Kelly's sister Rena passed away this morning. We all just feel really drained right now, I'm sure many of you know what I mean. It's just been a really long week. We spent most of today making plans and preparing for the funeral and memorial service.

I called the kids and let them know. That was really hard since they were really upset and I just wanted to give them hugs but since I'm not there I had to count on my good friend and our pastor to do that for me. It is one of the hardest things about all of this but we really just could not get the money together to bring them all and Joshua and Kenzie are almost done with school for the year. Besides we would be spending a lot of time finding someone to watch them here while we were taking care of things.

Hello

Well today is my blogoversary! 2 years I've been posting, although I've been much better at posting then I have lately.

Madison and I are in Portland now. It's actually been hard so far. My sister in law Rena is not doing well at all and the doctors decided today that she is not responding to any treatment so her care has been changed to comfort care. The doctors really say it is hard to say how long till the end it just depends really on her. It could be within days or a couple of weeks at the most. She told her dad though last night that she was ready to go and didn't want to fight anymore. It is just so hard to see her though. She just doesn't look like herself at all. Kelly is still here also but will have to go back home to Alaska this weekend whatever happens. He needs to get back to work partially even for himself. He doesn't do well not working. We haven't taken Madison to the hospital and don't plan to. She has memories of her aunt healthy and looking great and I want her to remember that, not what she looks like now.

The flight here was good though on Friday. I hate flying, it just scares me for some reason. Madison loved it though she had a great time and talked a lot.

Of course with the way things are going right now I really miss home and my peaceful views. I really forgot just how busy and noisy the city was.

Friday though starts the Rose Festival here though and they will have fireworks and then a parade on Saturday so maybe once we can get doing something like that it will pull me out of the mood I'm in at the moment.

Leaving Tomorrow

Sorry about the lack of posts but my internet is not working right now. Neither is my phone....something is messed up at my house and I've been waiting for it to get fixed by the company now that they believe me that it is not working.

Anyway Madison and I leave for Portland tomorrow. I am excited to get going on this trip and to see the family.

Kelly is actually down there right now he left suddenly last night when his sister (the one with breast cancer) took a turn for the worse and they didn't think she would make it through the night. She is still here though and I was told actually doing a little better. So we are all praying things work out. Please pray. Her name is Rena and she is 34 years old, just recently got married.

I will try and post tomorrow and get pictures up if not tomorrow Saturday for sure.

Going on a trip soon!

In 8 more days Madison and I get to go on a trip back to Oregon. We will be there for 4 weeks! I'm very anxious although it will be really weird to go that long with only one kid.

The problem at the moment is that Kellys work sent him to work on another island for the next two weeks. So I had to find a friend to take the other 3 kids for a couple of days unless he is able to get things done quickly and be here sooner then that.

I should have a lot to post about when we are down there though telling about the things we are going to do. I have a few things planned including my sisters graduation from nursing school, going to the beach with my niece, 2 doctors appointments for Madison and 1 for me, and of course the rose festival they do their this time of year. We will go to the fireworks and at least 2 parades and of course the fun center. That and lots of people who want me to visit while I'm there.

Kids left to themselves get creative!

This week has been a nice one with some actual sunshine coming out again The kids have been very busy outdoors. I love when they can really play outside without coming in covered in mud!

We have been at a friend of mines home quite a bit this week and she home schools also. One day we were working on something in the house and not really paying to much attention to the kids. When we came out this is what they were doing




We keep saying that if we were "good" home school moms we would turn this all into a lesson but decided that kids learned enough in figuring out how to get it together and up on their own anyway.

On Friday they decided they wanted to sleep in it. They had a fire outside and roasted hot dogs on sticks and marshmallows. But then it started to rain and the girls chickened out and decided to come in to sleep. Joshua and Izzak though stuck to sleeping in their teepee and slept there till they got up at 7 this morning.

Here is a slideshow of them building the teepee and cooking their hot dogs.

Thank you Dawn

Today I recieved a comment from Dawn on this post

This is what she said....

"It is very beautiful, and as I read the post is so much like your life (and mine). You have lots of bridges to cross, signs of stuff going on around you, it never "looks exactly the same way each time". A lovely walk and trail in life."

I was thinking about her comment and it really is so true. I wonder if that has anything to do with why I like it so much. The funny thing is like she said many bridges to cross. I like to see the bridges but really don't like to cross them. I am scared to death of bridges most the time and the bigger the worse my fear is. I have always said it has to do with growing up in California and worrying about earthquakes but sometimes I think maybe there is more to it then that.

When I think of bridges in my life to cross I think of those as being the trying times when things aren't going right and I'm anxious to get to the other side of them and see how they turn out. Bridges are kind of like that. I've had a lot of bridges to cross.....

Also I know I have things always going on around me like on the trail. Really that is so true. I try to see it all but it is almost impossible to do that. Things are always changing here or is it just that I see different things each time I look around?

Anyway I just wanted to thank her for pointing it out. It really made me think......

Joshuas first baseball game

Today was Joshua first official game of the baseball season. We made sure he had his glasses all fixed as well so he could see that ball. You know important things like that. That is why it looks like he is wearing sun glasses.

He did okay. This is his first year playing on a team so he is learning. His team didn't win though but they have plenty of games to play still.