My sister Susan

One of the few photos I could find of the 2 of us

Arriving home from out NY trip, she looks so happy!

 My sister passed away this last Sunday.  It is fair to say she had a tumultuous relationship with our entire family.  She had been troubled for a long time, and my prayer is she is now at peace, the peace she had been searching for her entire life.

With that being said, there was so much positive about my sister, and this is what I want to remember.  When I was growing up, especially in Denver, I had few friends my own age.  I was (am) fairly shy....and I think have difficulty with "small talk", which made (makes) it difficult for me to engage with people I do not know.  My sister never had this problem.  She could talk to anybody, young, old, male female, stranger, friend.....I wish I could have learned that talent from her.  While we were growing up, she always let me "hang" with her and her many friends.  I never felt she resented my presence, which was a real gift for me, since I always felt like a fish out of water anyway.  Her acceptance of me, and willingness to let her little sister be part of her circle of friends was a testament to her big heart.

We had a idyllic childhood, and I have so many stories that can bring tears of laughter to my eyes.  The time we "skipped" our Rainbow State Meeting to go see a Sonny and Cher parade in downtown Denver, then returned late, with candy, and spent the rest of the meeting unwrapping candy to eat, making a BIG noise and practically disrupting the whole meeting.  The looks we got from our Mother Adviser were NOT pretty....The times in our Rainbow meetings that we rolled coins to each other so we each could put something in the "pot" as they passed it around.....the time my dad took us to the airport to see the Beatles arrive, and he warned

At mother's 90th, the last time we were together.  Here she is with her beautiful girls

 her not to let go of my hand, and she didn't!  As we were running (there was a lot of running and screaming wherever the Beatles were), a poor girl, running and screaming the opposite direction got caught between us, and we made her run backwards for the longest time because my sister would not let go of my hand (it might have been one of the few times she did not

My mother with all her children, the last time we will all be together

 disobey my father, at least a little bit)

When we moved to California, I started to make some friends of my own, and we were not as close.  She was ALWAYS boy crazy, and CA is when she started to date in earnest.  I have to say, I can thank her that I made few very bad choices, because I had her example the steer me in the right direction (meaning I saw some of the bad choices she made, and decided that was not for me!)  We still had good friends together, the Sekiguchi sisters, that lived down the street, were all about the

I just love this photo, we were having such a good time!

same age as us, and we became very close that first summer especially, and even called ourselves the Seki-Days.  Good times.

Susan married young and had her first daughter, Shelly, while her husband was serving in Viet Nam, and she lived with us.  She had Shelly 2 months early, so we all got to share in the joy and fear of having a baby in the house that was soooo little!  Susan was a wonderful mother when her children were little.  She was a wonderful cook, and took good care of her family.  

I have to say also, that in a crisis, Susan was always someone you could depend on.  If something needed to get done, she could find a way to do it!  When she was needed, she really came through like a trooper!  When  Rebecca was taken to the hospital after she stopped breathing, Susan was able to track down the hospital and me in it to place a phone call of support and love (remember this was WAY before cell phones).  When mother first got sick a few years ago, Susan and Shelly just happened to be visiting, and Susan did things for my mother hygienically, that I would never have been able to do.  She was a real help during that time!  

I am comforted by the fact that Susan became a Christian my first year in college, both she and her husband, after he returned from Viet Nam.  They sincerely started a journey together, that unfortunately they did not complete.  I am of the firm belief that once saved, always saved, you do not lose your salvation.  So I am comforted that Susan has found the peace she always sought finally, and is the comforting arms of Jesus.  For all her frailties, all she ever wanted was to be loved and accepted, and to love in return.  She sometimes made this difficult, but I always did love her, always will love her.

Twilight Zone

 OK, so I am on LOA right now, due to the fact I do not have a voice, so I can not work.  While I am waiting, sometimes not so patiently, I decided I should spend this time productively, or as productively as I can, since I don't feel good.  I have not had a voice since 8/26, I guess I will blog more about that later, but in the mean time I have been sewing costumes and working on Christmas Calendars for my last 2 grandchildren.  While I do that, I am catching up on some of my DVD's that I have.  I have the complete Twilight Zone series, so decided to watch that.  The whole time I was watching the episodes I kept thinking about how I wanted to share my thoughts, and decided my blog was the best forum for this.  First of all, the stories hold up very well, even though the production value is very dated, I think the shows would still give today's generation chills just like they did us.  I was surprised

at how many of the most memorable shows were  in the first season.  The show about the man who loved to read and was the only survivor of the nuclear bomb, and was happy because now he could read as much as he wanted, but at the end he broke his glasses, so now he had no people and no books.  Then there was the show about the lady who was shopping and ended up being a mannequin that came to life.  I remember being very scared of that show, and never being able to look at mannequins in the same way since.  I remember being frightened of these shows when I was growing up, in fact, I was surprised I was able to watch them when I was little, but I definitely did, and definitely remember being scared.  And there is that component to the shows, but for the most part they are morality tales.  They also had a very pessimistic view of humanity.  I guess it was the time, Cold War and all of

that.  Even though there was an element of the supernatural, or science fiction, these were just tools to teach us a lesson about the downfall of humanity.  I have to say the morality tales are the struggles today's society still have.  The value of individuals over conformity, or technology, the difficulty of making the right decision, the bravery of overcoming fear.  The shows also have a lot of the commercials and Public Service Announcements of the time.  There was a lot of encouragement to worship at your church or synagogue, and support your favorite institution of higher learning.  I had forgotten about these "commercials" and wondered why we still don't see them.  I then realized that colleges probably don't rely on individual donors anymore, but more on grants from the government.  How times have changed.  Of course the commercials were all about the cigarettes.  Rod Serling has a cigarette in his hand almost

every time you see him. As far as the acting, I have to say, almost everyone later became famous, or were famous at the time, but they all went to the same acting school, the William Shatner School of OverActing.  Everyone is SOOOO intense.  But again, that was what the stories were about, and again a sign of the times.  It was a scary time.  Everyone thought at any minute the world would end, either from our own hand by detonating "The Bomb", or at the hands or Martians, due to invade at any time.....There were also stories that lived on.  I was SHOCKED, to hear "Are you looking at me???", spoken by a man talking to himself in a mirror in a show in the second season.  Not to say that Martin Scorsese directly stole that and put it in Taxi Driver, but there it was, the exact line in almost the same situation.  I have highlighted the shows that have stuck with me through the years here.

Reunion/90th Birthday

Well, mother's long awaited 90th birthday/family reunion has come and gone.  We are still recovering here, as I'm sure the rest of the family is too....The first day after everyone left my mother never even got out of her jammies, we are now 3 days post celebration and she is still sleeping 75% of the time.  I have to say, I wish I could join her!  I still have not taken down the cabana's or totally cleared the yard of all the furniture!  It's hard to do by yourself in 100 degree weather!  We did have a wonderful time though, and would not have traded a moment (well, maybe a moment or 2).....I dropped a very heavy guitar in it's case on my big toe which everyday has a bigger bruise and still hurts like the dickens!  I do have to congratulate my brother John, who I think reads this blog occasionally, for being on his very best behavior at the County Line while he was sitting next to my sister!  Thank you from all of us for biting your tongue and helping us all enjoy the evening!  Mother loved her books about her life, as did the rest of the family I think.  If you read this blog and want to see the books you can create an account on Mixbook.com and look at "Mother's Memories"....it is free to get on, and if you ever need to make a book, is a really great and easy way to do it!  Thank you to Hai Le for taking some great photos of the family, and thank you to everyone who came! It was great fun.....I wish mother could travel, because I would say the next reunion is on you, but while she is still with us (which I hope will be for as long as her life has good quality), I guess TX and our house is the gathering place!

Mothers books

Speaking of the next round of birthdays, the books I made for Mother's birthday have arrived and I am pleased as punch at how they turned out!  I can hardly wait to give them to her!  It was so fun putting them together and we will all have a good time going through them when we all get together for mother's 90th birthday bash!  If you want to see them you can sign up for MixBook.com, and view all the published books, mine are Mother's Memories, and they are in the Family section.  You have to sign in, but it doesn't cost you anything, and it appears many people make books only to be viewed online, which is totally free!  You can even rate the books you view....I give mine 5 stars!

May Birthdays

 So our May birthday blitz is now over.  Abigail turned 7 on May 5, and she had a Birthday Ball.  This was built around her fancy dress her father bought her while he was in Iraq, which now fits her perfectly!  She was a true princess, and I think she has not yet come down from her birthday high

Addison turned 4 and Aiden 1 last Saturday and Tuesday.  Addison had a birthday makeover with her friends, getting updo's, makeup and manicure's, all right up Addison's alley...she wanted rainbow butterfly earrings, and I was lucky to find some on eBay....she was thrilled.  Luckily, Aiden was not particular what kind of party he had....so he had one at Old Gaga's house with his cousins and both sets of grandparents.  He was happy as a clam, but was not sure what to do with his birthday cake.  He is a kid who is particular about food textures, so not sure he liked the texture of the cake and frosting...now on to the next round of birthdays.....

Rearranged!

Melissa and Adam and crew spent part of their Family Fun Friday helping me rearrange my room!  What a blessing to me!  My room is much more comfortable now, and I really don't want to leave it!  Thanks so much!  I hope I can keep it up now!

Mother's Day

Had a wonderful Mother's day!  We went to The Melting Pot, and even though it was VERY EXPENSIVE!, it was also VERY NICE!  It was quiet and relaxing, and all the kids were very well behaved.  We were in a private room.  I think all of us mothers enjoyed ourselves!

I am alive!

No, I have not died nor fallen off the face of the earth!  I have been busy creating a book of memories for my mother's 90th birthday this year.  This has been a wonderful experience, but long and arduous.  But, finally having given up on getting contributions from all of her children (Bob)...I have published the book and ordered a copy to give to her on her birthday!  It is 2 volumes, and is FANTASTIC if I do say so myself.  Now it is on to planning the party where everyone (except Bob apparently) will be attending.  I have ordered Hummer stretch limos to take all of us to the County Line, for us to fill up on wonderful Texas Barbecue and not have to worry about driving home!...should also be able to get a small tour of Austin in the limos....so should be a nice memorable night!

The Hunger Games

 Ok, so Sarah was quite insistent that I read theses books......she kept telling me how GOOD they were!  So, I read them, AND THEY WERE GOOD!  However, they are not really adult books.  I was a little embarrassed when I posted on Facebook that I was reading this, and one of my friends told me her son's, who are in HIGH SCHOOL, loved them!  But with that being said....they are a quick read, and the kind of book that is hard to put down!  It is a trilogy about a post apocalyptic america, with a central government and 12 districts that are separated from each other, but each year have to send a representative, drawn from a lottery amongst their young, to battle to the death.  The last one alive, wins, and obtains special treatment for themselves and their district.  Now, I had some problems with the premiss.  Not sure why these people did not revolt, but they didn't.

I also had a problem that this society had no spiritual component to it.  I don't know of any human society that doesn't have some sort of spiritual component to it, and this didn't.  No mention of it at all...and when death is an imminent part of the whole story, it seemed a strange they had no discussion of what happened after death.....also, there was a little preachiness to the books about the authors condemnation of our current society, which caused the cataclysm that produced this society where life was dreary, and had no purpose.  That I could have done without.

With that being said though, I did find the books entertaining, and I cared about Katniss, Preeta, Gale, Prim, Haymitch and the rest.  They are making a movie, and I'm sure I will see the movie.  I would recommend these to any age readers.  BUT, I can not believe when I finished the books and talked to Sarah, that I found out SHE NEVER READ THE LAST BOOK!  WHAT??????   After she bugged me forever, she said she lost interest.....What the....Sarah, get on the stick and read the last book, how can you not know what happens to everyone?  Does Katniss choose Preeta or Gale, or does everyone die?  I'm not going to tell you...you have to read it for yourself!

Heaven is for Real

This book was recommended by Julie Gillespie Treece, who is one of 'God's Gal's', the oldest daughter of my dear friends Sherry, was Sarah's roommate when they both started dating their husbands.  This is a very simple book about a little boy who had a near death experience, but apparently went to heaven, and had very vivid memories of his time there.  He was/is just a normal boy, but he started telling his parents about things he would have had no way of knowing....things about his great grandfather, and a pregnancy that his mother had and miscarried the baby.....if you want a quick read (I read it in just a few hours), and something to lift your spirits and make you think a little about what you believe....then I would recommend it.

Bonhoeffer

I have been without my computer for awhile (Melissa's dog Shelby chewed my power cord, and my battery lasted about 5 minutes without the cord!)....so today I bought a new cord and a new battery.....in the mean time I finished a few books....so here are my reviews!

This book took a long time for me to finish, and it was not the best written book I have ever read.....but it is the first book I read on my kindle that I actually wanted to underline passages, and share some of the Bonhoeffer wisdom.  What a mind he had and what a servant of God he was!

Now, I knew very little about Bonhoeffer, except that he was a hero to my ex husband, who was studying theology when we met.  I now know why he was a hero to him....because Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran in Germany, and David's favorite professor, John Warwick Montgomery (who happened to marry us), was a Lutheran, so I'm sure Bonhoeffer was a hero to Dr. Montgomery, and was talked about a lot!

It is quite fascinating the history in this book.  Bonhoeffer was a theologian in a family of great scientific and legal minds.  His father was quite famous doctor and psychiatrist, and his family was upper class German.  His father was a contemporary of Freud, and he had a brother who was a physicist and was a contemporary of Einstein, and was one of the first people to split the atom.  His family was not spiritual, but they were religious, and were accepting of his decision to go to seminary.  He made a name for himself quite young with his writings.  I think he got his PhD when he was 21.  He and his family were quite skeptical when Hitler came to power, and he seemed to understand instinctively how dangerous he was, and worked against him from the very beginning.

Bonhoeffer spent some time in NY, and was quite fascinated with the Jim Crow laws.  He saw what Hitler was trying to do in Germany with the Jews as being similar to what the US did to the black population with the Jim Crow laws, and he believed it was inherently evil, and did not work well for society.  He had an opportunity to leave Germany before the war broke out and stay in the US in safety, and work against Hitler from afar, but his conscious would not allow him to do that, so he returned to Germany to stand next to his fellow citizens, and fight the evil from within.

He was part of the Valkyrie assassination attempt on Hitler (the one where Hitler survived, Tom Cruise made a movie of it) is what led to his execution, just days before Hitler committed suicide himself and the war ended.  And even though his courage of standing up to the Nazi's is noteworthy in and of itself, his heart for Christ is what set him sets him apart!  He believed that faith required action, and that faith without action was what he called "cheap grace".  That even though God did not require anything except faith from us, and that Christ's sacrifice for us, was a great gift, if it did not cause a change in us, and cause us to act on that change, then what was the sacrifice for?  He was a fascinating man, who lived in a fascinating time, and much of what he wrote is still taught today.  He is not well known, and I think someday, someone will realize what an awesome movie the story of his life would make....and I will be first in line to see it!!

Alegria does not mean Joy anymore

OK, so.....I got a dog a few years ago for my mother.  Animals are great companions for older people, and my mother has always been partial to dogs.  In fact, she has always treated her dogs BETTER than she treated her kids....not that she doesn't love us, but she doesn't coddle us.  She does coddle her dogs.....they can do NO WRONG!

So I researched the best dog to get.  I am allergic, so had to be an non allergenic dog.  Had to be a small dog, as we have a small home and yard.  Had to be an easy to care for dog, because I knew I would not put the time in to take care of a high maintenance dog, had to be a dog good with children, a dog bred to be a companion dog....and the dog that came up on the top of every list with those qualities was a Havanese.

Now this breed came to the US from Cuba, Havana, thus the name.  There are not a lot of these dogs in the US, and they are NOT CHEAP!  But I found a breeder in Houston, so a few years ago got the dog for my mothers birthday....my mother was ecstatic.  We named her Alegria, as it means Joy in spanish, and Sarah danced a beautiful dance to Alegria when she was in High School, and I have some wonderful shoes from a brand called Alegria.....we call her Allie.

Now she is non allergenic, I can pet her all I want and not get all congested or sneezy.  Good thing, because she insists on being petted a lot.  This picture is her usual greeting to anyone she meets for the first time, or when she wants you to love on her.  And she is a small dog.....BUT everything else on the list....not so much.

Easy to care for????? Because she is non allergenic, she has hair not fur, so she needs to be groomed at least twice a month.  Her hair gets matted when it gets too long, so she has to get shaved down every quarter or so.  But she doesn't shed so that is a good thing!  She is ok with children, but a little hyper....doesn't understand why a 2 year old doesn't want to pet her constantly, and she INSISTS on being acknowledged whenever someone comes to the house.

She HATES trucks, of all kinds, but especially UPS, Fed Ex and the Mail Truck...she goes CRAZY when they drive by....of course I order a lot from Amazon, so they come to the house A LOT!  It is awful how awful she is about them....can't figure it out, but she only needs to hear a truck drive by the house and she will go crazy for about 15 minutes.  Also, about 7 pm every night, she has a melt down for about 1/2 hour where she will run in circles in the living room as fast as she can, barking.  Weird.

She does cute things too....like she will go under the couch and bark quietly, playing hide and seek.  Wanting us to find her.  Very cute.  She is also very smart.  You can tell her to go get her giraffe, and she will find her giraffe toy and bring it to you!  But her favorite thing to play with is any kind of paper, books in particular, my mothers glasses, and the TV remote controls!  They have to be kept out of her way or she will grab them and run!

Now usually she will run half way up the stairs, and my mother used to chase her, climbing up the stairs to retrieve a used kleenex!  Would drive me crazy!  I finally had to threaten to get rid of the dog if she kept climbing up the stairs!  Funny thing is, I think Allie understood the threat, because now she goes crazy anytime my mother approaches the stairs!

The reason I am posting about Allie today is that my mother keeps feeding her from her plate....And Allie is very protective of any food she is given.  So when my mother then reaches for her to make sure she got the food that she just gave her, the dog thinks she is trying to take it away and nips at her.  Now if it was me (which of course it never would be as I would NEVER feed the dog from my plate), but if it was, it would be ok, but because my mothers skin is like rice paper, the slightest scratch can become a HUGE thing.  She has had big gashes on her forearm, hand and now the tip of her finger.  So this is now the third time the dog has drawn blood with my mother, and I am at a loss what to do.

The thing is, the dog is just being a dog....not being vicious....and if my mother would just keep her hands away from her while she is eating it would be no problem, but it is.  My mother denies ever feeding her, even when she is holding a piece of food in her outstretched hand toward the dog, and she doesn't remember how she ever gets injured.......and she would HATE me if I got rid of the dog, because the dog is her life!  Soooooooo, any suggestions?

Best Sleepover

 So......Melissa and Adam had a much needed "Getaway" weekend.....while Owa and Bapo (Adam's parents) and I played tag team watching their kids....I got first shift, Friday night to Saturday afternoon.   Now, it was a beautiful day, and while I made dinner for the brood, they played in my back yard.  Now, my back yard is no paradise, but I didn't think it was all dirt.  However, Annalie came in OBVIOUSLY having made a few mud pies and EATEN them, and the rest of the kids came in looking like "Pigpen" from Charlie Brown.  So after dinner, bath time was desperately needed.  This is what the tub looked like after 4 pitifully dirty children got clean.

 This is what the pitifully dirty children looked like after their bath.  Here they are all squeaky clean and getting ready to unwind.  Now our tradition at my house, is to watch the classic bedtime show....ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE!  No kidding.   Abigail started this tradition, don't know why, but they seem to find the classic comedy stylings of 1960's cold war comedy soothing, and they find it cute and funny.  Abigail says Rocky is sweet and Bullwinkle is naive!  Pretty astute!  During this time, painfully honest Abigail also told me that they probably should not play in our back yard any more because they broke one of the bushes......hummmm.....will have to remember to go back there tomorrow to see what she meant.

 Annalie actually slept in the "sewing room"....I was afraid to go in and take her photo for fear of waking her.  She actually surprisingly went down really easy and was the first to fall asleep.  This was her first time to stay over, so we weren't really sure how it would go over.  But it went really well.  Jude was the next one to fall asleep.  He decided it was best for him to sleep on my couch.

 Micah and Abigail had a little harder time falling asleep.  I finally put on some classical music and that did the trick.  Micah apparently decided the floor was the best place for him, while Abigail had the blow up mattress all to herself.  She was sleeping with "Teddy", which was her mother's comfort sleeping companion while she was growing up.  So "Teddy" is a second generation comforter.

 Annalie was the first to wake up.  She is having the well rounded breakfast of donuts and banana and milk.  Breakfast of champions.  She is getting over a bad staph infection, was terribly sick last weekend, but could not be happier on this morning.

 Here are Abigail and Micah enjoying their breakfast of champions.  I had bought the kids new pajamas and outfits for their time with me.  I was excited about Abigail's jammies....if you can't tell it is a picture of a Pommeranian, which is their dog Annie, on the shirt.  We had to move out, because Abigail's dance team had their dress rehearsal at 10 am.

 After, dress rehearsal, we had lunch at Firehouse Subs.  The kids devoured their lunch there.  Guess the donut and banana did not stick to their ribs....Now a little background on the names Owa and Bapo.  While Adam was stationed in Germany, they thought it would be cute for Adam's parents to be called Oma and Opa, the german equivalent of Grandma and Grandpa...well 1 year old Abigail could not say that, so Owa and Bapo is what they became, which is classic.  I was always Grandma, but she could not say that, so I was christened GaGa.  I should have copywriter the name....who knew Lady GaGa would be such a sensation!  She could be paying me for the right to use that name!

This is Annalie about 1 minute after the above photo was taken.  She could not hold out any longer and just had to take a nap!  She did not even wake up when I transferred her to the car.  While we had lunch, Owa had called and she was ready to take the kids, so we drove to the Page House, I handed off the kids and came home and took a 3 hour nap.....because while everyone else slept, Allie and I did not sleep all that well....but I was so happy to have had this time.  These kids are so precious, and I thank God everyday that we live close and I get to be a part of their lives!  But that being said, four kids is a real handful, and I am relieved to know that 9 months from this weekend we will not be welcoming a fifth Best Child into the family....I would have to get a bigger house!

SNOW!

It does not snow very often in Austin, and so it is amazing that we got snow last year AND this year...and even though by posting this I may be discouraging my California brother and his Florida/California wife from moving here....it is still very exciting for us.  I am fortunate that I can work from home, so I didn't have to get out in it, but it still looks beautiful!

Annalie

Little Annalie....what a cutie!  She was having Jessie from Toy Story 2/3 riding Bullseye from Toy Story 2/3, and making clucking noises for the horse!  It was so cute....I tried to catch it on video for posterity sake, but did not get a good video of it.  I did get a cute photo though!  I have to say, all my grandchildren are remarkable, I am one lucky GaGa!

Movie Review - Mongol

Based on a recommendation from my brother Frank and his wife Cheryl, I watched a Chinese movie about Genghis Khan.  Now, I only recommend this movie to you if you like movies with subtitles.....but even if you don't like movies with subtitles, you might like this movie, as this is a BEAUTIFUL movie!  Reminded me of the sweeping beauty that was also Dances with Wolves.....but was not like Dances with Wolves at all.....now I have to say, I know very little about Genghis Khan, only that he was very violent.  However this movie does not show him in that light.  This is a movie that begins with him as a boy, and takes him to the beginning of his reign (which possibly was a reign of terror, but you would not know that from THIS movie).  His father died, possibly of natural causes, but could have been poisoned by an enemy.  After his father died, the men in his tribe tried to kill him (he was 10 years old), and he found a way to escape.  Throughout this movie, he was captured, enslaved (several times) and he found a way to escape....he picked his bride at 10, and according to this movie, all of the choices he made was to help him unite with her and to protect his family.  They portray him to be very devoted to his wife, and that she gave him very good counsel, and that he was a devoted protector of his family and his people.  In this movie he seemed to have a very gentle spirit.  Now this does not mesh with what we know from our history books, and who is to say who is the REAL Genghis Khan?  The one thing he had in common with most people who go down in history as "great", is that he had a lot of suffering in his life, had to endure a lot of hardship, which actually strengthened him.  This is what I have to learn....to not complain about my minor "miseries", and not to run and hide from the trials life brings, but to use these things to make me a better and stronger person.  I am coming to learn that most of the historical figures I have admired (no Genghis Khan is not one of them), were very flawed human beings, with lots of "baggage", who had many trials they had to overcome.  That weakness, failure and setbacks are not necessarily the things that define your life, but can be the things that strengthen you to become more than you would have been without them!  Every single person God has used to do great things falls in this category, (no one was more flawed than King David, and yet God said he had a heart after His own heart).  I am learning God does not expect perfection out of me, and that my expectation of perfection of myself is probably holding me back from obtaining the best God has to offer me....wow.....pretty profound for a review of a Chinese movie!

Rebecca Claire

 Rebecca was born Sept 14 and died on Jan 28 of SIDS.  I thought this morning it had been 30 years, but realized it was 29 actually.....not that that really matters.  Melissa was born almost 10 months to the day from the day she passed away.  All the girls looked exactly alike as infants, and sometimes I have to look at my hairstyle in the picture to realize which baby it is.  But Rebecca had the strongest personality of all my babies.  She really let you know when she was happy or unhappy.  She was not very patient, but as soon as she got what she wanted she was totally satisfied.

 She was a squirmer when she slept (back at that time tummy sleeping was supposed to "prevent" SIDS).....I had to put her at the end of the crib and she would scoot all the way to the top and then wake herself up when she couldn't scoot any more.  She would begin to squirm and fuss, and all I had to do was put her back at the bottom of the crib so she could begin scooting again, and she would be happy and satisfied and go right back to sleep.

 Rebecca was the only one of my children where I had to go back to work when she was 6 weeks old.  So I didn't get to breast feed her as long as I did Sarah and Melissa. When I would feed her with the bottle, she would hold my pinkie finger while she ate.  It was so sweet.

This is the last picture we took of her, this was Sunday on our way to church.  The next Sunday we had her funeral.  She stopped breathing while taking a nap at daycare, I was at work.  The babysitter was able to do CPR and got her heart started, which is unusual for a SIDS death.  Her heart was strong and kept beating until the next day.  She died on a Friday (just like today is a Friday).  The hardest thing was telling Sarah, she was soooo proud to be a big sister.  I still can cry thinking about sweet Sarah asking if she was still a big sister when we told her Rebecca had died.  The hardest thing I still have to face is answering the question how many kids I have.  It always makes me pause (I'm sure the questioner must think I'm an idiot not knowing how many kids I have if the notice the pause), but if I say 3, and they ask more details about the girls, it makes them feel bad when I talk about Rebecca.  But if I say 2 I always feel guilty for leaving her out.  You would think by this time I would have figured out how to answer such a basic question, but I have not.

Where has the time gone?

 Angel got married!  Unbelievable!  I mean really, she was just in High School!  She was the most exuberant bride I have ever seen!  And she got married in the same chapel Melissa and Adam got married in, so it was very nostalgic!

 So here are the girls, minus Stevie, including Chris....what a beautiful bunch of women.  Gotta love them.

 Now I'm adding my 2 other girls, and my favorite photos EVER of them.  Addison is watching the wedding, and you can see her planning/dreaming of her own wedding.

Here is Abigail during one of the prayers.  Is there anything more precious?

Visitors

 My brother John and his significant other Oro just completed their week and a half visit to Austin.  Unfortunately, the weather while they were here was less than cooperative, it was cold and overcast the whole time, which limited my California family from enjoying the sights and sounds of Austin.  Fortunately this was not the first time they had visited, so they were ok with sitting in our living room playing Wii and watching movies.  We did go to dinner the last night they were here to Fonda San Miguel.  This was a restaurant that John found on the internet and wanted to try.  Sarah and Mike had been there the year before and RAVED about it.

 We went with only the 3 oldest of the 6 grandchildren in tow.  I have to say, it made a BIG difference.  The adults, especially the parents, really could relax and enjoy the food.  We had wonderful appetizers, dinner and dessert with some adult beverages sprinkled in....it was good food, better company.  It was a nice way to end the visit.  The restaurant was BEAUTIFUL too. Very relaxing, and the service was WONDERFUL!  Another thing we did while they were here was have a barbecue taste off.  John found 2 places he wanted to compare (based on Food Network programs he had seen), so we compared Green Mesquite to Salt Lick.  Salt Lick won....hands down.

We did not get many photos with John and Oro, unfortunately.  Here is one quickly taken with the best kids.  You can see how happy Jude was to have this photo taken!  The kids enjoyed playing Wii with Uncle John, AKA Uncle Fuzzy.  Oro was not feeling well the whole time she was here but was a trooper and hung in there!  I think they did get to watch some DVD's they were interested in.  They watched the latest Star Trek movie, Oro is a big Star Trek geek, just like me.  John tolerated the movie.  They watched how William Shatner changed the world, which is a cute Star Trek geek documentary.  They watched Zodiac, which I think is a great movie, but they ended watching the Beatles Anthology, almost got through all of the material, and liked it so much they were going to buy it!  Now this is a miracle, because I don't think I know anyone tighter with their money than these two!  Not that that is a bad thing, but I'm thrilled that they liked something enough here that they wanted to go home and buy it!