March 13, 2012

Tuesday

I have to catch up on my journal and typing is so much faster. I have a lot of things to write about, it’s been a busy couple of months around here.

When we were coming home from Christmas break, Daniel and I took the Fly-Away from LAX to Van Nuys. We drove away from the Fly-Away to get our car checked out, and we realized that we left Daniel’s work laptop and CPA exam book at the Fly-Away in the parking lot. I was so worried, I really thought that Daniel’s laptop would be stolen. I said a really fervent prayer, asking God that we would get it back. I was concerned that Daniel would be in trouble if he lost his laptop, or that he would have to replace it. So, we called the Fly-Away place, and whoever helped us was really helpful. And they found our laptop. I felt very blessed that God answered this prayer; it was a little thing, but it helped a lot, and it strengthened my testimony.

A week or so after we got back from vacation, Daniel took the last section of the CPA exam. It was very exciting for both of us that he got his tests done. No more studying for Daniel!!! He took his test in the early afternoon, and I got ready for when he was done. I made him a celebratory fruit salad with frosting on the top that said, “Congrats, Daniel!” Just before picking him up from his test, I got him a present: Monopoly. He kept talking about how he wanted the real board game, so I got it as a congratulation for finishing his test. We went out to dinner at a Greek restaurant, which was fun. And we played Monopoly.

The weeks after he finished his test, he got home at 5:30, we had dinner, and then we didn’t know what to do with ourselves. We were so used to him studying after work and doing our own things. So when he didn’t have to study, we didn’t know what to do with all our time. We started watching tv shows, playing games and such.

Aunt Liz and Uncle Bob invited us to take a trip to Visalia for New Years. All of their family was going to David and Keira’s new house for the weekend to hang out. It was really fun. We had a night where the adults all played “Minute to Win-it” games in competition with each other. It was so fun! We talked a lot, I played with the kids, we had fun. It was good, because we wouldn’t have done ANYTHING otherwise. We still didn’t have any friends, really.

Lately I’ve been trying to keep myself busy. I teach 4 students the piano: 3 with Oksana’s School of Music, and 1 referred from someone else. It’s been an interesting challenge. I know my stuff, I’ve been taking piano lessons for years from excellent teachers. But it’s hard to know how quickly to push my students and to motivate them to practice. It is nice to make a little extra money too. And on top of that, Daniel has been working a ton of overtime, (I miss him, because he works so much) so we have a lot of extra money right now. We even paid off the rest of our student loan a couple of weeks ago. It’s so nice to be out of debt! Now we start saving for a baby!

Also, since about December, I have been volunteering at a Dental Clinic for children. The Clinic is for families who don’t have dental insurance,  for children up to age 18. All but 4 individuals at the clinic are volunteers: all the dentist, the hygenists, most of the staff. We have dental hygiene students come too for their clinics. I help with the front desk and elementary school screenings, and it definitely helps me to keep busy.

I kept up with Grampa watch also, until February 1^st, when he broke his hip. I was there when he broke his hip. It was really scary. He started walking funny, so I sat down with him on the couch for about an hour. I watched a movie on the laptop, and he just sat next to me, holding my hand and touching me. After a while, I got up to go do something in the kitchen for a few minutes, and in that time, he got up and started walking around again. I saw him hold onto a chair in the living room, and then fall down, bringing the chair with him. I tried to get him up, but he just wouldn’t. And couldn’t. And he’s too heavy for me to get him up without his help. He laid down on the ground and sort of crawled around for what seemed like a really long time. I finally got him up on the couch and laid him down. He seemed to be in a lot of pain on his right leg, and he couldn’t stand up or move, really, at all. Uncle Gary came home from his class early to see about Grampa. We didn’t do much for him that night. I left. But the next morning, Uncle Pat and Uncle Gary went to help Grampa and take him to the hospital. He had broken his right hip; for the second time. He had hip replacement surgery, and then he was moved to a rehabilitation center to recover.

For weeks, he was back and forth between doing really well and doing really poorly. About 3 weeks ago, he took a real turn for the worse. He stopped eating and started sleeping all the time. He didn’t have any energy to do anything. My mom flew into LAX airport on February 27.  We spent a lot of time with Grampa, I went to Woodland Hills every day that week to help mom. We spent all of Wednesday cleaning up Grampa’s house a little bit in preparation for them moving him home. The family decided to hire Hospice to take Grampa home. They provided a bed and all the medical equipment he needed to be at home, so that he could die peacefully in his own home. That night, they transported Grampa home, and a few hours later, he passed away.

It was such an incredible experience being there when Grampa passed away. Uncle Bob, Aunt Liz, Steve, Inga, Ava, Gramma Maureen, Mom, Uncle Gary and I were all there. We stayed by Grampa, talking to each other, eating. At one point, he was having a really hard time breathing, very labored. We all went to his bedside. Uncle Bob and Steven gave Grampa a blessing to help in his passing. They blessed him with peace and courage, to be able to pass on. After the blessing, his breathing quieted, and about 20 minutes later, he took his last. It was quite an experience being there. I’m glad I was.

The days that followed Grampa’s passing were busy. I accompanied the Uncles and Mom to the mortuary as they made plans for Grampa’s funeral here and service in Spanish Fork, where he was buried. We had the funeral on March 3^rd, the Saturday after he died. I was supposed to play the piano for it, but I developed the flu very quickly that day and couldn’t. The service was nice. And afterwards, we had an ice cream bar for everyone who attended, in honor of the Old Man, because Grampa just loved his ice cream.

That evening, even though I was super-sick, I flew to Washington to be with Julie and her boys. I had a fun week there. Didn’t do much, especially since I was sick. But I played with the boys, watched tv, talked to Julie and Mark a lot, took Drew to school, and hung out. I also took Drew to lunch one day, because he really wanted to. We went to Red Robin and had a really good time together. It was so sad and cute; the day before I left, Drew cried because he didn’t want me to leave. It made me feel so good that he wanted me there, and didn’t want me to leave. He’s just so cute. I love those boys so much!! It was really nice to be with Julie, too. I think she appreciated my company. Especially since she was spending so much time at home with the baby. He’s so cute! Makai is one of the most adorable boy babies I have seen! I only got to start holding him towards the end of the week, because I was sick when I first got there. But it was fun to hold him. It made me really baby hungry. Which, I guess is ok, since I’m going to have my own baby very soon.

I think that gets me all caught up. It’s really been a busy few months. It’s good, though. Keeps me out of trouble. I go to Medford in about 3 weeks. And in the meantime, I have a lot of projects that I have to get done, that I’ve been putting off. Time to get to work!