To my Aunt Phyllis

Aunt Phyllis-about 18 months old.

Tommy-about a year old.

Today my aunt passed away. She had had breast cancer 4 years
ago. About three months ago she was walking with a friend when she did a face-plant
along the side of the road. I’m not sure of all the details but that experience
culminated in a diagnosis of an aggressive brain tumor which wasn’t treatable.
Hospice was there to help out and the good women of our church’s Relief Society
brought in meals to my mother and cousin who provided the care that my aunt
needed during these last months of her life.

When Alma met the sons of Mosiah, whom he hadn’t seen in 14
years, he was on his way back to Zarahemla.
He rejoiced in the knowledge that the sons of Mosiah were still his
brethren in the Lord. The sons of Mosiah had “waxed strong in the knowledge of
the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the
scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.” (Alma 17:2)

My aunt joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints some years I was baptized. It gave me strength to know she and my uncle
were strong and faithful members of the Church. My aunt has done extensive
family history work and now has the opportunity to meet those dearly beloved
ancestors that have passed on. She will also reunite with my grandparents and
her older brother whom she never met because he passed away at the age of 18
months.

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I
have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day.”

(2 Timothy 4:7-8)

How glorious the hope of the resurrection! “I know that my
redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And
though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.”
(Job 19:25-26)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtU1c5JZf0k&noredirect=1

Rest in Peace, Aunt Phyllis. Until we meet again.

Summertime-a few months late

This blog entry was in my blog in an alternative universe. Now, thanks to some cyber friends, I am reposting the entry on the blog that I want to keep.

Amanda was home visiting in mid-June for her birthday. Since her birthday is close to Father's Day we had a combined birthday and Father's Day picnic. In the picture picture below Adrienne is putting the cupcakes she made on the table. Amanda is in the background and my
mom is in the way background.

Here is Amanda holding Ethan. He was just two weeks shy of being one.

Mark is holding Ethan in
this picture.

Mark is holding Ethan in this picture.

Here is Rachel holding Sonnie. Sonnie was about 2.5 months old in this picture.

Amanda and I delivered some gifts to the leaders at our church's girls camp. On the way back we stopped at a restaurant in Wrightsville, PA and ate dinner along the Susquehanna River. The view was beautiful, the food---not so great.

Amanda is getting married next May so while she was home we had a girls afternoon out. Rachel, Sonnie,Adrienne, Cala, Ethan, Amanda and I all went to David's Bridal so Amanda could
try on dresses. This one is my favorite. No decision on a dress has been made as yet.

A back view of the dress. Doesn't she look beautiful!!

Here is Amanda in another dress with Cala in a fancy dress she got to try on.

Cala consults with the bride-to-be about beading details on their dresses.

Cala also got to try onsome fancy dresses. The child is always in motion.

Here's Cala in another dress.

Ethan enjoys looking at himself as Aunt Amanda holds him.

And Sonnie was chillin' the whole time. She is such a sweet baby.

When my children were little and I was caught up in the daily routine of caring for them I never imagined that I would have such a lovely extended family as two of my children are married and have families of their own. I look forward to welcoming Amanda's fiance, Jeremy, into the family.

And that's all the news that isn't.......

The purpose of this post is to help me get over the death of the little stray cat that has been hanging around our house for the past 4 months. She wasn't even our cat, yet. I took her to the vet in order to get the necessary shots so she could come inside and join the otherfour cats in the household and not cause them harm with any communicable diseases. First things first-the vet took her away to draw some blood. Then it was bad news: she had feline leukemia which shortens a cat's life significantly. But there was hope for some sort of quality of life for a couple years. But the other four cats would need to be vaccinated against FLV. Then I asked if she could be pregnant because she had had quite a belly on her at one time and then some weeks passed and then she was thinner. Before the vet gave her the vaccinations they wanted to check out the pregnancy question. So they took her away for an x-ray, and then another x-ray. Then they developed the x-rays. Then the assistant came into the exam room and said that he would stay with the kitty, who I named LEH (pronounced Lee).

As I was driving to the vet's office I thought I had better think up a name since they might ask. We don't have specific names for our cats. Two of them are named "the grey cat" and the other one is named "the white cat". I thought of "Fluffy". Yck. Too commonly used. Then I thought of LEH which stood for "long ear hair" because this cat had the longest ear hair that I have ever seen. And so it was decided.

LEH remained in the exam room with the assistant while I went to the x-ray room to talk with the vet. No pregnancy but the stomach was chock full of food, as if she had eaten a stomach full in the last 10 minutes, which she hadn't because we had been at the vet's for 90 minutes at this point in time. The spleen was very large-the vet pointed out the image in the x-ray and said that she shouldn't even be able to see the spleen. The reason for the stomach not emptying was probably because the other organs were so enlarged that food couldn't pass through the intestines. All manifestations of an advanced stage of feline leukemia.

So there wasn't any chance of two good years of the soft life as an inside cat. LEH couldn't even come home with me. She might disappear for good and then suffer a very painful death as a result of her illness. The only option was euthanasia---right then. What a shock! I hadn't wanted a fifth cat but didn't want the option taken away from me in this way either. The vet was so sympathetic and cried along with me. And so LEH took a one way trip to the vet. My consolation is that she died a quicker, painless death than she would have if I hadn't "rescued" her. "Rescued" was the word the staff used at the vet's office. The vet said that she believed that everything happened for a purpose and that LEH came into my life so she wouldn't have to suffer a very painful death.

And that's all the news that isn't.....