Admittedly, Faith is at that age where she just says the darndest things! A couple of minutes ago, she told Joel that she kept getting out of bed because she wanted to watch the "sun sparkles" (the dust that you see in the sunlight). . . too cute! :>)
I've been overdue to blog about this one. . . As many of you know, my grandpa Evans died at the end of April after a long battle with Alzheimer's (cancer, broken bones, heart issues, etc. etc.). He'd lived in Spokane, WA since his retirement nearly 30 years ago but moved down to Salem, OR last year to be in a nursing home closer to Mom & Dad's. Well, during one of his more lucid talks with Dad, he'd said that he wanted to be buried back up in Spokane. Somehow it was decided that Dad would drive him back up there. . . Dad also said that he felt like it would be impersonal to have a stranger transport him all that way.
However, it still took us all by surprise when, after Grandpa died, Dad said that he wanted to drive Grandpa back to Spokane. . . in the pickup truck. (Dude!) Me? I didn't want them to go through that alone, and I felt like since work was gracious enough to give me bereavement leave, then I would make the road trip with them. As a fun surprise, Mom also included her sister Suzy and my cousin Amy in the plans! This being the case, rather than cram into the pickup truck, I followed along in our Jeep: we had 3 in the Jeep and 2 in the truck at any given point in time. Here we are as we were heading out (alas, I am taking the picture and am not included):
So, schedule of events?
- Sunday night Mom called me upset and said that it had been a rough day with Grandpa
- Monday, I had a nagging feeling that I needed to make it up to see them. I left work early Monday and headed up to Salem, I stopped to see Grandpa at the nursing home and he wasn't "there" -- I held his hand as he dozed off and on, but it was the first time that he didn't recognize me. When I got up to throw a cup away, he got upset and angry with me, telling me to stay out of his stuff! I held his hand again, and he dozed. Later, I was telling him about my kids and how Faith looks a lot like my mom and he said, "that Sherry is a good girl." :>) As I went to leave, he told me to "be nice to Mama! Nobody messes with MY mama!" hmm. . . I then went to Mom & Dad's for the rest of the afternoon and evening and I had a really good visit. Dad got to talk a bunch (about everything under the sun and especially his concern for Mom) and I got plenty of the hugs that I was needing.
- Grandpa died early Friday morning, I went to work (in shock) but broke into tears when, after forwarding Mom's email announcement to my work team, my supervisor called and asked me with all genuineness "How are you doing?" Needless to say, I was sent home.
- Saturday the kids & I headed up to Salem (from the Eugene area) to see Mom & Dad,
- Sunday I took the kids home and then headed back to Mom & Dad's
- Monday included cleaning, getting the program for the memorial service finished, and a run to Costco for trays of food
- Tuesday was the memorial service in the evening with family and GREAT visiting during the day :>)
- Wednesday we spent a wonderful morning visiting with Grandpa's surviving sibling: Mom's Uncle James, and Aunt Bunny (James' wife), Aunt Margie (Grandpa's brother Keith's wife), and David (James' son). . . We spent time talking and looking through some of Grandpa's old pictures -- the senior members of the family were WONDERFUL in helping us identify who people were in the pictures and so we took the opportunity to get out a pencil and label the backs :>) The crew of visitors left in the early afternoon and our roadtrip began about 3:00 P.M. (Holy smokes!)
We drove to Tri-Cities just across into Washington and spent the night at a hotel. You can imagine our humor about having a coffin hanging out the back end of the pickup (we were all tempted to stop and take a picture at the "Coffin Road" exit). On the roadtrip, I was blessed to get to have some time to talk and get to know my Aunt Suzy and cousin Amy much better. . . that was very special time for me :>) And, then there were the humorous moments like when we were listening to Brooks & Dunn's song "Believe" and one of the lines is "it all ends with a long ride in a hearse" and my cousin Amy pipes up "or a pickup truck!"
Dad was always mindful of the precious cargo we were carrying: driving UNDER the speed limit, backing the truck/coffin back against a fence and bushes to prevent someone from taking it, and just being an all-around good sport. Granted, other road trip memories included me trying to keep Dad awake while driving Wednesday night and when I was telling him about how Elijah has been doing in school, Dad made a comment that "he'll be doing better when he's up in Seattle" --!?!?! Okay, so Dad wasn't really awake while driving! When I asked him what the heck he was talking about, he kinda shook himself awake and said he didn't know. . . . Then again, in the course of the conversation Dad started talking gibberish again and so we opted to pull over around the next pit stop (thank goodness!). I almost had to start asking Dad about politics just to wake him up: Thankfully I was spared that last resort! ;>)
Needless to say, when we finally got settled into the hotel room late Wednesday night, everything was feeling a bit surreal and we were all in a quirky mood. . . . Joking about how we can check "transport dead body" off our "bucket list" :>) Or how that could be quite a conversation starter (wouldn't it be wonderful to carry a camera around and tell everyone we meet about how we're transporting a dead body. . . NOTE: For me, Grandpa was gone and this was just a body.). Amy & I kicked ourselves for not posting a sign on the back of the pickup with something like "Cemetery or bust!" or "Yes, this is a coffin! Back up!" But, what else do you expect when this is what you see for a few hundred miles?
If Dad were rear-ended would the insurance cover the coffin damage? How does that work? . . . . Don't follow too closely!
I mean, utter confession includes joking about what Grandpa would've thought of the potholes and our curiosity about whether or not his body was shifting in the coffin (yes, Mom, Suzy, and Amy checked at the cemetery and, no, he did not shift -- surprising!). Dear Lord! It was surreal.
We slept and then headed out for the rest of the ride to Spokane Thursday morning. . . . Can I tell you: the trip felt like it was blessed by God -- rainbows as we headed east out of Portland, sunshine followed us along the way, and we had safe travels. We stopped at Sprague Lake just south of Spokane -- this was one of Grandpa's favorite fishing holes and it seemed appropriate to stop and remember him. Here's a couple of pictures:
Afterwards, we made it to Spokane, checked into the hotel, and then headed to the cemetery where we had the burial service with Grandpa's wife, Ann's family and some of the friends up there. There was a big sense of relief at finally making it there (and a touch of humor in the fact that the song playing on the radio as we turned the final block was "Prop me up beside the Jukebox when I die" . . . Seemed meant to be). We were able to take a deep breath and cry. . .
. . . Later we went out for Margaritas and the best Mexican food ever!
There are other things that I can write about too: like the hurt I felt when Ann's family mentioned how much he'd been a part of their lives and seeing his Christmas cards when Grandpa hadn't been around for me AND the memories of Grandpa's laugh and how he had a sweet tooth and how, when I did see him, I felt loved and special. It's complicated. . . . but isn't that the nature of life and relationships?
Friday morning Amy & Suzy flew out at oh-my-goodness early in the morning and later we headed out towards home. Mom & Dad headed to Jim & Beth's in Lake Oswego and I headed to their house in Stayton to meet up with Joel and the kids. The kids & I bonded at the Stayton movie theater as we watched "Iron Man" :>) (Faith slept.) Joel was away at a motorcycle gig.
We spent Friday night there and headed up to Sarah's pinning ceremony for her nursing degree (at University of Portland) on Saturday morning. Afterwards was a lovely reception and party, and then our family headed over to our hotel for our family time. . . Long overdue!
Sunday we slept in and then headed up to Vancouver to drop the kids off at Cece and Scott's house so they could play and Joel and I headed to Sarah's graduation. . . . eventually, we made it back home to our house at nearly 7 PM and I crashed!! I was soooo tired!
It was a long week with many blessings (including Sarah's graduation). As for the road trip: I'm glad that I went. . . It was important to me to be there to hug and laugh and help. . . . and, I needed the closure and to say "good-bye." And, hell, now I can add "transport dead body" onto my list of lifetime accomplishments (wonder how that would look on a resume?).
Praise God for these surreal moments :>)
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! We've been spending Father's Day with Joel giving us a gift of love: insulating and hanging drywall. Our home remodeling project has been prompted by a couple of factors, specifically:
1.) Our upstairs window leaks and needs to be removed; the previous owner bought a used window and jammed it into a hole too small for it -- snapping the casing. This window has leaked. We've had a repairman come in to fix it but he can only patch it since the window is broken. We know it needs to be replaced. This "window" is an over-sized sliding glass door that used to have a 1 foot-deep balcony in front of it. The purpose of this door? Moving furniture up and down stairs -- furniture can't make it up the staircase because the stairs do a tight 180' turn in a small hallway. So, the deck was taken off to get furniture up and, then again, to fix the leak -- we've just kept it off until it's repaired.
2.) The stairs weren't constructed of the best quality, have huge gaps in the spindles, and, as stated, we can't get furniture up and down. . . Lovely.
3.) The front door was built into the staircase and so, to repair the stairs, we'd need to move the front door.
4.) We talked to a siding company because we've been having insulation issues and wanted an estimate -- they offered to move the front door for us. Awesome!!!
Hence, the project was kicked off! They moved the door, removed one of our downstairs windows, and sided the house. We're mid-fix-up: We still need to tape, mud, texture, paint, paint the gutters & garage door, etc. etc. etc. . . . Isn't that always the case?
However, both Joel and I feel some sense of excitement that we're officially starting the repairs AND we're making this home more OUR home. Know what I mean? :>)
Today's activities: Joel insulating and me making SEVERAL trips to the store! Man, I guess we need to add gas money to the budget for remodeling! Two trips to Safeway, three trips to Bi-Mart, one trip to Ace Hardware, and a trip to Jerry's Home Improvement store. . . Ugh! Team that with the laundry, a couple loads of dishes, making breakfast fajitas (got the recipe from Dan Wangsgard's wife, Muriel's blog -- LOVED it! Thanks!!), and then picking up Mexican food for dinner. . . . Did you catch that? LOTS of Mexican food: This meant that, as I was holding the sheetrock for Joel -- in close quarters -- him forgetting to put on deodorant today, he was feeling the beans. Phhhhhewwwwy!!! Baaaaadddd Joel! He and the boys were busting up laughing! oh, to be boys!
So, here's some of the before and after picts for you. Enjoy! :>)
BEFORE: Front door
Don't know if you can see it or not, but here's the door embedded in the stairs. We couldn't open it all the way. Hmm. . .
Here's another view of the hinges. . .
AFTER: Where the front door was! (And Miss. Faith) :>)
Oh, the fun of older houses, built by amateurs! They had carved the outlet into the 4x4. . . What were they thinking?!?!
Gotta love this one! It was funny: They'd filled the edges of the door frame with expanding foam and were sanding it down. Isaac (on the chair) was sanding it down onto Elijah's head ;>) When Elijah caught on he said it was like it was snowing. . . Glad they were all good sports!
Elsewhere around the house, the boys were digging holes for new fence posts. . . Alas, the old posts had to be cut out for the new siding: one was planted firmly in the foundation of the garage and the other gate didn't have a post (the previous owner had screwed the hinges into the house) . . . Lovely. The boys were AWESOME!!! Hard-workers who didn't complain too much :>) I was very proud of them :>)
And, finally, Faith and I planted the blueberry plant that she got from her class field trip to a nursery. She was very happy to be watering her blueberry plant :>)I've been feeling a bit guilty this past year because I haven't been taking very many pictures as I usually do. . . However, I found my memory card full when I went to download pictures today: It seems that my children are budding photographers. :>) Here's a little bit of life from their perspective:
(NOTE: I erased about 30 pictures of the TV that Faith had taken of "Enchanted".)
Our front yard
Our unplanted geranium (and mess)
Big Brothers
Daddy on his computer
One shot of MANY!!
Self-portrait of our little photographer. . . having lots of fun!
Here's her shoes :>)
Her picture of the two of us together: Attempt #2I have to say that I LOVE Pre-K and am very proud of Faith. Tonight was her Spring Music Concert for school (Pre-School through 4th graders performed) and they were SUPER cute! If there were a super-power for cuteness - their cuteness was disabling. . . . too cute. . . can't re-sist. . .
It helps, too, that I've been volunteering in Faith's classroom quite a bit lately and the teacher gave me a great job: I was tasked with interviewing each child one-on-one. I got to ask them questions like, "What did you learn in Pre-K?", "What's your favorite color?", "What are you thankful for?", and "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Cutest of cute!
ME: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Child1: "A Mommy like my mommy"
Child2: "A fighter-fighter [fire fighter] and then when I get bigger a SuperGIrl!"
Child3: "a Mail Box Person" (because the mail box person brings boxes and he got a box of candy for his birthday and he never gets candy and so he wants to bring people boxes too. . . )
. . . Too cute!
Another big milestone! At the wedding last night, Faith wiggled her tooth with her tongue and it popped out. . . She asked if she could give the tooth fairy an I.O.U. so she could take the tooth to school to show her teacher. Joel & I told her that we'd get the message to the tooth fairy; she asked how & we told her that we "know people." ;>) Oh, the joy of kids. . .
Something else I'd meant to share: About a month ago Faith first noticed this tooth was loose and was afraid to tell her daddy about it in case he offered to pull it. But, being her typical brave self she gathered up the courage and told him she had a loose tooth. He asked if she'd like him to pull it and she replied: "No, I can handle it. I've got it covered." -- Where on earth does this kid come from? She cracks us up! Miss. Faith, 5-years-old, and it's not a "I can do it." instead "I can handle it". . . too funny! She then proceeded to try to rip her tooth from her mouth; I cringed and told her just to wiggle it. She tried to pull her tooth for a bit but then, without success, opted to just wiggle away. . . Now, a month later, she gets her relief!
How many times can I describe this girl as "precocious"? It's totally appropriate!
Per dictionary.com:
pre·co·cious 
| 1. | unusually advanced or mature in development, esp. mental development: a precocious child. |
| 2. | prematurely developed, as the mind, faculties, etc. |
| 3. | of or pertaining to premature development. |
| 4. | Botany.
|
I'll try to post some pictures of the project, too (later). Cool?
Here's some pictures of my dad (#35):
Here's some pictures of my grandpa (Ray Evans) -- he was a team captain (#56):
(Grandpa's behind the neck of the guitar on this funny picture)
GREAT tackle!
Playing in the Sun Bowl:
Here's my husband & father of my kids (back in high school when we were dating):
Here's my little brother, Tim (who played for Western Oregon University wearing Dad's number, 35) with Isaac back in 2000:
GO TEAM!!!
Today I've spent nearly all day helping Isaac (age 12) with his family research project for school. The assignment: to pick something about your family or the community and do a 3' x 4' posterboard presentation on it. In brainstorming with Isaac, he's chosen to present our family heritage of football.
Many of you may know that Joel has joked about marrying me for my football genes. The irony is that my dad has made the same joke as to why he married my mom :>) It was cute to hear Isaac interviewing my dad, my brother, and my husband about their experiences playing football (highlights, their positions, why they liked it). It was also special for me to get to sit down and share what I know and remember from the stories, like "Dad, don't I remember you being offered to play professional football but you were getting hurt too much?" To which dad (trying to be humble) mentioned that he was called the day before the draft and asked if he would be interested in playing for the Rams. He was also pursued by Green Bay. But, Dad was married to Mom and they had kids to consider. Mom had told me that Dad was getting so many concussions a season that the doc warned him that he may start getting brain damage . . . This is why he turned it down (and pursued baseball instead). Good thing too, because my dad is smart as a whip!! (I'm very proud!)
Anyhow, we found my Grandpa's name on the 49ers roster today and that was really cool! Check it out at: http://www.sf49ers.com/history/alltime_rostere-h.php My grandpa is Ray Evans. . . He'd lived a life full of highs and lows -- but one of the highs was his football career. Very cool! Isaac was impressed because he finally associated what "professional football" meant when he saw the logo for the 49ers :>)
Isaac also thought it was funny that everyone he interviewed said that one of the best parts about playing football was getting to hit people. . . What does this say about my family ;>) ?
So, we're signing the boys up for their first season of football next year (Pop Warner) and I hope that they enjoy it too. In the meantime, today was a headache filled with some frustrations as Isaac repeatedly got distracted while trying to finish this project (due tomorrow) and I'm battling the cold that Joel generously shared with me last week. . . but it was also a really cool day where we got to share some special time working together. Definitely worth it! :>)
Well, we got our dogs back with the advice that we invest in a security camera. Admittedly, I understand the dilema: The police officers of our nation are overworked and there just aren't enough . . . Especially not enough to track down who's letting the dogs out (how many of you thought of the song just now?). So, we'll be investigating this one on our own. Hmm. . .
What a day! I'm pooped and waiting for the Police to return our call. . . Ever have one of those days?
Woke up this morning, touched up last night's caulking job on the tub, and prepped the kids to go to Salem for the day. Then jumped in the shower & we were out the door by 10:30 this morning! We headed to Stayton where I hooked up with Mom to head to Salem for our pedicures (when my grandpa died a couple of weeks ago my friends from work bought us a gift card for pedicures with a note saying, "As Jesus washed the feet of the weary, so do we. . ." it was a very touching gift -- THANK YOU!!). The pedicure was a hot stone and peppermint oil treat and I felt that tingly scalp kind of relaxed. Know what I mean? :>)
From there, errand to Costco then back to Mom & Dad's to get dressed and ready to attend Joel's step-brother's wedding. Quite an experience! Not being a catholic service, it was very quick! I was very proud of how well the kids did :>) . . . Oh, and throw in there the argument that Joel and I had on the way to the wedding (joy). And then the beautiful buffet, dancing, cake, and visiting with the handful of people we knew. Afterwards we headed to Joel's Dad's to pick up the boys (who'd left the reception with "Poppy") and we listened to music -- James LOVES music and played his guitar a bit for us -- very cool!
Anyhoo, on to home -- we got home just after 11:30 PM to find our dogs missing. NOTE: We have a dog run area that is fenced within our fenced-in backyard. The gate to this dog run area is difficult for me to open and the latch slides under some of the chain link. The big yard gate was also opened; it opens inward because you can't push it out because we have walkway stones in front of it. Anyhow, both gates were open. . . We've had similar problems before where we had our Jack Russell taken off a chain in the backyard (collar unhooked from the clasp and then taken off him -- never found) and the gate opened. We've had some harassment from neighbors and so now we're wondering what's going on. Joel called the police and told them our dogs were stolen. They said that they had the dogs there and that the dogs were found "at large" -- now we're waiting for the investigating officer to call us back. . . . It's now after midnight.
(Sigh) -- Do you ever have days like this? Any advice? (mutter, grumble, curse.) Flippity, flip, flip, flip!
