Friday, February 13, 2009

30 years of Birthday's

30 years ago, about this time...I was really beginning to want Rick to show an interest in me...we had spent lots of time together, mostly in groups or at least a threesome of Rick, Tom and myself. Now things were taking a turn, but as my usual doubting self...I wasn't sure he even really cared about me in any long-term way. Then there was a turning point....late on Valentine's Day of 1979, Rick came to my house and gave me a birthday card, you know, one of those sappy types that you can buy at the grocery store. (My Birthday is in August) He had crossed out the word "Birthday" and written in "Valentine's" and signed his name...I don't remember the content, just the experience and to know that he was caring enough to give me a birthday-valentine. Now I know him well enough to realize that was a HUGE step for Rick and an initial committment of sorts....

30 years later, I still love his quirky little ways...he has improved in his gift selection and accolades at Valentine's, but that first Valentine's will forever be etched in my memory as the day when I knew he liked me....I won't admit how long it was before we were officially engaged!

Happy Birthday Everyone!

One liners from a 4 year old...

Jake is an incredible child....and has an interesting thought process. That said, I'll give an example. Last night as Rick was talking to Jake on the phone, he asked him how his pre-school was that day, there was a pause and Jake responded: "I dropped out!" Rick's thinking, wow a pre-school drop out. Then Jake proceeded to say that there were not any lights....so he didn't go to pre-school. Then Jakie said some other stuff that was said so quickly that he couldn't be understood. So when Rick(y) got back on the phone it turns out they had had wind storms that sported winds up to 92 miles per hour. There were power outages and pre-school was canceled for the day..thus Jake's "drop-out" status. We think that he will be back in pre-school by next Tuesday...whew!

What I loved most about that story is watching Grandpa's face soften and be so happy and the cares of the world melt away when he talks about Jakie! Thank Heaven for little boys......

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Today is the beginning of a new month and almost a month has gone by since my last post....time keeps going no matter how much we want it to slow down and sometimes even to stop for a breather. We have passed throught the first month of a new year and hopefully have been refined a little more. Last week in RS, we were taught that through the refiner's fire, we may become personally sanctified. In the course of many years and many lessons that have referred to personal refinemen through trials and tests, I had not thought of that next step of sanctification.


We have experienced a few more bumps in the road with Rick's hospitalization on December 29 with a generalized infection. Turns out it was a septic shock secondary to Gall Bladder disease. Nothing to do with Cancer, but complicated by it. Once the gall bladded was identified as the culprit, there were decisions to make. Due to recent chemo, history of blood clots, extensive scarring from previous surgery...he did not have the option of surgery to remove the offensive organ....so with the current technology, they were able to drain the gall bladder and push stones through the common bile duct and give him some relief. On January 6th, he was able to come home.


We have seen specialists, generalists, and have tried hard to coordinate all things that occur. Then, last week, the news came that the first round of chemo drugs were only effective for a few weeks, and that the cancer has continued to spread. As Rick(y) put it, it was almost harder to bear that news than the original diagnosis. Then in the process of trying to change over to a different drug regimen, the implanted IV line (port) has decided (yes it does have a mind of its own) to become touchy. So now the process to see if it is in fact working correctly. We pray that it will not need to be replaced, and that we can get on with the new chemo.

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