Off to a Fast Start

All through the holiday (and wedding) season I kept saying to myself and anyone who would listen, "I will get to that in January". January came and went and there is very little that I intended to get to that I have actually gotten to BUT, February is here and I am going to try again! Not that we didn't have plenty going on in January. Marisa got married on December 27th (by my account, it went very well even with the glitch or two at the temple). Laurie and Charm and Randy and Janikka came to the wedding. Great to see them. Marisa was a beautiful bride who married a very nice young man with a great family and she is happily residing in Provo working to finish school this year. She has informed us she is contemplating walking in August as she will graduate in December and they don't have a ceremony in December (which would require her to come back in April and that doesn't make sense). She is working for BYU Catering and Ethan is working for a Post and Ship company until he resumes his work for Kevin fighting vermin (Giselle's word, not mine!).
Chris and Chira and Caden were here visiting until the 2nd of January (we LOVED having them home to play and visit.....Ella is sad Caden is gone and Caden made a new best friend in Uncle Corey) They went home to Virginia where Christopher began the month teaching his kind of wild little Sunbeam class and then received a call to work with the Elder's of the ward as the Elder's Quorum President. Let us hope that they are less wild than the sunbeams. They endured the Inaugural festivities (let's hope the country can) and are plugging along through chilly to say the least weather. They are getting ready to celebrate Caden's second birthday. Happy birthday to you!
Then Lisa and Rags helped me put the house in order after the holidays. They have been living with us since the first of December. It is great fun to have Cavin and Ella here where we get to see them everyday. Ragnar is trying to find employment and has taken a couple of part time jobs. There may be opportunitites for one of them to turn into long term employment. That would be a blessing. They rented their little cute townhome out in Logan so they have a reprieve on mortgage payments for a year or so. The kids are getting along ok with Maggie dog and they are a delight to have around.
Then off Kerry and I went to Utah because of the difficult situation Kerry's mom was facing with Will. Will's dementia became so debilitating that Mabel had to place him in a long term care facility which was very difficult. It is a horrible decision to have to make for someone you love and want so much to take care of yourself but the workload is overwhelming and it became unsafe for her to try to manage him on her own. It was a very sad day and Will is declining significantly. We visited with mom and dad and quite honestly, all not going well there either. Laurie and Charm work hard to help and support but Dad is wearing out as well. Becky pitches in when she can and I am fairly useless. Old age 'ain't fun'.
All this has limited my opportunity to see John and Madi and so we are looking forward to trying to catch up with them very soon. The excitement at their house has come in the form of a totally unexpected call for Corey to work as an assistant to the High Priest Group leader (30???) and so Kerry went over and ordained him a high priest in early January and shortley after that he got the fabulous, stupendous and marvelous news that he gets to defend his thesis (on Monday). He has worked for years on his PhD and the time has come for him to wrap it up and present it to the committee that oversees his work. Even though the defense date came sooner than he had anticipated, it will allow him to get back into rotations for med school in March and a year from this spring he will be done!!!! Many years of labor and sacrifice.
And Nan just applied for a passport! She is so excited at the prospects! We are going to Mexico to Amy's wedding in May and she is coming with us!
All in all we have much to be grateful for. It was wonderful to have the kids all home for Christmas. It was the first time all five grandkids had been in the same place. All the kids pitched in to make Marisa and Ethan's wedding a success. I am past proud of all of them. There will be great things ahead for the wonderful year of 2009!