Funeral

Kevin and I drove up to Michigan on Friday night so we could attend my uncle Bill's funeral on Saturday morning.  We were originally planning to drive up early in the morning but there were threats of an ice storm so we went up early.

Kevin's mom kindly came over and spent about 24 hours with the kids.

The funeral was beautiful in its own way.  My aunt said that at the end, the only thing working well for my uncle was his pacemaker. He was so ready to go home, so ready.

It was a Lutheran funeral full of liturgy and hymns.  My dad gave a lovely eulogy.  Communion was served and I got confused about what to do. I've been to 3 Lutheran Churches now in my lifetime (attended 2 for some time) and each one did communion differently :-). Those Lutherans!  No really, it was lovely.

Funerals are strange things in some ways because we're all grieving a loss but we also see relatives and friends we've not seen in forever.  I met a friend of mine I'd not seen in more than 20 years. She used to attend the same church as I did back in my graduate school days, before Kevin and I were married.  She got married to a fine fellow and moved in ACROSS THE STREET from my aunt and uncle. Just one of those weird "it's a small world" things.  She and her family have been loyal friends to my aunt and uncle, and vice versa.

I got to see one brother, the one who lives in Chicago. The other lives in Hawaii so getting back for the funeral wasn't feasible.

After the funeral and lunch, Kevin and I went to visit another aunt and uncle who live in the Ann Arbor area. I used to live with them for the first couple of years of graduate school, but I haven't seen much of them in the last 20 years.  Kids and kids and more kids, and married life, and work, have not resulted in much traveling on our part.  It was wonderful to spend a couple of hours with them and my brother, who was there also.

Their house is gorgeous.  It is funny to me how different life is without small kids.  Our house must be practical, for our own sanity.  No figurines, so breakable objects at high level, and so on.  It was fun seeing the house and the changes they've made since I lived there, but I'm thankful I'm not trying to maintain that level of decorating with kids racing around like rhinos around here.

We got back late, after driving through a snowstorm.  The kids mostly did fine though there were things that didn't happen that should have.  Rose was pretty crabby.  She is very attached to me. I don't know if that is partly because she is the youngest and the "baby" of the family?  The other kids, by this time, had at least 1, usually 2, younger siblings!

Uncle Bill

Each of my parents has one sister, and each sister is married.

My aunt on my mom's side lost her husband, my Uncle Bill, last week. The funeral will be this week and Kevin and I are going up for it.

In some ways, it was a terrible time for my aunt and uncle.  Bill had a terrible foot infection, resulting in an amputation of part of his leg, which then morphed into additional heart problems and breathing problems and infection.

It took 7 weeks from the point of realizing he needed medical attention for his leg to his death.  Seven really tough difficult weeks.

On the other hand, he was a devout Christian and he was ready to go home. It is very hard for those left behind, of course especially my aunt.  They were married for more than 3 decades.

I'm thankful he is with Jesus, sad for those left behind. 

Losing Weight

I haven't.

And I'm Ok with that. But I did say I'd update on my quest to lose a few pounds.

It's hard!

I don't need to lose weight, just not gain 20 more lbs, but it is interesting how hard it is to lose weight.

Lots of people would agree, of course. We are blessed to live in a culture with lots of food and we don't work as hard physically as many of our ancestors.

So I'm rocking along between 150 and 155 lbs and I'm Ok with that.

My blood sugar A1c popped up to 5.8 last time it was checked, which means I have higher bgs than when I was on metformin.

I've been trying to exercise moderately regularly.  I'm doing better than I did a year ago, for sure.  If I can maintain this weight and keep those blood sugars reasonable, I will be blessed.

Spring and Field Trips

  

We are inkling towards spring.  It was warm last week and hit 70 degrees one way.  That was awesome. And then it got cooler again. Right now it is 41 degrees.

Every year I get too excited about warm weather and put away warm clothing and then it gets cold again. So this year I WILL NOT DO THAT.

We went for a walk in our back 3 acres. It is lovely out there, thanks to Kevin's hard work.  It would be a tangled mess of vegetation if he didn't cut things down every year.

And our new deck is beautiful.  A nice place to eat popcorn.

This morning was not warm but I felt energetic and ambitious so 5 children and I went to the Air Force Museum, which is fairly close.  We had a lovely time but it is HUGE and we went to one of the farthest hangers. I think I wore out the little ones.  We didn't stay too long and were home by lunch. There was lots of fussing and whining as I tried to feed people and deal with a very tired Rose. Then our microwave broke.

But I did take them somewhere fun and educational, so I get kudos for that. Right?

A Crazy Week

So after being sick off and on the week previous, I had a crazy week last week.

I went to the orthodontist 3 times with Joseph. THREE TIMES.  Things kept coming loose. It was weird.  We also took Isaac in. The ortho, whom we really like, strongly suggests that he have orthodontia because of an overbite and his teeth not lining up properly.

It's only money, right? 

And appointments.

I also had 4 dental appointments on Wednesday.  It was a crazy week with being gone and the house got kind of messy and out of order.

And then we sold the big van!  We got at least 10 inquiries about it, and sold it for a little more than $12,000 to a church in Michigan.  In the last couple of years, we've totally refurbished our car fleet. We should be good for awhile unless we buy another car for the big girls to drive.