Baby Week

Mostly this week I've been with Miranda and new baby Rachel.

I drove back to Miranda's on Monday morning.  Tom had errands to do so he was gone about 8am as well. He went to visit Ernie, our neighbor, in the hospital. He's been there longer than we expected him to be, but he seems to be getting a little better.

Tom's wrist, where it was cut, seemed to be getting more inflamed. So he finally went in on Wednesday.  They took the stitches out and gave him a broad spectrum antibiotic. It seems to be getting better, although the steri strips they put on didn't last long.

Baby Rachel seems to be doing about as good as a newborn can do.  She's nursing pretty well, sleeping 4 hours or so at night and only fussing periodically. She is very cute.  Miranda's a bit sleep deprived.  The other boys seem to be doing pretty well. They are enjoying their new play structure in the back yard.  Ethan especially likes interacting with Rachel, but all of them will try to make her happy.  Dan and Miranda took Rachel to a well baby check up on Tuesday and she is gaining some weight back.  Wednesday we took Camden to his allergy shot and did some shopping.

My writing goal for this week was to work on reviewing long form sales material from a three-day course I took a couple of years ago, and then to research the material I have on his program. Mid week I got an email from a friend who works for Weiss Research.  She asked if I'd be interested in helping write some special reports for a promotion.  Weiss is located around Delray Beach in Florida.  So they were shutting down for the hurricane, Irma. Thus, I might not get the research I need in a timely manner.  I've been watching the hurricane.  Since it's going up the west side of Florida, perhaps Delray will not have too much damage.  I have a writing conference there in about 5 weeks, or I will if it's still standing.

Early Thursday morning I got some messages on my phone. Mom' (GG's) cough and cold had turned into pneumonia. She'd go to the hospital and they admitted her, gave her a breathing treatment, and started her on antibiotics. They were treating it as if it was a bug she picked up while she was in the rehab center. She is feeling better now and may be discharged on Sunday. I really appreciate Kathy and Cynthia & Jim being there for help and support.

Miranda is well loved. People have been bringing her food each night. I've done laundry, picked up stuff, and held baby, but I really haven't done much in the kitchen but make breakfast.

Friday evening David McClellan came up.  And Tom arrived on Saturday about noon. We'd gone to
Sprouts and I bought him some goodies.  In the afternoon Tom dropped me off at 1/2 of 1/2 for clothes shopping while he went to the huge used book store.  I found some dresses, Tom found a few books.  And then he got some nice white shirts as well.

Because Tuesday is our anniversary, we decided to celebrate by going out to dinner at a tasty Mexican restaurant.

Today Dan's aunt and uncle, plus his brother, Charles and his wife and four girls came to the blessing of Rachel. She was wearing a beautiful christening dress that Kera sent up.
 
 It was nice and she was cooperative.  We'd done a little dinner prep, but Miranda and David McClellan did most of the work fixing cafe rio chicken and cut up cantaloupe, pineapple, and strawberries. Aunt Maryanne brought donuts and cheesecake for dessert.  The girls took full advantage of all the fun things to play on in the yard-- rings, trampoline, play structure, slide, and swings.

I finally got the food for the Nauvoo trip all planned out.  One of Miranda's very helpful friends came over and talked about where to shop and how much I'll need for 130 people.

 Tom and Rachel taking a nap together.

An Exciting week!

This has been a busy and eventful week.  It began with my trip to Miranda's on Monday.  I packed, finished some projects with a goal to leave about noon, and actually got out the door and gassed up before 1.  We had a meeting in the morning with our attorney's office for an annual update on our paperwork to make sure everything was still listed in the name of the trust... we had a few new things that were not.

I had an uneventful drive west.  I stopped at Deborah's to drop off some tomatoes and beans and give the grandkids a hug.  Then on to Miranda's. I got settled in and on Tuesday we were off to the hospital for a baby.

Nathan stayed with Alex and Deborah's two little ones.  She came over to stay with Miranda during recovery. So we all headed to the hospital with Miranda and Dan.  There were a few stressful moments as the IV's were uncooperative and they said Dan might not be able to be with her since she would be in general surgery instead of delivery. But they let him in and all was well.

There had been some concern that the placenta had grown into the uterus and she'd need a hysterectomy (thus the general surgical room) but it turned out to not be a problem and so all her parts are intact... except for the c-section incision. The baby girl was born at 10:30 and Dan was back in our room by 10:45 and Miranda was back up by 11!  So all went well.  Baby McClellen was 20 inches long and 7 pounds 10 ounces.

There had been a long ranging discussion of names.  I think they expected the baby to tell them her name. Alas, she did not.  So the discussion continued. Deborah and Dan left about 12:30- Deborah to return home.  And Dan brought the boys over to see the new baby.  They were pretty excited to see her and each took turns holding her.  The loved stroking her soft, dark hair.

That afternoon I got a text from Tom.  He had been helping a friend move a chicken coop.  Somehow the roof part slipped and came down on Tom's arm.  It had the corrugated metal edge sticking out beyond the 2x4 and it cut Tom's wrist to the bone.  The friend freaked out, Tom went in washed it off, bandaged it with paper towels and took himself off to the urgent care clinic.

They looked at it and said, "Oh," bandaged it back up and sent him to the Emergency Room. There he got 10 stitches and the good news that no major blood vessels, tendons, nerves or muscles had been severed.  We are most grateful. I will put a picture of the unsutured wound down at the bottom of the page. It is not for the squeamish. I was so sorry for him. And sorry that these hospital events seem to happen when I am out of town.

Tuesday evening Dan stayed with Miranda and I headed home to feed the kids dinner and put them to bed. We had a tenuous relationship and they were not overly cooperative, nor thrilled with my response. But they got to bed after calling and talking with their mom and dad.

Dan came home late that night and then went off early the next morning.  I got the kids off to school. Alex and I cleaned up the back yard so Nathan could mow. We didn't exactly do it the easy way.  We gathered the hundreds of balls into a bag. Then Alex climbed to the second floor of the play structure and threw the balls into the sandbox boat. A surprising number made it in. After cleaning up the rest of the balls Alex and I went to the hospital.  Mom and baby were doing pretty good. The nursing thing was still a bit of a struggle. Alex happily watched a movie while we visited. Then Dan took him home and again, a little later brought the boys back with pizza and we ate dinner there.  This time Dan took them home for bed and I stayed with Miranda for the evening.

Thursday the kids went off to a friends house and we both spent some time with Miranda.  Baby seemed to have figured out how to nurse, but still didn't have a name. Dan picked up the boys and brought them over to the hospital for a visit, and I took them home for dinner again. This time I was a bit more prepared and we knew each other better.  So I had dinner on the table sooner and we had time for games, stories and conversations before bed.  So I wasn't "the meanest person" this night.

Friday I decided to stay home and clean up the house in preparation for Miranda's return. I didn't need to make dinner. The neighbors were bringing it over.  But I vacuumed, cleaned kitchen and bathrooms and washed and folded laundry. I changed some beds in anticipation of Kera and Andy coming that evening. Tom called to say that the stake presidency would be attending our ward on Sunday. He was to be released as Bishop, but I was not to tell anyone.  I was surprised at my reaction.  I felt sad.  It was the end of an era.  We had an organized, predictable life... and now what?  What lay in front of us?

Miranda came home Friday afternoon with baby Rachael Marie. She's a pretty baby. She eats well and seems to be pretty happy for a newborn.  Of course I'm not the one up with her at night. The neighbors brought over a banquet: 2 1/2 roasted chickens, corn on the cob, roasted potatoes, cabbage wrapped rice, hummus, salsa, and a huge pumpkin pie.  Oh and a giant Mum! (we didn't eat that.)

It was utterly delicious!! Andy and Kera, Matthew, Emma, and Charlotte arrived a little after 6pm and were able to join in the bounty.

I decided I should be home for the release. The stake president wanted to hear from the wives. So I used Dad's hand as an excuse. Andy and Kera went to the temple on Saturday morning.  About 9:30 a friend of Miranda's came over to help me figure out the amounts and cost of the food for our Relief Society trip to Nauvoo. She had some wonderful suggestions and was very helpful.  Dan spent the morning out creating more wonderful play equipment. The kids mostly played well... although I believe there were about 5,000 legos over the bedroom floor at one time.

I left a little after 12 and got home just in time for dinner with the missionaries. Tom, Katie, and Aaron had fixed Tacos.  It was a good meal, but I was tired! After the dinner and short lesson, Tom and the kids went downstairs to watch a movie.  I had some work that needed doing, so I worked on that. I had recorded the speech I wrote, but she could not listen to it.  So I researched recording to mp3 and re-recorded it for her. I also had a call with a relief society president and needed to send out some messages about the upcoming Nauvoo trip.

Sunday was bittersweet. The new bishop called will be excellent. He's young and works and has a wife in a wheelchair, so things will be different. But he loves the lord and the youth and is humble and will grow into the calling. It's been an adjustment for Tom. A time of introspection. Did he do everything he should have? Were there areas left undone? Again, where do we go from here?

So it's been an eventful week.

Solar Eclipse Week

Back in mid July, I had ordered some eclipse glasses preparatory for the solar eclipse on August 21.  The price for the glasses was very cheap.  But you had to look carefully.  Some of them said they'd deliver in September... or you could pay $39 for them to arrive in time for the eclipse. So my glasses were due to arrive by August 4th-- before Rebecca left, so she could share some of them with Miranda or Jonathan's families (the cost of 10 was the same as the cost for two.)  Umm. the shipping date kept getting pushed back.  Then, they shipped... but the delivery date came and went with no glasses.  Finally they arrived on Saturday- two days before the eclipse!  Hooray!  So Tom and I went out periodically and watched the eclipse.  It was pretty cool.  Deborah got some great pictures.

This week I made airline reservations to go to my writer's conference in Florida. I made sense to combine this with a trip to Mom's so I will go and visit her from October 21 to November 2.  I decided I didn't want the stress and time waste of looking for prices between three airports in this area, two in Florida and two in California.  So I called USAA travel and they were very good and very fast.  I had specific times I wanted to depart and arrive and of course when you go on the travel websites, they don't give you a comparison of times and prices for each leg.  My only error was that I asked to fly out of Fayetteville, instead of NorthWest Arkansas Regional airport.  So my first booking had me leaving from North Carolina?  Oops.  Fortunately, you have 24 hours to make changes without penalties.

I have been busy and prosperous with my writing. This was the most profitable month of my writing career.  Nice!  I wrote a speech for the CEO of my cannabis cypto-token start-up.  I have a large project I need to get started on that will take serious amounts of work.  And I had an interview with a leading marketing firm in Torrance, CA and may have some work from them.

Tom finished Deborah's kitchen and wondered what he should do next.  That was quickly solved. We had a tenant move out of one of our duplexes and it needed a paint job throughout the house (It had been 6 or more years since that had been done. And the garage needed a bazillion nail holes patched and then painted.  He did a lovely job and it looks great.  He finished just in time for the new tenants to move in this weekend. The old tenant left an old mower there, so Tom was able to mow the lawn twice before bringing it home.

Our beans have been prolific!  We have been enjoying fresh beans. But we have also been sharing them with church members and with the food bank.  I keep thinking they are on the down hill... but each time we pick, I'm astonished! The tomatoes, however, seem to be on their last vine.

Our missionaries decided to host an art show.  They invited everyone in the ward and any of their friends to bring art to display-- fine art, fabric arts, three dimensional art.  It really was a lovely show!  We filled the cultural hall with art.  It was an opportunity to invite friends and to see the talents of others in our ward.  I had a number of complements on my artwork, including from a professional artist in the ward.  Felt good.  One of these days I'd like to go back to painting.

Tomorrow I leave to go to Miranda's for the long awaited birth of Baby Girl McClellan.  I don't think she has a name yet.  It will be fun to play grandma for a while.

I guess that's all the news.

Changing tides

The weather has cooled off, family is gone, and it feels like the tide is changing. I know we will have more hot days, but with clouds and rain, it just feels cooler. My ICO white paper is finished. One brochure is finished, another one coming to a close. I have just a little job... and then? With most of the projects out if the way, it seemed like a pretty relaxing week.

I do have a client who is supposed to be sending me a check for a big project. Then I will have about 2 months of work to do. It will be a sales funnel. I haven't really done one of these, so it will be a little demanding and stressful, although I've done portions of most of it.

But for this week, we weeded the garden and picked pounds and pounds of green beans and tomatoes. We've given some away at church and some to the food bank. We've asked neighbors if they want some. The green beans are nicer than they've been all season. The tomatoes, I think may be on their last leg. We've had wilt creeping up the leaves and now most of the leaves are brown and drooping.

With fall ahead, it's time to think about going to visit Miranda when her baby is due. A week from tomorrow I travel and baby comes on the 29th. I also need to look ahead to our Auxiliary training for Relief Society in September and our Woman's Nauvoo trip in October.

In the meantime, all the names that Aaron has collected have been weighing on us. So on Thursday Tom and I drove to the temple. We worked Thursday and Friday and got more than 30 ordinances done. It was lovely to be in the temple. Friday was our ward temple day, and we got to participate with several ward members for some of the sessions. We stopped at Panara Bread on the way home and Tom got a pecan roll for his birthday treat. On the way up and back we listened to part of the "Gregor the Overlander" series. It made the time pass quickly.

Tom was wondering what he would do with himself after he finished working on Deborah's house and kitchen.

 He got that done Wednesday and the new tenant moved in on Thursday. However on Friday we learned that the tenant had moved from the duplex and it needed nail holes in the walls patched and a new coat of paint throughout the house and garage. It also has a tenant scheduled to move in at the end of this next week. So Tom has much to do.

Tom decided to get the truck detailed. I admit I didn't expect to see much improvement. Wrong. It really came out looking great. Waxed to a shine, seats clean and floor mats sparkling. They painted the wheel wells (Or at least cleaned them so they looked freshly painted) they cleaned up the engine compartment so it sparkled as well. I was impressed and Tom was happy.

Today I drove to Mountain View, MO for branch conference. My friend Jennifer was called to be in the Stake Primary Presidency, so she needed to travel there as well. We carpooled and had a lovely time chatting all the way up and back. This is a small branch that struggles to attract and keep members. But there is a lot of strength there. I gave the RS lesson on the Power of the Book of Mormon. It was the source of my testimony and I have seen the blessings that come from reading it and living its principles. I also had a new counselor sustained and set apart today. It's nice to have two counselors again.

And our little chick is now old enough to roost... but still under mama.

Two Weeks

It’s been a busy/happy/sad two weeks. All good things come to end and it ended with Rebecca and family leaving. But in the meantime, it was good and busy.

July 31 (Monday two weeks ago) Rebecca and kids, Andy and Family and Deborah and kids and Tom and I went to Silver Dollar City for the day. The older kids ran off to do the more exciting roller coaster rides. Tom and I hung out with the parents and the little kids. So we mostly visited while they went on rides or became the accompanying adult for the kids on rides. It was fun to see everyone.

Deborah came to Mountain Home after Silver Dollar City, so we had a chance to visit with her and Ian was able to come up for part of the week as well. Deborah and Rebecca had some bonding time and the cousins played well together. We got some needed rain— one of the reasons Ian was able to come. He had grand plans to sand and paint their shed… but with the rain….

Deborah’s house had also come up vacant and she and Tom had decided that the next time it did that, they were going to renovate the kitchen. This was a complete gut and new cabinets, flooring, sink, countertops and stove.


And Tom decided the house needed painting inside as well. So Deborah’s visit to Rebecca actually became more of a work effort. Rebecca and I became the babysitters for the days when she went out to help. Fortunately her kids are pretty good. Ian went out and helped as well and they got a lot accomplished.

I spent some time working on my cannabis Initial Coin Offering white paper and some other stuff they wanted done. And I worked on a brochure for Exceedia, an Equifax partner that helps banks and credit unions use data to target loans and bank services.

The General Relief Society President and some of the counselors from the general board of the Young Women and Primary were going to be in Miranda’s stake over the weekend. They were going to have a meeting for all women ages 8 and up on Friday night (a broadcast) and then leadership training on Saturday. It was for the Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas area, but I wanted to go and learn. So with my stake president’s approval I went to the meetings. I left on Friday about noon. This was the same time that Deborah and Ian were leaving to go home. It was also the same time Rebecca and family were packing up to go to Jonathan’s house. CHAOS!

However Rebecca did her usual marvelous job of shrinking her footprint until there’s nothing left. Tom went off to work at Deborah’s house with 16 people in the house and came home to a totally empty house. We had a little laundry to do and a few beds to remake.

The women’s meeting and training was excellent. We were reminded of the need to leave the 99. They have a good support group and can take care of themselves. Go show the Savior’s unconditional love to each one that has strayed. And be grateful for the 99. They are the ones that inherit all the father has. We were invited to ponder on “Why has the Lord called me to this position? And listen for the answer. I came up with some insights, and even weeks later, they continue to come. The overall message? Prepare sisters to be confident to meet the Savior.

It was fun to visit with Miranda, Dan and the boys. I got to see a little of Nathan too. Most of our visiting took place at 1:30 am when the tornado sirens went off and we stood or sat in the living room waiting to make a beeline for the under-stairs closet if we heard a tornado. It was really blowing rain! Nathan seems to like his job more. The warning expired, and we crawled into bed only to be awakened by a flash flood alert on the phone. Grumble. I’m on high enough ground I don’t have to worry about that!

After church I grabbed a quick lunch and drove back home. That is why you didn’t get this letter last week.

Monday I played catch-up. It’s been nice that the jobs I’ve been doing are hourly. So if they ask for more revisions, no problem. I turn on the clock and start working. However, I did feel like I needed to be accessible to get the work done promptly. In the afternoon we had the carpets cleaned and then in the evening we went to our Empty Nester’s family home evening group.

Also, our neighbor, Ernie, has had some health issues, cancer of the gall bladder. He also has family that seems to drain his account when they stay with him. A few weeks ago, our other neighbor saw him at the mail box. He looked terrible. Said his family had left him with no money and nothing to eat. So she took him in and doctored him. Made sure he took his meds, took him to the doctor to find out what was really wrong and how serious it was, (Ernie had thought it was liver cancer.) and learn what his prognoses was. (He should make a full recovery.) It was left to Tom to talk with the family and say, no, he doesn’t want you in the house, please move your stuff out. And to Tom to help him with his finances and get his bills paid off and back on track. Monday afternoon was the time he and Ernie and family met. After some yelling, it seemed to work out okay.

Tuesday I went to help Tom at Deborah’s house. We installed the cupboards, upper and lower. We put on some of the countertops and some of the soffit or box above the cupboards to the ceiling. It made a big difference.

Later in the afternoon I had a phone call with a new client, doing a brochure for a business broker (he helps people sell their businesses.) Then I went out with the missionaries to teach an investigator.

We felt sad that Rebecca had left on Friday and it was a rush. So we drove to Silver Dollar City and spent time there with them on Wednesday. Then she took a child on to White Water and we took Marian and Callie back to Jonathan’s and Kristy’s. We had a delightful visit with them, spent the night, and canned 21 quarts of peaches the next morning.

 

We left before noon on Thursday to head back to Mountain Home. Tom had a mole biopsied about 2 weeks ago and it was cancerous. So he went back for a 3pm appointment to have them remove all the edges. We thought we’d timed it better, but we actually drove directly to the appointment. No time to go home first. The doctor said the cancerous part was very thin, a good thing, and this should take care of it. However since he’s had one episode, they will follow him much more carefully for the next few years.

 

Tom thought it wouldn’t be that much- maybe an inch. after all, it was a pretty small mole. However, they make a diamond shaped incision so it can be stitched and hold better. And thus he has a 3.5 inch incision on his back with 13 stitches. It’s a bit ouchie. However, he was glad he wasn’t in Kristy’s hands. On Thursday morning, he’d watched her castrating piglets.

It’s been nice to have these jobs where I can do a little bit here and a little bit there. Fixing and correcting things doesn’t take as much time and concentration as creating the piece in the beginning. But I was a little concerned I’d spent 3 days doing other things. I got mostly caught up on Friday. I spent some time working on the Nauvoo trip our Relief Society has coming up in October.

Rebecca had brought home some rabbit livers from the Maples. (They grow and butcher their own rabbits.) Um. Tastes like chicken. So we cooked the livers and they did taste pretty much like chicken livers.

That evening we watched a movie Deborah had recommended. The Queen of Katwe is a story of a Ugandan girl from the slums of Katwe and how she became a chess champion. It brought back many memories of Kenya. And it renewed my appreciation for the gift of being born when and where I was born. We have such blessed lives!

Today we had a farewell from Gerry Rasumssen who is going on a mission to the Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City. Sounds like an interesting mission. She could serve at the museums, the headquarters building, family history center, etc.

Tom had Bishops Youth Discussion after church with 21 youth in attendance. Last night we prepared the ham and cheese sandwiches with the sauce of yumminess to go on top of them. They were a great hit.

Returning Home

I had a delightful time in California. It was so nice to be with siblings and family. I wondered if this was like life-after-life. You have wonderful people back where you were from whom you love… but you also have people you love where you moved to and you find joy there as well.

I had this ICO white paper I’ve been working on. I would get up early to work on it. Finally on Tuesday I felt like I had it just about licked! Wow! Felt like a weight had lifted off my shoulders. It’s funny. While I was working on it, I thought, why am I doing this and putting myself under pressure. Then, shortly after the weight was lifted, I thought, Hmmm. What else could I be doing? I have decided to only take projects I love. I don’t need to spend time working on things I don’t have any interest in.

I visited Mom on Monday and Tuesday. She’s enjoying the food and physical therapy is working her hard. Monday afternoon Cynthia and Jim came over and I helped Jim get on Facebook. We gathered friends to invite and set up his profile. That evening we went out to a lovely Italian restaurant on the lake. We sat outside and watched the boats go by and felt the soothing breeze. It made dinner charming.

Tuesday I did laundry and packed and visited Mom. Sally came to visit with Lisa’s little one Amelia. I guess Sally didn’t get a lot of “quiet” visiting with Mom with Amelia running around, but I’m sure she was entertaining. Sally and Amelia and I met at Cynthia’s and Jim’s for dinner of great hamburgers and salads. Then I drove home with Sally.

The next morning she took me to LAX and I flew out of there. It was a direct flight from LAX and got me to Kansas City much more quickly than if I had flown out of Santa Ana. Although we had a slight delay leaving, we mostly made up for it and only arrived about 20 minutes late. I got the shuttle back to my car and headed home. I got home about 10pm. I listened to a mystery, adventure book on CD. Alas, I am two CDs short of the ending…. And the heroes still don’t know who the murder is who is out to get them.

Thursday was a recovery day for me. Tom, Rebecca and kids, and Andy and Kera and family went to WhiteWater in Branson. They met Miranda and her kids plus Isabelle and Miriam. The girls helped Miranda keep track of her little guys. They had a good time.

Friday I did some picking and weeding in the garden. I worked on a brochure for a mortgage product and worked on transferring my bitcoin from its holding place that will not accept new coins from the split that is coming on August 1^st. Delaney went to an Activity Day’s girl’s sleepover. She seemed to have a good time.

Saturday Tom took the canoes to have the scouts go canoeing. Josh and Aaron went and enjoyed themselves. We played the worst game of Five Crowns ever. We were distracted with phone calls, texts, kids asking about things. We skipped round 6. Katie worked with her hand of 9 cards while the rest of us were dealing with 8… and we didn’t know it until she laid them down… and so on. But a fun time was had by all.

It was so nice to sit on a bench full of Fox kids and grandkids. In fact, we took up most of two rows! I went in early to be trained on a new church initiative on self-reliance, which is really God-reliance with efforts and faith on our part. I talked with the Stake President about a new counselor for my RS presidency. And I learned of training to be held in Tulsa next Saturday and so will visit Miranda and go to that.

Travels with Mama

Kathy and Steve had been staying with Mom while she was in rehab. But they were looking forward to a trip to Italy for Steve’s work. Mom was doing well in her rehab— getting stronger and not much pain. She was also getting tired of southern food, so we discussed flying her home.

Steve make the flight arrangements. Cynthia worked with the rehab center in California, and I drove up to stay with her for the duration. I stressed about how to get the mama, the car and me all to the airport plus put the car in long-term parking. Mom needed to see the doctor on Thursday. The rehab center wanted to wait for the last physical therapy reports to send the records to the California Rehab center. But the CA facility wanted to review mom’s records before they’d agree to accept her. Thus, we asked the Missouri place to send records on Monday.

On Thursday morning, when no records still had been sent, I said, SEND THEM NOW. They did. While we were at the doctor’s Cynthia called to say the CA Rehab center said she was too healthy, they would not take her. What? The orthopedist said she had to only put 50% weight on that leg for another month because he didn’t see any evidence of bone growth. So she was barely hobbling along. We went back and forth with the therapists in Missouri saying in effect, “Any facility should keep her based on these criteria” and the CA facility saying, “We don’t think she’ll qualify for Medicare… but if you give us $15,000/month in advance, we can probably take her.” So poor Cynthia made 45 phone calls, got informed, got more records transferred, and the second rehab center said, “Sure we’ll take her!” It wasn’t until 6pm before our 3pm flight the next day we knew for sure mom had a place to go.

We decided to have Mom go with a transport service that would take her wheelchair to wheelchair. I left before them to park the car. We arrived around the same time, but had some trouble connecting, partly because the driver told me he was at door 14 (I was at 12) when he really was at door 9!

But we got mama in the wheel chair, her walker, her carry bag, my carry bag, and myself all to the gate without too much difficulty once we got someone to push mom. We had about a 2 hour wait for our flight since we got there a bit early. I had asked them to wheel chair mom into the plane, but they didn’t. She used her walker to get into the plane. Fortunately, we were in the first row. Then, once boarded, we had a 2-hour delay. There was no air conditioning on the plane and it was in the 90’s outside, so it got pretty warm in the plane. But Mom likes the heat. And if we got off the plane we had to take all our stuff, so we just sat there.

It was nice flying first class. The stewardess was attentive and we actually got a meal in flight. We also got bags checked for free. And it was roomy with enough leg room for mom to stretch out her leg. We used my computer bag for a foot rest.

Cynthia rented a Lincoln Continental to pick up mom. And she brought some food from Pollo Loco as well. The car was a comfortable ride for mom. Since the plane was so late, traffic was mostly gone and we made good time to the Laguna Hill Health and Rehab Center. By the time we got her all checked in and unpacked and I picked up Cynthia’s spare car, it was after10pm.

(Midnight central time.) A long day for all of us. But Mom was a real trooper! She is amazing!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, other exciting things were going on. Tom left on Tuesday with Isabelle, Marion and Josh to go to youth conference in Nauvoo. It was a long 7 hour drive back to Nauvoo since we’d just done it for the wedding. But the youth seemed to have a good time. They were able to see one of the pageants and tour historic Nauvoo. The also took family names to the temple and did baptisms.

And while Tom was gone, Miranda came up on Wednesday and she and Rebecca baked 20 pies for Tom’s birthday open house pie-fest that was held on Friday evening. They had 50-60 people come and ate up all but 4 of the pies. Miranda headed home on Sunday and the house should be quieter for a little bit.

This week I have been working on a white paper for an initial coin offering (ICO) for a blockchain company dealing with legal cannabis. They’ve been continuing to refine their objectives and model, so it’s kind of like trying to hit a moving target. Plus, the rough draft was put together by a committee. Well, everyone just added their ideas. But it took me a while to realize this as I was trying to organize and make sense of the duplication and redundancies. When I’ve had time in the mornings or evenings I’ve worked on this.

Here in California, it’s a quite house with no Mama. But I feel her everywhere as I see her neatly organized drawers and small notes. I visited her Saturday and Sunday. Saturday evening I went to dinner with Cynthia and Jim. They have a movie group the associate with. It’s 4 couples who get together and eat and watch movies. One member was in the industry. He gets all the movies to review for the academy awards, so they have quite a selection to watch. They were an interesting group of people and it was a delightful evening.

I somehow missed my usual ward building, trusted Waze… which will NOT tell you to simply turn around! Ended up circling a residential area and was told I had arrived when I was on a deserted stretch of road in front of a closed gate. However, I recognized a meeting house down the hill a bit and was able to drive around a canyon and find the entrance… only a few minutes late. It was a great meeting.

I learned that Ishmael also had 12 sons. That the prophecy in Genesis meant that his offspring would fight among themselves and others… as the middle easterners have. I learned the Abrahamic covenant held priesthood power. And that the power came from ordinances. In Joseph Smith’s vision, the other churches claimed to believe in Christ, but “denied the power thereof” or in essence, denied priesthood ordinances and covenants. And finally, we learned about “reproving betimes with sharpness.” And that we are slow to reprove because it’s more important to love the person than to fix the problem.