Not long after I got to the hospital they gave me some pain medication, and my Dad and brother-in-law (Danny) gave me a priesthood blessing, which immediately took the edge of and allowed me to relax finally.  They took a CT scan of my abdomen and as I expected it appears I have a couple ulcers in my small intestines again...which I'm not surprised because of all the stress I've had the past couple years.  I've recognized the signs, especially because I've begun getting terrible canker sores again all over in my mouth and throat...so I guess some more Mayo visits are in-store for me now now too (Lexine and I can make a date out of them).  :-) The ER released me about 2:30am (Thanks Dad for picking me up and taking me home) and I came home and slept hard.  This morning I feel almost 100% back to normal.  I'm not sure what it was that hit me so hard -- it was probably a combination of several things actually:  stomach flu which has been going around our family, iron pills they have me on for anemia (Cindy used to warn me about how painful they can be), the ulcers, etc.  Whatever it was, I'm so thankful that I am feeling great again today...just extremely tired as you an imagine!

Just a quick update on Lexine as well...these last couple weeks are the first time this year that I felt she might actually be improving.  She looks much better, getting her color back, gaining strength slowly but surely, and starting to eat more. I don't think we're out-of-the-woods with her yet...we had her Mayo follow-up appointment last week and her blood tests showed her inflammation markers were still really high, much higher than they expected with her being on prednisone (steroids).  So they will do an X-ray in a couple more weeks to make sure the inflammation is not growing more inside of her. Until then, we'll keep praying and moving forward with faith!

Thank you everyone for all the thoughts and prayers on behalf of our family...we sure appreciate you all!

Bentley had her Fall 2011 Piano Recital this evening and sadly was also her very last one as her teacher (Alyssa Call) is moving away.  Even though we're sad to see her leaving, it was perfect timing since Bentley was planning to stop her lessons anyway.  Bentley has developed excellence in piano playing and is very talented at it.  She's at the point where she can teach herself to play anything and I love hearing her come home from school or at various time practicing church hymns -- her style is very calming & relaxing and brings such a nice spirit into our home. Bentley has worked hard over the years to accomplish this goal and we're so proud of her.  She always strives for perfection & excellence, but she's also her own worst critic...to the rest of us she is inspiring as you can see from the piece she played below. She is now planning to begin teaching Maizey and our 3 youngest boy to play -- which as we all know that when you teach, you learn more than you ever did as the student.  Nice job Bentley...keep up the great work...YOU DID IT!

At Queen Creek High School seminary they have a challenge for the students to know all the mastery scriptures for the year and have a test to see who can pass them off within 3 minutes.  For those who know all of them and can pass them off within 3 min they make it into the 3 Minute Club.  Proudly both Bentley & Porter made it into the club this week -- in fact, Bentley was the very first in the entire school to make it!  Porter followed shortly behind (then next day), but is not a member of the club as well.  Its been funny for Lexine and I to watch their friendly competition -- they've been coming home just about every day this week with one of them touting that they beat the other person's time. We're so proud of both of them for setting goals to do great things and aiming high!  Great job Bentley & Porter!!

Caleb is 11 years old today!  I remember so clearly the cold November morning in Chicago when Cindy said "I think it's time".  We rushed to Good Sheppard hospital in Barrington, IL around 2am, I immediately told the nurses that she has very short deliveries which the big burly nurse told me "you dad's don't know what you're talking about".  Luckily she listened to me -- which later she admitted -- because around 4am came Caleb into the world!  What a crazy kid he is, never satisfied until he has mastered something, but what a wonder trait to have.  From 2 years old, he would practice for hours throwing the ball into the air and hitting it with a bat -- and he got quite good at it even at that early age!  Today he's the exact same, practicing football or basketball everyday -- often all by himself.  Caleb has always brought joy to our family as you can tell from the pictures below.