Mt. Rainier...Again!

We couldn't help it.

We went back to Mt. Rainier again in August for the third time in four weeks.

This time we took Grandpa Pat and Grandma Suzie!

The kids were determined to climb even higher than they did the first time, 

and Mike and his parents were willing, so climb they did!

While my mountain goats family went up and around (the long way), 

I headed back down the path (the short way).

 They're on that path up there, on their way back down.

What do you mean you can't see them?

They're right there...that pink dot in the middle is Jaela.

Hm.

Just take my word for it.

They're all there.

That was our last trip to Mt. Rainier for the summer.

I wonder what it's like up there in the fall...

Four Days Later

Four days after our first visit to Mt. Rainier, the kids and I went back again,

but this time we took Grandma.

We took an easier one mile hike that had plenty of views like this one.

Our destination was Myrtle Falls,

and this was the view looking up from the top of the falls.

Half of the kids thought the bridge was great

(the other half weren't so sure it was engineered properly), 

and they were all delighted to make a new friend

(from a distance).

Too much fun and way too beautiful to only go twice...

Moving In

We played our cards just right and got my mom to move up to Washington, where she is renting a duplex 15 minutes away from us!

(Those G-R-A-N-D-K-I-D-S cards are amazing things!)

The kids and I worked on cleaning her new place while she finished up the packing at her house in Oregon, and then towards the end of June my cousin drove a moving truck up to Washington with all of her household stuff in it.  (She stayed behind in Oregon for another week to finish up some work and house sale details.)

More of my cousins met us at my mom's new place and we unloaded the truck.

There were five adults and four kids - and when we were done, the duplex looked...

um, not empty.

Then, because my mom knows how much fun I have doing it, she let us rearrange furniture, unpack some stuff, and set up enough things to make the place livable as soon as she walked in the door.

She's been here a few weeks now, and we're still helping her rearrange and get things set up how she wants them.

I'm not sure we'll ever really be done, but it's so much fun, why would we quit?!?

Sunsets

There are so many little things I've thought about posting since we've been home.  

When I swept up two dustpans full of dirt and dust bunnies after the house sat (mostly) empty for a month, I thought that could make a funny post.  But I didn't write it.

I'm behind on my Reading Record posts, so I thought about telling you that I read one book in January, and two in February.  Maybe I would even admit that that the two in February were C.S. Lewis' The Magician's Nephew and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  Somehow I didn't get around to that, either.

I could tell you that I've renewed my battle with the mice.  Of course they waited until we were home again before they stole six more Scrabble letters.  And got out of two traps.  That could have been a funny post too, but it didn't get written.

I haven't felt much like writing.

***

In early February, my dad was trying to remember one of his favorite quotes from George MacDonald, but couldn't quite get it, so I looked it up for him.  As I did, I stumbled over this one:

"How strange this fear of death is.  Yet we are never frightened at a sunset."

***

I think I'm ready to write now.

***  

God's timing is incredible.  In the month that we spent at my parents' house, every single hard thing worked out perfectly in God's timing.  Sometimes we were aware of His hand in things as they happened, and sometimes we had to look back to see it.

Based on the doctors' estimate of how long my dad had left to live, we went down to my parents' house for a week long visit in early February.  My brother and his family were planning a trip over from Montana in late February, and we planned to return a second time at the end of their visit so we could see them too.   The day after we got there, all of our plans changed.  My dad's oncologist called and recommended that we have my brother come over early, as he was now estimating that my dad had only one to two weeks left, at the most.  So my brother and his family came over and stayed for a week, and four days after they left, my dad's condition deteriorated and he wasn't quite himself any more.  In God's timing, we had one last really good week together as a family.  All twelve of us.  In our timing, it would never have happened.

The last full week of February, there were so many details through which we could clearly see God's timing, from "big" things like financial stuff to "little" things like meal provision.  In fact, it would probably take a full week for me to list them all!

And then there was Dad's Hospice nurse.  I am sure that any Hospice nurse would have cared for my dad just as well as "ours" did, but God knew that my mom and I needed Robert.  On Monday morning,  February 25, after my mom spent a very difficult sleepless night caring for my dad, Robert came out to my parents' house to check on my dad and help us arrange the next level of care.  He confirmed what we already suspected, that my dad had less than 48 hours left, and then our quiet, unassuming nurse prayed with us before he left.  That prayer was absolutely incredible; simply spoken, profound, and exactly what we needed, right when we needed it.  As he prayed, Robert reminded us that God not only knows what pain and grief and death are, but that He experienced them all Himself when Jesus died on the cross in our place. 

With that reminder fresh in our minds, my mom and I watched my dad breath his last breaths as he died three hours later.  After weeks of mounting pain, confusion, and weakness, his last moments were quiet and peaceful, followed by complete relief from all pain.  Forever.

Death is like a sunset, and we are never frightened at sunsets.  At least we need not be.  Once the sun sets on our earthly lives, we who love God and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord can look forward to a new day coming, a new sun rising.  An eternity spent perfectly worshipping God.

We can look ahead past the sunset, with Hope.

The Passage of the Storm

I don't remember what the weather outside was like, but for my family December was a stormy month.

Physically stormy.  Mentally stormy.  Emotionally stormy.

In the month of December, my dad spent 21 of 24 days in two different hospitals.  He was admitted to the first hospital for another round of aggressive chemotherapy, and while it took longer than it should have, it was scheduled and intentional.  His second hospital stay was two weeks long, began with a trip to the ER, and went downhill from there.  

The second, unplanned hospital stay was characterized by fevers, interrupted sleep, multiple doctors, increasingly worse lab test results, lack of appetite, confusion, pain, a small blood clot, a full-body rash that baffled the doctors, and exhaustion.

He was very sick, and he just wasn't himself.

It was awful.  Indescribably awful.

And it was a blessing in disguise.

***

The storm of alternating improvement and decline in my dad's health has passed, and he's been home for a week now.  His appetite is returning, the lab test results have improved (for the most part), he's getting more sleep, and he's resumed most of his usual routine.

He is still sick, but he is at least himself again.

My parents have dealt with a multitude of medical issues over the past few years.  Chemotherapy.  Drug reactions.  Unexplained fevers.  A stem cell transplant.  Hospitalizations.  And opinions.  Lots and lots of opinions.

They sorted through all the opinions and made decisions about treatment.  Some of them were hard decisions, some were unexpected, and none of them were fun.  But the hardest decision they knew they were going to have to make has been with them from the very beginning.

When does it stop?

How long does the chemotherapy continue?

After the two-week-long storm that was my dad's hospitalization, the answer became clear.

Chemotherapy treatment stops when it's no longer effective; when it hurts more than it helps.

For my parents, the decision to discontinue chemo was partly reached in the middle of the chaos of hospitalization, and partly in the calm quietness of their own home.

Separately, not knowing what my parents had already decided, my dad's doctor reached the same conclusion.

No more chemo.

***

The storm is over, and although it's still raining, it's calm.

And we have peace.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7

On Joy

"What brings you the most joy these days?"

It's a beautiful question, I think.

Perhaps you've heard or read about people who keep Gratitude lists - lists of all the things, people, and moments for which they are thankful.  Thankfulness and gratefulness are good things, but more often than not, they need words.  It's hard to be thankful for something without consciously naming it.  On the other hand, for me at least, joy needs no words.  

Joy is that heart-full feeling when rays of sunshine streak through the clouds; it's that gladness when I witness a sweet self-sacrifice from one of my children for another's benefit.  Joy is that wordless praise that fills my heart when no words are possible.  Joy is the ability to sing at the top of my lungs the words of the song "Glory to God" along with Handel's Young Messiah...while tears are streaming down my face and I'm choking on sobs.

"What brings you the most joy these days?"

It was a question asked in a not-very-joyful situation, from a father in rapidly failing health to his daughter shortly before he died.  Although her blog post about his rapid decline and death is four years old, I read the story again a few days ago with new eyes and a new understanding, and that question has been with me ever since.

"What brings you the most joy these days?"

Two Saturdays before Christmas, my dad was admitted to the hospital.  He was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma (a cancer of the bones' plasma cells) in August 2010, and the most recent round of aggressive chemotherapy has been harder on his body than any of us expected.  He's still in the hospital, and the end of his stay is not yet in sight.

We are thankful that he's being cared for by the professionals.

We are grateful that it's not worse than it is.

But there's nothing that can top the joy of knowing that God is in control.

No matter what.

***

...Once we give ourselves up to God, shall we attempt to get hold

of what can never belong to us -- tomorrow? Our lives are His,

our times in His hand, He is Lord over what will happen,

never mind what may happen...

Today is mine. Tomorrow is none of my business.

-- Elisabeth Elliot, Keep A Quiet Heart

An Empty Living Room

After three straight weekends filled with guests, our living room is looking (and feeling) a little empty today.

Our first weekend guest of the month didn't do much to fill our living room,

but he helped fill the house with music!

(He's a drummer...)

Our second set of guests in November didn't take up much room either, 

but we loved having Mike's parents here with us over Thanksgiving weekend.

Our third wave of company finally made our living room feel full almost to overflowing.

My parents came up from Oregon, and my brother's family drove over from Montana.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a good enough hiding place for them, so my brother and his wife took my adorable nephews home with them.

I'm sure I'll forgive them someday.

Our Vacation: A New Favorite

Over the long weekend, we went to one of our favorite vacation spots...

Grandpa Pat and Grandma Suzie's!

The view from our window:

(my husband tells me the mountains are even more spectacular by dawn's early light, but I'm just going to take his word for it on that one...)

The girls rode every day,

so of course Isaak did too.

The trip home included a long detour to Multnomah Falls,

which were beautiful as always,

even though the weather and the attitudes weren't!

Our Vacation

The kids and I spent this last week at one of our favorite vacation spots.

It's the place where my mending gets done,

the fire in the wood-stove (almost) never goes out,

and I get to go to my favorite bookstores

all by myself,

because we're staying with my parents!

***

Now that's a vacation!

The Hike Along the Little River

On our last day in Gatlinburg, after the morning clouds had lifted, Mike, Pat and I took the kids on what was supposed to be a short 1.2 mile hike to a waterfall.

When we got to the trailhead, it turned out that it was a much longer hike than we'd thought, and as we were discussing the issue...

...it started to hail.

We ran back to the van, piled in, and headed back down the road toward the cabin.

It stopped hailing.

An extra long hike was still out of the question, but we had promised the kids an adventure, so we pulled over by the side of the road to let them have a closer look at the river rushing over the rocks.

They thought that was pretty neat.

It was so beautiful that we decided to go farther upstream.

We found a horse trail to follow, and Isaak found an accommodating Grandpa.

We stopped for a group picture...

...and it started to hail. Again.

And it hailed harder than it had the first time.

So once again, we ran back to the van. The kids happily exchanged their wet shirts for dry ones, and we headed back down the road again toward the cabin and the nice warm fire.

We had promised the kids an adventure; they got one they'll never forget!

Galivanting With Grandparents

While Grandpa Pat and Grandma Suzie were here visiting last week, we took a trip to the Smoky Mountains. We stayed in a cabin in the Gatlinburg area, and spent our days exploring, hiking, playing games, and learning (of course!).

(This is NOT the cabin we stayed in.)

* * *

We enjoyed the wide open spaces and the mountains,

explored little pieces of history (like old churches and graveyards),

got caught in a hail storm while we were following a trail,

and enjoyed sitting in front of a real wood fire.

The best part, though, was doing it all with Grandpa and Grandma!

Christmas in March

We got an unexpected package this morning, and it felt like Christmas when we opened it!  Inside, there were some wonderful, practical, handmade gifts from someone who loves us, and we put them to immediate use.  

Isaak promptly pushed his new stool up to the sink and stood there jabbering away at us with a grin on his face.  

All three girls raced upstairs as soon as they had each unwrapped their treasures.  Anya filled hers with small toys and created a bed for her beloved pink bear on the top.

Jaela very neatly folded and organized her doll's clothes in the bottom drawer and filled the top drawer with her doll's "other stuff".

Macey filled her drawers with her doll's small things and clothes too, also neatly folded, just not quite so organized.  :)

And Isaak is willing to SHOW you his cars, but you can't actually HOLD them.  Not yet.

At lunch today, in the middle of a conversation about something completely different, Macey suddenly announced, "I think that today, Roy is my favorite person.  And I REALLY like my new thing he made me!  He just made my day!"

I couldn't have said it better myself!  :)

Opportunities

Remember the chaotic lunch preparations I wrote about yesterday?  I got an email this morning that made me look at our time spent together in the kitchen in a whole new way.  

Someone older and wiser than I shared with me her own experiences with her young children helping in the kitchen and commented, "what fun, and what an opportunity for teaching and patience."

Yesterday, I was looking at my kitchen-ful of kids and seeing messes, enthusiasm, inexperience, the learning process, spills, helpfulness, waste, wonder, and excitement.  I saw the potential for fun, and the opportunity for me to teach, but I missed seeing the lessons that are there for me to learn.

My dictionary defines opportunity as: "a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something".  I just went back and counted, and in that description of our lunch-making process, there were 17 opportunities for patience.  And for the record, since I'm being honest here, I only took 7 of them.  I missed 10 opportunities to be patient...but at least now I know what they look like.

I'm excited now to learn to recognize all my opportunities for patience!  I'm sure that I can find them all day long, and not just when we're working in the kitchen.  The challenge will be in reminding myself that they ARE opportunities for patience, not just another mess to clean up or problem to solve!

A Visit from Grandma

My mom got here Saturday evening and is here until Tuesday!  As usual, we are staying VERY busy, and are having a blast.  We've already been a lot of places and done a bunch of things, but we've still got lots of little (and not-so-little) fun projects planned to do before she leaves...I hope we have enough time and energy to get them all done!  :)

Adopt-A-Snowman

No, this isn't our snowman, but we want to adopt him!  Our weather in TN today was sunny, clear, and breezy, with a high of 68˚ -- I had the windows open!

The weather at Mom and Dad's though, was significantly less pleasant, and they've gotten about 8 inches of snow -- enough for my cousin, who is visiting, to make a snowman!  I think it's the cutest snowman I've ever seen.  When I showed this picture to the girls, they wanted to know who made it...

Me: My cousin made it.

Anya:  It's cute, Mommy!

Macey: How old is your cousin?

Me: Older than me :)

Jaela: Then why is he playing in the snow if he's a grown-up?

(They've obviously forgotten our last snowfall...)

Me: Maybe because he's still a little kid inside.

Jaela:  He's got a little KID inside him?!?!?

Don't we all?!?  :)

A Different Perspective

I love fall.  I love watching the leaves change colors, and I love how they blanket the ground as they fall.  But for me, there is always a growing sense of dread that comes along with the thrill of fall.  When fall is here, winter is just around the corner, and I am not a big fan of winter.  I don't like being cold, I don't like how dark it stays all day, and I don't like how black, bare and stark the tree branches look against the grey wintry sky.

But thanks to my cousin Jodie, I am looking at those bare trees from a different perspective these days.  She pointed out to me this fall that "those trees shade us in the summer, but drop all their leaves and give us glorious, happy light in the winter."

While I am busy complaining about the ugliness those fallen leaves have left us with, that beautiful, weak wintry light is shining right through those bare branches, since there are no leaves left to block its rays.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Well, that's not quite accurate, but it feels that way!  Uncle Ty got here Thursday night and he leaves tomorrow morning.  It was fun while it lasted though!  

NOW Guess Who's Here!

Once again, we have company!  Grandpa Pat, Grandma Suzie, and Uncle Josh got here on Saturday, and they leave on Saturday.  Uncle Ty gets here tomorrow!  There is always something going on these days, and never a dull moment!

Guess Who's Here!

We have company!  Grandpa Bill and Grandma Joan got here Saturday night.  As usual, we are insanely busy "going and doing", so posts this week (not to mention time spent on the computer!) will be few and far between!  But I'm not complaining!  :)