Update

I know, I am way behind. Let's see if I can catch up. OK, Mom died on Oct 18. Of course we expected this and I was grateful that it finally came. But I still walked around kind of out of it for a few days. Then all the kids got colds and I was up all night for several days with a baby and at least one kid at a time that wasn't sleeping. Hence I was not sleeping. Come Saturday I was not a very pleasant person to be around. I needed to kick everyone out of the house anyway so that I could take a test, so Jonny left a few hours early and said, "call us when you want us back." He is so good to me. I took my test, and called them with an the all clear, and I took a nap. It still took several days for my sleep to catch up.

Steven wanted to be a Obi-Wan Kenobi for Halloween. He found some good pants and a karate uniform that looked great. But he also wanted the robe. I do not have a working sewing machine, but he didn't care, he sewed it by hand. I helped guide him and did some of it, but he did most of it while we listened to a librivox recording of Treasure Island. It turned out pretty good. I didn't get pictures, cuz well, it's me and I always think of it after. I will see if I can get them all to dress up again and do a picture. We went to the trunk or treat - carnival - chili cook-off. A trunk or treat is when we go to the church parking lot, people decorate their cars and hand out candy to the kids going from car to car. It is safer and quicker, but it ends up being a lot of candy for very little work.

Mom's funeral was the 5th. It was a long time to wait for closure, but we needed the time so that everyone could come from the 4 corners of the world to make it. I went down and help dress Mom for the burial. I actually was grateful for the opportunity. Not that I would like to do that all the time, but I was glad I could perform that service for her. The funeral was good even though I had to speak. The service was in the morning in Shoreline, and then we traveled to Bremerton for the burial. That was followed by a reception at the Bremerton church building. We were able to see all sorts of people we hadn't seen in years. Actually, quite enjoyable.

This last week I was finishing up an assignment for my literature class. That is all of my prerequisites. As soon as I pass this assignment I will have finished 21 credits so far this term and I am only a little more than half way through. YAY!!! Now I can get back to the education classes. My advisor said that most people go slower through the pre-reqs and then accelerate through the education classes. It is unusual for people to make the progress that I have. So I should probably feel pretty good about my progress.

Jonny is the new scout master. He figures that this will be his job for the next 18 years until Joshua get's he Eagle. The man who called him felt the need to assure me (multiple times) that even though it will be time away from my family, we will be blessed. I had thought about the Wednesday activity nights gone, but I hadn't thought about the monthly camping trips and other trainings it would be. So our Wednesday's are crazy right now. Steven has 11year old scouts from 4:30-6. Isaac has Cub Scouts from 6:00-7. and Jonny's is 7:00 to 8:00. AAHHH (blessings, blessings, blessings). Actually I am kind of happy about it. I do think that good things will come of this and I am excited to watch the results.

Well I am sure I forgot things and I didn't even add any pictures. But I am kind of tired of staring at a computer so I'll chat later.

Catch up

Well, I got behind. Allen came to visit the last weekend in July. Satoko didn't like him gone, but it was good to see him again. Our church meetings are in the afternoon, so we skipped church and went down to see him. Sam was still in town so we were able to spend more time with him, Emily and Abby. I visited Mom while I was there. Wow! just not the same. I don't think I really want to remember her like this. Hyrum left this week for boot camp- he is going into "military intelligence" - one of my father's favorite oxymorons. So I actually said good by to all of my brothers that day. I am excited for Hyrum; this should be a great experience for him. I will miss him, Tawni, and the girls though.

And I started my first class. Actually it is kind of an orientation, get-use-to-being-back-at-school sort of class. I think I could actually go through this school pretty quickly since it is so self paced. But right now I am leaning towards going slowly and casually. It will lengthen out the pain, but that pain won't be as intense for me or my family. We will see how it goes. I can always sign up for more classes if I have time during the term, but if I sign up for too many and can't finish, I will have a "not passed" on my transcript. This would be equivalent to failing the class one term, but passing it in the next. So I will opt for the cautious route, especially with Mom's cancer. I have an appointment with my mentor latter today to schedule my classes for the term. I like to have things planned out; I feel more secure that way. Yet, at the same time, I don't like being stuck to schedules. I am so confusing to myself.

My Mom

YAY, we finally are getting some answers! After more than three years of experiencing Mom's declining health, we are finally getting some real diagnoses. The hard part is that the news is not good. They found cancer. We do not yet know what kind. Hopefully we will find out on Monday. Mom had breast cancer 16 years ago and decided then that if cancer returned she would not want treatment. This cancer has attached itself to the nervous system, likely as a result of that massive nervous system infection that brought her to rely on the wheelchair three years ago. At least it isn't dementia. But we are loosing her. I'll keep you informed.