Last week....
On Monday evening, I heard a call on the police scanner for an ambulance to my good friend, Sally's address. Quayd and I were sitting talking about his mission prep when the call came in. Sally was life-flighted to SLC. She has a glioblastoma tumor on her brain stem. This is the worst kind of cancer a person can get. It's what took both of Carol's husbands. The lunch bunch ladies were all on the phone for the rest of the night, texting and praying together for Sally, in between our last night with Liza and Aylabelle. Since she was flown to SLC, her father has passed away in Oklahoma. She will be unable to attend his funeral, which was where she was headed when she had her first "episode" before the diagnosis. Sally is my angelic friend who sang in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. She's a remarkable lady and could use all the prayers possible.
Tuesday night, I went to dinner with Denise at Roadhouse to catch up on her life after her trip to Vegas to see her little granddaughter, Rose Denise, who was born at 26 weeks, weighing 1.222 pounds. She's doing well and is now two weeks old tomorrow! That's her daddy's thumb. Her head is smaller than a tennis ball. She's SOOOOOOO tiny. Denise showed me her diaper and it's not even as big as a "mini-pad". Unbelievable.
Denise and I had a great visit, and TRH had a rough night in the kitchen, so dinner ended up taking long enough that I didn't make it to the YW activity. That's one good thing about having so many leaders... I wasn't missed.
Wednesday, the lunch bunch met to see what we can do to help Sally. It was a tearful gathering. We have seen ourselves growing old together and still meeting for lunch. Jeana announced that she is moving to Southern Idaho. Sally is in the hospital with terminal brain cancer. Needless to say, there were not many laughs that day. But, what a group of special ladies. After lunch, I went over to visit with Carol, who'd been out of the town for her niece's husband's funeral. (Another glioblastoma tumor on his brain. A beautiful life, a beautiful wife and four beautiful young children shattered. I HATE CANCER!) It was good to be together with Carol after almost a week.
Thursday, I spent the day out alone. I had Bunco at our home that night. I did not host, but we met at my home. Tamara hosted and all I did was prepare some rolls and Doug sat up the tables. Tamara did everything else and it was a lovely evening. It was by far the most fun Bunco night we have had yet, as a new group of friends. We are starting to get to know each other and beginning to relax and get a little more rowdy together. There were lots of much needed laughs!
Kara and I met for lunch on Thursday. Kara has been my "Go-To" friend with mission questions, as her son is just a year ahead of Quayd. She's had such solid and wonderful advice about what to expect, what to do and not. We both have a really unique relationship with our boys, so I think that more than any other friend I have, she and I "get" each other as missionary moms. I'm so grateful for our friendship and have always adored her, but now, it's even more special. Kara was so sweet. She had $40 Kohls cash that needed to be used immediately and told me to take it for Quayd. I ran into Kohls Saturday evening and bought Quayd12 pair of dress socks which totaled exactly to the penny, $40.00. Socks. Check! What a sweet gift! But the best gift is our friendship! I heart Kara and the years that we've continued to grow closer!!!
Friday evening, Doug and I had a short date night. We went to dinner at Beehive Grill and then picked Zaylee up for a sleepover. She was so excited to visit! Grace had a friend over, so Zaylee spent much of the evening playing with Zee. They are building a "fairy house" village. (ZJ has a gift with little children! She will be a remarkable mommy!) We could not get over her and her math facts. She just loves to do them constantly and asks for more. She wanted me to do the two tables. I asked "2x8". She said, "No, Gram! Ask 2x 346!" So we did them for quite a while and she was right on. She loves reading and is reading Junie B. Jones books and other chapter books. First grade and reading anything we can read. Literally. She loves math. She loves school! She's really happy and settled into her new life. Her birth parents names were never mentioned once over the whole sleepover. Nothing. She is very happy and doing so well. It was awesome! She really has grown and matured immensely. And she's very huggy, which I love! She enjoyed a walk to the park with Gramp and lots of playtime with the girls. I made her pancakes because she came up for breakfast and she asked if I could make pumpkin waffles. Next time!
Saturday was a long awaited day! When we moved into our home last year in February, it was A. Winter and B. BUSY! We moved our entire home's contents into the garage and a storage unit for that few weeks. Then, as we moved into our home, it was slowly because of all the renovations that needed to be done. Because of that, we've been missing things for an entire year! Then, Doug was called to serve in the YSA and life got even busier! So, the garage has never been completely emptied. We have parked one vehicle in it all winter, but half was still filled with things that needed to be gone through. It's made me completely crazy!
A few weeks ago, we inherited an entire kitchen full of cabinets. (Alan was doing a kitchen remodel for a doctor that lives a few blocks away. He asked if we wanted them for storage in our garage. That's what we had in our garage in Smithfield for all those years and Doug was thrilled because this garage had nothing but bare walls.) So, after a few weeks of having a garage full of cabinets added to all the "stuff" that was still in it, we spend the entire rainy Satuday as a family, working in the garage. I sat and gave a lot of instructions on organizing. so I was the brain, Doug and Quayd were the backs and the girls were the legs, running things to the places that they belong, inside and out. Alan and Jill came over for a bit in the afternoon to help Doug with tools and experience. After eight hours of work, three pizzas and lots of Diet Coke, we now can park two vehicles in the garage and it is clean and emptied of everything we don't need! AND WE FOUND SO MANY THINGS!!!
I'd been missing some of my more important books. There was much of the contents of my Smithfield gallery that had been put against the far wall. I have my books back! Mostly gospel study books! SO happy! Doug was thrilled to have his tools that have been missing. Plus his "man stuff"... like oils and grease stuff, and his winterwear. (now that it's spring.) And all of the camping gear is now stored away nicely in the cabinets. It was such a good feeling to pull both vehicles into the garage! HAPPINESS!! One more huge project checked off the list!
Another thing that I was happy about was my ladder! When we bought the home, Brother N. left an old ladder. It was literally over a hundred years old. (He's 92 and he told me he'd inherited if from his grandfather.) 12 feet long. Rickety as could be! But, I love the farmhouse look of homes right now and one of my favorites is old ladders as blanket holders. While Alan and Doug were sawing away at kitchen cabinets, Doug asked Alan to cut the ladder for me. We joked and teased for 15 minutes about how long I wanted them. I knew what I wanted. They didn't. So, we cut the ladder into two 6.5' and a 5.5' ladders. Perfection! I'm so happy!!! I love them! I'm still not sure where the shorter one will go, but I've got ideas!
Mother's Day was just wonderful. I was awakened by Zee who made me the heartiest breakfast! Doug was up getting ready for his early morning meetings when she came in with eggs, sausage, pancakes and a bowl of honey yogurt with bananas. Doug had to help me eat it!
Mother's Day is my one Sunday of the year that I choose to stay home from church. I've mentioned this before. It's a hard day for me to listen to talks about perfect mothers. From the daughter's perspective and my own. It's just plain hard. So, Doug happily gives me the "day off". Yesterday, he came home early from his meetings and the kids stayed home with me. We watched "Once I was a Beehive", had Hawaiaan Haystacks and brownies for dinner, then watched "Sufferagette", a story about women gaining the right to vote. (Not a happy movie at all.) Liza and her family facetimed with us. Aylabelle was so cute! I emailed back and forth with a close friend throughout the day. We read scriptures, had family prayer and were all in bed by 9:30. It was a lovely day. I just plain enjoyed having us all at home and the downtime together. We built a fire, stayed in our jammies, ate good food and enjoyed eachother's company!
It was a great week, even though it was filled with a few very sad moments...some I can't even share on the blog. I thought yesterday morning, a lot, about the things we have going on in our life right now. Death and illness are surrounding us, there are some serious challenges that those we love are facing. However, in the midst of it all, there is so much joy. I am blessed with such a great husband and children. We have incredible friends. INCREDIBLE friends. And we are abundantly blessed with daily tender mercies that remind us of our divine nature and the eternal happiness and joy that is ours if we just seek it. Life is good.
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