Thoughts

Andy is on a trip to Montreal, Canada with his french class. When we dropped him off at 4:00 am to ride into Canada and catch the train, I was kind of sad. Dan called me crazy, but it made me fast forward in my mind to when he has to leave for a mission or college. It is going to be here so soon! It's a hard thing to let kids go. I also had a meeting at the high school last night for Andy to start there next year! How in the heck did that happen! He was really JUST a two-year old that loved playing with little cars on the ground for hours. He sure is a great kid and will make a great missionary/dad/man someday.

Jake, Estee, and Dan have been sick, really yucky flu sick. It looks like we are finally on the tail end of it. It's hard to see the people you love in pain and not be able to do much, except to give hugs and tell them it won't last forever. It makes me think about how hard it must be for our Heavenly Father to watch his children suffering all over the world. It makes me stronger and better to think I can do it on a much smaller scale, in my little family. It also makes me grateful that my trials are so small compared with some of the huge trials that others have to deal with.

Abby is our virus resistant child, she never gets what the rest of us pass around. She is positive it is from the years of thumb sucking and already being exposed to all the viruses out there. Maybe she is right? Abby got her cast off last week and after a couple days of being obsessively careful with her arm, she is using it like old times. Hopefully a little more carefully. She is swimming at school for gym class (fun, huh? my middle school did not have pool!) and she said it feels so good to be in the pool and using her arm. She cannot wait to go skiing.

I can't believe we are in our last months of residency. It really has gone so fast and we have had so much fun, so many great experiences, and friendships here in Michigan. I am glad that we are staying for an extra year so I can put off saying goodbye to friends, and so I can check some more of the things off my list that I want to do while we live here. I am ready, however, to get back closer to my family, in particular my mom. She has Alzheimer's disease, and every time I talk to her she asks me how much longer and that she hopes she still has her brain when I get back. She called last night to tell me it was her and my dad's anniversary of when they met--January 13, 1953! I suppose I should have sent a card! That is quite an accomplishment, and I should be especially grateful for what happened that day or I could have ended up with some other parents, in Gaza, or worse Democrats from New York! (Just kidding that was for the benefit of my Democratic friends--who I love).