falling behind

Sorry folks~ i know I'm way behind. alot has happened, just haven't had time  to blog. I'll catch up soon. Please be patient.

one special life has come to an end

My mother passed away on monday morning after 2 years of being in a nursing home with a lot of pain. We learned a month ago that she was deteriorating quickly. She had only 1 month to a year left. Much to my surprise the Lord's timetable was much quicker. My sister called me monday at noon to let me know Mom had passed. I know she is in a better place and her pain is gone now. She is reunited with many family and friends and I know that brings her great joy. She will be greatly missed. It's never easy to lose your mother, even when you know it's coming. Thank the Lord for his great gift of the Atonement which gives us hope and the reassurance that we will be reunited with our loved ones after this mortal life is done. Much love to those of you who knew my mother and will mourn for her loss. May God touch your heart and fill you with peace and comfort.

Today is Monday, June 25th, 2012. Marissa went in to be induced for baby  #4 at 5:00 am.  Nearly 8 hours later their baby girl arrives. She was born at 12:40pm  Texas time. She is 7 lbs. 14 oz, 20 1/2 inches long, brown hair,  long and skinny like her sister Aubrey was. No name just yet, they want to get to know her a bit before deciding. Will keep you posted.  She had a good delivery.

weight watchers

Dad and I joined Weight Watchers today. We went to our first meeting and weighed in.  It is the summer session-13 weeks. I wonder how much weight we'll be able to drop this summer? I hope we will be successful. Luckily my insurance pays for it all as part of it's new preventative plan. We are already doing better with the kinds of food we eat. As long as we plan for meals we do okay. It's those times we haven't planned and shopped that lead to failure. We end up doing the fast thing and eat out. Not good! We need to increase our physical activity as well. Wish us luck!

job?

Interesting turn of events lately. The next to last day of school my student's parent tells me she talked with the principal lately. The principal  told her I would not be  working with her son next year. He also told her they were thinking about sending me to the High school. So I talked with my union rep and then  we had a visit together with the principal.  He assured me I still had a job, but that they had considered the possibility of sending me to the high school. So I reminded him of my experience of harassment there and insisted it would be a very BAD idea if I was transferred there. RED FLAG- he would not assure me that it was only a fleeting idea or that I would not be sent there. He only said everything would be okay. Today the vice principal calls me to say that the superintendent and director of SPED decide to combine my position with another one. Oh and by the way, I would not be working with that student next year. Despite asking the administrators what they had planned for me, he could not tell me where I would be working next fall. So although I won't be doing one-on -one with this student, I get to fret all summer as to where I will be working. Fast and pray for me this summer! ( the troublemakers are still at the HS) If they send me to the high school I will have no alternative but to look for a different job outside the school district. I WILL NOT relive that year of hell and harassment. I pray the Lord has something good in store for me and that He doesn't take all summer to reveal it to me.

a medical scare!

Well it was a typical monday morning at work. I was told my student wouldn't be there. The other aide was out of town but due to complications they didn't have a sub for her. I was preparing to work with her student when my side started hurting. The pain escalated rather quickly. I took some ibuprofen to temper the pain. Within 30 minutes I knew something was wrong. The ibuprofen was not working and the pain seemed to  be growing more intense. I made arrangements for someone else to cover the student and I headed home. The pain was so intense that on my way home I changed direction and headed straight for the doctor's office. After a brief exam and a urine test, he told me he thought I was passing a kidney stone. He sent me to the hospital for some tests. After giving blood and a CT scan, it was determined that I had a small kidney stone trying to pass. It was located right at the opening of my bladder. They told me that once it fell into the bladder, the pain would subside and I would pass it within 24 hours. I took a heavy duty pain killer and went to bed. Somewhere between 4:30 and 6:00 pm  I passed it and started to feel normal again. They told me there was only the one stone and that I shouldn't have any more trouble. It took at least 24 hours to regain my strength though. What a nightmare! I was reliving the pain of my gallbladder stones. The only difference was with the gallbladder, I could curl up into fetal position to relieve some of the pain. With the kidney stone, there was no position I could find to temporarily relieve the pain. Boy am I glad that is done and overwith!

a new grandbaby! hooray!

Emily had her baby on February 15th. A baby boy named Cullen Jay Reynolds. He's a cutie pie!

missionary update

        So it's been awhile since I posted. Tanner's first investigator, Akash, got baptized. A member baptized and Tanner got to confirm.  Shortly after that his companion was transferred. A  new companion was transferred in from serving in Belgium. He's from Salt Lake City. There was a small period of adjustment, but all is good. Tanner was spoiled with his first companion. Elder Bjork was so much like Tanner it made it real easy for them to get along. This new one is different from Tanner so it was a small adjustment. Right now he says the work is going slowly and it's kinda frustrating, but  he's plugging away.
         Tanner was able to travel to one of the big tulip gardens with his companion before he got transferred. He took  a few pictures and forwarded them to me. It's hard to get amazing pictures when all you have is a simple little 35 mm camera. It was a little overcast that day also. I'm sure the fields were beautiful to see.
          

Mission update

In Tanner's last two emails, he talks about his investigators. His first one was a man named Akash. He has made a baptism date to work towards. He has some addiction issues he's trying to resolve , but is solid.
 Tanner and his companion had an appointment with two  investigators from the refugee center one night. One of the ladies invited her friends and they ended up teaching six new people instead of two. Most of them didn't speak English or Dutch! Luckily they had a translator available to help.

Just this last week they added 8 new investigators to their list. One made a baptismal commitment- but only as a goal to work towards, not a full blown commitment.
Their first investigator, Akash, is making good progress. 
One of their investigators, Mano, is a great cook! They eat lunch with him most every sunday and they love his food!

15 investigators  in one month's time , sounds like the work is moving forward steadily.

Our Missionary's news

Tanner is enjoying his first area there in Den Bosch, Netherlands. His flight  over  was about 10 1/2 hours long. There were no problems other than he couldn't get much sleep on the plane. He has a decent apartment there. It has two fridges, one of which is disguised as a cupboard. His shower has this funky hot/cold cycle. Hot water for 30 seconds, then 30 seconds of cold water. He said if he pays attention to  it's noises he can tell when the temp is gonna change.
At the End of February, they were celebrating Carnaval there. It is the Dutch equivalent of Halloween for adults with alot of alcohol thrown in. Sounds a bit like Mardi Gras to me. He mentioned he would be glad when it was over because people drive insane during Carnaval.
 

March 2

One of my favorite author's had his birthday on March 2nd. Dr. Seuss was a great author! He did so much for children's literature. Who doesn't remember-- Hop on Pop; Red fish, Blue fish; Green Eggs and Ham; Horton Hears a Who;The Cat in the Hat; and many more wonderful rhyming stories with wild and wacky characters!
If you were someone who missed out on these wonderful stories, my heart goes out to you. What a wonderful imagination! He has President Bush beat when it comes to making up words! :) For the last two years, I've celebrated at school by making his famous hat and having a reading marathon of his wacky, wonderful stories. If you want something to make you smile and have  an honest-to-goodness hearty chuckle, check out some of his stories and have a good read. It'll bring a smile to your face and surely make you laugh.

catch up

Well, let me fill in the gaps. After we took Tanner to the airport, we had a few days to get ready for our trip. The following Saturday, we flew to Texas to spend Christmas with the girls and their families. Depite some difficulties with the pets and their caretaker, we had a good flight to Texas. We stayed for nearly two weeks at Marissa's home in Houston. She kept us hopping with  school activities and other things as we prepared for the holidays. Sean decided to stay in Texas for a bit with Emily and Andy after we went home.  Unfortunately, during that stay he never found a job. We had a good Christmas and a nice visit. Our return trip was good and without problems.

It felt kind of strange after we got home, seeing as there were just the two of us now. It took me awhile to get used to cooking for just two, but eventually I pretty much got the hang of it. Well for most things anyway.  What I didn't make smaller, turned out to fill my freezer with  another meal. That was not such a bad thing:). The house was quieter and life seemed a little simpler, but at times it felt a bit lonely.

Well before I knew it-- Emily had her baby and Sean was heading home.

arrival in the Netherlands!

So I was tickled pink and relieved at the same time when I found  an email from the mission president. He wrote to let us moms know that our missionaries had a safe flight and arrived in the Netherlands without any problems. I was so grateful! Today  I was able to go to the mission blog and download pics showing his first  day there. It was fun to see the 9 missionaries that spent nearly all their time together in the MTC. His B/N district. It's always good to put faces to names.They are 9 hours ahead of us there. Tanner is going to a town called Den Bosch as his first area. His new Pday is on mondays now, so Dad and I spent some time last night trying to email him. We're looking forward to getting his first email from the field!

sooo behind!

I am so behind!  I just realized I haven't blogged since before Tanner went into the MTC. Oh my goodness! Let me try to bring everyone up to speed. On Dec. 13, 2012, we drove Tanner to Tricities, Washington to catch his flight out to the MTC. Bright and early on the 14th we took him to the Pasco, Wa, airport to  see him off.  I stayed strong until he passed through the security gate and then I cried.
He arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah later that day safe and sound. Uncle Alan picked him up at the airport.  He took him to Sizzlers Restaurant for lunch. Guess they have a special FREE lunch for missionaries entering the MTC. cool!  After lunch he dropped him at the MTC and took a picture. ( which I still haven't seen :) )

Well we've been keeping in touch with Tanner through emails mostly. His visa came through without any problems and in a timely manner. He saw Amanda Quebbeman ( who went in the day after him) several times. He saw Ben Walker only once.( he went in after Christmas- for only a week and then on to Brazil). He saw John Chadwick a couple times. There were 4 elders and 5 sisters in the Netherlands district there. He had a great time getting to know them and enjoyed his companion Elder Taylor.

February 13th rolled around quicker than we expected. yes, his date for departure changed from the 11th to the 13th. His flight plans also changed at the last minute. Instead of flying to Netherlands by way of Atlanta, Georgia, they flew him out through Seattle, Washington. Once in Seattle he was able to call and talk to us. I took the day off from work so I wouldn't miss his call. Dad just happened to come home for lunch in time to be here for his call.  I got to talk with him for 45 minutes. Dad probably talked for 20-30 minutes. It was so good to hear his voice!