Relief

Thank you all for concern about Alex. No, he doesn't have the swine flu, and we are still not sure of the cause of the headaches. He had a migraine shot and has been taking Claritin, and high doses of ibuprofen. They have subsided over the last three days. Just in time for us to head for the beach in Florida! We're leaving early Saturday morning, and meeting 7 other couples there....no kids. We are looking so forward to the break. I'll post some pictures when we return.

Headaches

Last Friday, Alex started feeling sick and had a terrible headache. He had a week long work trip to Florida scheduled to leave last Sunday. He went ahead and went, but got worse over the course of a few days. On Wednesday evening, his work flew him home early. He saw the doctor yesterday and she wanted to run a cat scan and do some blood work. Everything came back normal, so he got a high powered shot to try to relieve his headache. It let up a little bit yesterday, but today he is feeling bad again. Please pray that we find the source of the headaches soon.

Brotherly Love

Here are a couple of recent pics of the kids. Oliver is pretty sweet to Meredith (unless she messes with his train set). I love sibling pictures, and Meredith is getting to the age where she interacts a lot more with Oliver. Her teeth are coming in like crazy, and she loves to show them off.

Garage Sale

The girls in my neighborhood had one MASSIVE garage sale today. Whew, am I wiped out. It was well worth it and we made around $1,400.00.....that's a lot of junk, people! Only a small part of that cash was mine, but I did sell our couch. Thankfully, the rain stayed away and we had a beautiful day. Thank you Zoe, for letting us invade your house and driveway. I'm sure we won't need to have another sale for quite some time.

Happy Easter

We had a great day celebrating Easter with our families. We went to church with my parents, had lunch with them, then on to the Unruh farm for dinner and an Easter Egg hunt.

Meredith's 1st Birthday

Meredith's bumble bee birthday party turned out to be very special. I can't take the credit. I have been battling the flu all week, and had no energy to make it happen. Thanks to Alex, his parents, Karm, Cristy and others, it turned out great! Thanks everyone.

Celebration of Grandma's Life

The weather in Wichita was not good enough to fly, so we decided to take off and drive on Friday afternoon. We made it to Fort Wayne at around 4:00 a.m. The kiddos slept and it went smoothly. Grandma's funeral was Saturday at 1:30, with the burial and luncheon following. The service was beautiful, and I know she would have felt so loved and honored. We drove back home yesterday, and we are a little weary, but thankful we made it to celebrate Grandma's life.

The following is what I wrote and shared at the funeral.

A Tribute to Grandma

Caring, Discerning and a Good Communicator. These are some of the words that come to mind when I think about my grandma. Her life was lived as a good and faithful daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. Among many of the things I appreciate about her, I especially loved her ability to go deeper on any given subject. From relationships to global issues, she had almost always thought out precisely her position. Out of her honest and conscientious heart came many words of wisdom and insight. She understood others, and was good at communicating.. She was easy to talk to and relate to, never missing a beat. The past few years we talked on the phone every Sunday afternoon. I will miss those conversations, but treasure the talks we had.

Grandma loved animals more than anyone I know. She always had a soft spot in her heart for them. She had all kinds of dogs and cats in her lifetime, and if dogs and cats go to heaven, I’m sure she they have taken residency with her.

I always admired the love she had for my Grandpa, and the love he had for her. They were married 59 years, and I know that when he left this earth, it left an enormous hole in her heart. She was strong and courageous and kept living life, even though it wasn’t easy. When talking about grandpa, and how much she missed him, she would often say, “When you lose your mate, you’ve really lost something.” The power of her love, even after 12 years of living single still burned in her heart. That kind of love is special and unique.

Grandma, you have given me many gifts, which I will not forget. Thank you for raising my dad to be a Godly man. Thank you for being faithful to God, to your family, and to your friends. Thank you for being engaged and interested in others even until the very end. Thank you for your love and words of wisdom. I will do my best to honor you by passing on the gifts you have given me. I love you.