at our local YMCA is definitely showing its age - Jason was just about too old when it opened, but still managed to enjoy a few visits when he was perhaps 11 or so, and he's 33 now - but it's still a place to give children a lot of fun and imaginative, creative play. 

Joe had Guard duty this past weekend in Williamsport so Amy and Derek came along to get in their last visit before Christmas.  Joe will be on his two week service over Thanksgiving, and that means A & D will head west to her parents for that period, depriving all of the Williamsport family of their presence over that holiday. I managed to spend a good part of Saturday with Amy and Derek on Saturday, both here at the house, and at the CDW, where Maggie and Stacy joined us for several hours of fun. 

But first, Amy and Derek came here and I enjoyed watching Derek play with a toy cow from our toy basket, and just toddling. He was just walking in September when he was here, but now, he's a full-fledged toddler!  Here's a video of his play with the cow, toddling, and Amy's excellent mothering skills.  It is a bit long, but if you have a fast connection, it's not a problem, and really cute, and if you don't, even a short video is beyond your connection anyway.  Sorry!

I love this moment from just before I took the video, of Derek trying to ride the cow:

Just his ability to squat is amaznig.  Three months and he went from barely standing on his own and now he can not only stand but squat!

He loves that cow - I think it was one of Rachel's when she was small. 

The outfit is one I sent him for Fall.  Cute!

Suddenly realized it was time to get moving if we were to meet Stacy and Maggie on time, so off we went.  Maggie's been there a few times before so she had a few things in mind that she wanted to do right off:

 

There she is, a princess in her tower...

There was a group of "small" boys there that Derek just wanted to BE!  It was obvious.  He watched them, and put himself near them and watched them some more.  The youngest child was only a few months older than Derek, but our wee boy is just that - wee!  He's a peanut, and this other little guy was big for his age - he quite made two of our lamb.  Like I said, Derek put himself in their path of traffic often, and that other poor little boy heard, "Watch out for the baby!" and, "Be careful of the baby!"  over and over.  And it wasn't anything he was doing!  But it was a litte girl who brought Derek a hat to wear:

The CDW used to have a huge slection of dress-up stuff - it's been reduced to many fewer items, which is disappointing.  I must remember to donate hates and silky scarves as I decide I no longer need them. 

There's a tunnel (which has actually become part of family lore, after Robin got "stuck" in there when Ethan was perhaps 7 or 8 and he had to go and rescue her and guide her through.    Derek loves the tunnel.

One enteres the tunnel at somewhere above an adult's waist height, and then it branches through the whole museum, coming out on the other end.  So Amy got Derek started a one end, then sccoted through to the opposite end, only to find that Derek turned around and came back to way he'd come.  Fortunately, Stacy, the keeper of the camera that day, was there to get him down. 

I mention that Stacy had the camera so that the emphasis on Derek photos doesn't reflect upon ME!  Not that I don't love each and every photo, just that there are way more of him than of Magaly!  I suppose she's had her "share" of blog time.

Here is our "little professor," at the chalk board:

The way she's standing makes Amy look much more pregnant than she actually appears. 

Derek, like most children his age, loves the telephone.  Everything is a telephone:

Oh, and he isn't wild about wearing shoes, although he does know that he must wear shoes to go outside and play.  He actually put his own shoe on (just the one) to let his mom know he wanted to go outside the other week.  He does say "ahside," but when one hears those kinds of words out of context, I guess they're not always quite clear!  

I love this photo - it was taken in the little "snack shop," area at the CDW.  Maggie was waiting tables, and Derek was "handling" a variety of jobs, starting with washing his hands, which he did sitting in the basin, and washing mama's hair...

He was also on cash register duty, but in a manner quite unlike any other cashier I've ever known.

Told you he's a wee lad! 

Stacy did manage to get a few photos of Maggie.  Here she is whizzing down the slide:

There's a kind of play house at the CDW, and it drove both kids nuts that the door wouldn't stay closed.  Here's Derek going over to shut it.  Again.

And in this next photo, you'll notice that somehow he ended up on the wrong side - you can just make out his teeny hand on the edge of the door:

I took these photos, btw.  I was sitting inside the play house. It took a great deal of concentration for me to make my legs cooperate with me while I was bent over far enough to get through the door!  I did take my walker to get in and out, and to walk all across the place, but otherwise I walked on my own from chair to chair at each play station.  Both kids like riding on the seat of my walker.  I love this photo:

Look how Derek's playsuit came open at his belly, and Maggie has one of her best smiles!  This was on our way out.  We then went to Maseto's (Italian Deli) to get sandwiches for lunch, and Derek and I waited in the car while everyone else went inside to order.  He was fine with me until we had a tussle over his sippy cup/bottle thingy.  He was dumping his apple juice out onto his car seat and I tried to remove it from his hands.  He pulled hard enough that the wet cup slipped from my fingers - he had handles after all! - and bopped him on the mouth. Well, he was nearly inconsolable, despite my best and silliest efforts.  Maggie heard him crying (it was a nice day and the store's doors were propped open) and came to help entertain him:

He's laughiing there, at watere silly antic she's doing.  She's really good with him and he loves bigger kids, of course.

He fell asleep on the way up to my house where we were met by Tiana who joined us for lunch.  Amy had to ask me to be quiet and not keep rousing him up (sorry, Aim.) so he'd get to sleep, but once I shut my yap, he was sleeping in moments. We had only to drive as far above our house as the turn off to 973 before he was sleeping.  (For the uninformed, that's about 2 minutes.)  He slept on the floor until all of us had nearly finished eating, and then he woke up and ate his toasted cheese sandwich.  He hate most of it, and then, he had his first Oreo!

That's my boy!

It was a fun day. 

I have more photos of new baby Kael to share, as well as of every Trick or Treater we got the other night.  Keep watching this space!

me<><

Yup, that's somethin'!

Imagine when it's all dry what it'll look like! 

He's somethin' else.

me<><

Seven pounds, 7 ounces, 20 inches tall, born October 30, 2008, at about 1:30pm.  (I know - I goofed that part. Someone, mother, father, grandparent, greatgrandparent, etc., will correct this glaring omission soon!) The important thing is the photos!

There he is, in his daddy's arms.  Grandpa Duke says he doesn't remember Erik lookin' nothin' like this, so he's gotta look like his mom!    But he does have the Kriner nose, and that hair - well, that hair has been seen on many a child in the Meyer line!  And Duke himself had cheeks just like that, I believe. 

Here's the new little family with two great-grandmothers and a great-grandfather. 

Darla's parents, Grant and Eileen, and Hazel, of course, with Amber, who looks gorgeous less than an hour after delivery, doesn't she?  And our Erik, every bit the devoted daddy.  He changed the first pooey diaper, with coaching from both new grandmas and a nurse, and did just fine, although he was shocked (Erik, that just doesn't seem right somehow) that there could be so many parts that needed to be cleaned up!   

And just the three of 'em:

They tell me that Amber giggled - GIGGLED!! - all through her contractions once she had the epidural. 

Here's proof of two things:

Erik really did change that diaper, and though his birth weight doesn't match Grandpa Duke's (Duke weighed more than 10 lbs at birth) his feet come close! 

Duke's head got cut off in this photo of the first time he held his grandson, but I think Darla was focused just a bit on the baby and the shirt, courtesy of Great-gram Hazel.

And turnabout is fairplay, here's Grandma Darla with proudly holding her new grandbaby:

Her shirt says, of course, "Kael is going to call me, "Grandma." "

They promise me more photos, but they're tired, and Duke said he didn't think he'd get any more uploaded and ready to post before he went to bed.  They're staynig in Erik and Amber's place tonight, to save driving back to Bloomsburg in the morning for another look and squeeze.  Erik is spending the night at the hospital with his family. 

I'm very happy for all of them - new babies are always wonderful, and to tell you the truth, I can't wait to get my hands on the little guy myself!

Poor Erik has National Guard duty this weekend, but fortunately, it's just a weekend.  Darla's going to stay with Amber til Daddy gets home.

And he goes away for 2 weeks over Thanksgiving, just like our Joe does.  Which also means that Joe's on Guard duty this weekend, too, here in town for a change, and so Amy and Derek are coming up to spend the weekend and visit, since they'll go to Amy's parents for the 2 weeks Joe's away, missing the usual Thanksgiving round of visits here.  So, all that is to say I get to see my grandbaby this weekend!  He's going to Trick or Treat tomorrow night, (Just a few relatives) and then Saturday we'll spend the day together, including a visit to the Children's Discovery Workshop at the YMCA, with Magaly and her mommy, and Tiana and me.

No further work on the house - supplies have been delayed so it's a matter of whenever the siding and roofing drip-edge comes, the work will get done.  Same with the porch lighting.  Duke's a bit distracted right now anyway.  He says, btw, that becoming a grandpa was just fun, as compared to the drama and terror of becoming a dad. 

me< 

This time it was Jennie and Rachel popping in to bring me a piece of yummy cake from the dinner their Gram had the other night for her kids and their families.  She said she'd barely seen any of 'em since she'd closed the pool.  The girls walked up, giggling and charming and so sweet. 

They're growing up so delightfully.  I thought teenie-bopper girls were supposed to be awful?  Ours aren't, thankfully. 

They even willingly let me take a few photos.  Here are a couple of my favorites. 

Rachel couldn't be ENTIRELY cooperative for the first photo, giving off a kind of punky Arab-woman look. 

And then we have "Jazz Hands!"

They're so close, these two cousins.  What a wonderful thing, to grow up with someone in one's very own family to share with whom to be silly and sad and just...to be. 

The house is coming along - latest progress is the painting of the living room, and the removal of its furniture from the dining room, delighting Kelly - she was able to clean both floors thoroughly for the first time in a few weeks!  Dry wall was also applied in the kitchen and bath where windows were removed and/or made smaller. 

Much to be done yet, but mostly fiddly stuff.  The house is snug and dry and looking better all the time, although the weather may have stopped being cooperative.  Faron got a bit of painting done outside this weekend, enough to know that the using the same green as the roof on the porch railings and trim was a great choice.  The carpenters haven't bee here yet this week, but as they have only outside stuff to do, on the roof and soffits, high winds and biting cold rain aren't conducive...

And I've got a head cold.  I'll refrain from describing symptoms in detail.

me<><

We enjoy our crafting and our hide and seek with the Coca-Cola bear and the silly bird and she's hooked on watching The Incredibles each week.  We just generally have a good time.  I snapped a couple of photos of her yesterday, and then let her take a few.  Here are mine:

She was bein' a kitty cat, I think. 

And there she was just bein' our Maggie.

Then she took over.  Very creative eye, has our Magaly Hazel

I was tying the curtains back, I guess, and when I saw her shooting the camera my way I made this face.  Lovely, eh?

There was a whole series of upside down photos.  This one of the TV was my favorite. 

Not sure what this is about, other than a silly little girl with a camera. 

Same here. 

This last one is of me balancing the bear on my head, and then she balanced the bird on the bear on my head. 

We're good, eh?

Jason came this morning and helped his dad  with several small jobs - putting up insulation and drywall in the bathroom and kitchen where windows were removed, and also in the ceiling in his room where Peter came through during construction.  And they got the primer coat on the living room ceiling and new outside wall.  It's pouring rain today so no outside painting of railings and such, but it'll come.  It's supposed to be nice tomorrow, so maybe they'll get some time in then. 

Remodeling one's home brings one's family out of the woodwork.  Justin stopped in last night for a good long visit, and Terri came up today (bearing chocolate, no less!) to bring Stefan, who was going to help paint, but, alas, with the rain there just wasn't much painting to do.  Terri and Stefan and Jason just left to get Tiana and then the four of them are going to go out to eat and to the movies later.  They all get on like a house afire - Stefan thinks Tiana is AWESOME! 

So do I. 

me<><

but photos of the house progress, and another that I just wanted to share. 

First, Faron put the railings on the porch on Sunday afternoon, and I spent the time driving him crazy buzzing around on my scooter - on the porch, mind you.  I can do a three point turn when necessary to change direction.

The round table with the tablecloth is from the living room.  Our dining room could only hold so much!  And Paul and Tex, the carpenters, keep moving the lawn chairs we borrowed from Hazel off the porch - they get in the way!

And there's the scooter, along with my wheelchair, and a close-up view of the green trim we've decided to add.  Originally we'd planned all white, but I love the green, matching the roof. 

While I was taking photos I even went down into the field a bit and snapped a few of the side of the house.

Bit by bit we're getting tarps and leftover materials and such back where they belong.  We have a small pile of stuff to be returned, too - insulation mostly.

This is the view off the front corner of the porch, looking toward the Mormon church parking lot, where I had great fun with my scooter.  And I think Sunday was one of  the prettiest days we've had, and about as much color as we've had.  We've had some windy days and the leaves are blowing off quickly.

Hard at work!  That yellow wire is a nifty addition Faron and Duke came up with - it's a special outlet along the front edge of the porch roof, for Christmas lights.  And it'll be controlled by a switch in the living room. 

Jason and Tiana came up the other night to see how things are going, and for us to feed them.  We ate on the porch, even though it was a bit chilly.  Just because.  Jason took his camera out and got photos of the house, and he took mine as well.

I think we'll all be glad when the dumpster is gone! 

And all of those piles of dirt will go toward filling in the area that will become my ramp/carport access. 

Backing up a bit, Sunday there was a Special Olympics competition in - oh shoot, I forget where!  Between Ron and Kelly talking about it, you'd think I'd know!  Anyway, Kelly (who is Hazel's next door neighbor and my cleaning lady) won three gold medals in running, and she brought them up to show me on Monday when she ame to clean.

She started cleaning for my sister Kim yesterday, and Kim called me afterward to rave over how clean her house is!  That's our Kelly!

The house is getting finished at such a fast rate now, after all the delays it seems odd to stop fussing and worrying.   

And Tiana hurt her back a couple of weeks ago.  She thought she was getting better and tried going back to work on Saturday.  Big mistake - she stopped taking the meds they'd given her - can't work under the influence - and 4 hours into her shift she couldn't move.  They plunked her into a wheelchair and took her to the ER where they pumped her full of nice meds and now she will have tests to find out just what's going on.  Poor sweetie.  She's had an opportunity to find out how well I've trained Jason to be a gentle, supportive guy!  He passed.

More photos of the house, soon!

me<><

or if you're generally immune to emotion-laden stories. 

Friday night, Kim, Hazel and I attended the annual meeting of the organization that provides the sheltered workshop where Ron has worked and received training since shortly after he came to live with Hazel about 9 years ago, after his mother died.  Since then, Hope Enterprises, as it's called, has become a huge part of Ron's life, and, in consequence, Hazel's, and even, to an extent, the rest of our lives. 

At the meeting, we're given a lovely dinner:

And they recognized various staff and clients and community participants for their efforts in the year just past.  We found our table with the aid of this sign:

The program for which Ron was recognized is one in which Hope sets up a kind of "Big Brother," for clients they feel needs to make some changes in their lives - in Ron's case, to encourage him to get excited about something besides food, eating out, etc.  So "Guy Terry," came into our lives.  (He's called "Guy Terry," to distinguish him from "Girl Terri," our niece, and Ron's "gel."  Ron and Terri were together more often than not as young children and the bond has always stayed.) 

Guy Terry will come and get Ron and one or two other Hope clients, and take them swimming at the Y, or to play basketball, or bowling, or sometimse he'll bring all the guys to Hazel's and she'll make a favorite dinner to eat around the pool.  They do something together at least 2 nights a week.  Terry's very faithful, very good with the guys, and has been great at doing just what he was supposed to - get Ron focused on something besides his next meal.  Ron can't wait to go out with "The Guys."  And it gives Hazel a few hours a week where she doesn't have to worry about Ron. 

Each year, at a meeting with the psychologists and staff and a parent or guardian, goals are set for each of the Hope clients.  With Guy Terry's help, Ron had met his goals for this past year.  And that is what Ron was recognized for. 

Ron was so excited about this dinner - about singing with the "Voices of Hope," about getting his award, and about giving his speech - he'd even written some notes on a small piece of paper.  He never even mentioned the menu for the evening! 

This is Doug, the supervisor of the in-home program Ron is in.  He's pining on a pretty orange tinted carnation. 

And here's our guy, proudly wearing his boutonniere:
 

As he rehearsed his speech, he mentioned several of the staff and some of his friends whose names we'd all heard before, but he kept referring to this "Chad," that none of us knew.  Chad came over to say hi and to congratulate Ron. 

He's a staffer with whom Ron has really hit it off. 

And of course, here's our boy, Chris, or, as Ron calls him, "Pal":

His new "look" has been met with mixed reactions.  I kinda like it.

So, before dinner, the Voices of Hope sang three songs, "The Star Spangled Banner," "Celebrate!" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."  If ya'll want, I'll put the last one up here, but it IS knda long, so for now I'll skip that.  A few recognitions were made before dinner, and then afterwards, they gave years of service recognitions to both staff and clients, and then they recognized various clients for meeting the goals set with their guardians and staffers. It was such a joyful scene, watching these happy, proud people with a variety of disabilities, making their way, sometimes painfully, up to receive their gift, plaque, etc., and to have their photos taken with the presenters.  They all love that part!  One young man from Northumberland County was recognized for the dozen or so volunteer jobs he does, for the two jobs he holds down, walking 2.5 miles each way to get back and forth to work each day, and for, with his brother, saving enough money to buy a house!  More than a few gasps and cheers were heard then!

Here's a short video of Doug presenting Ron with his award.  You'll have to listen hard to hear Doug outlining the reasons Ron was recognied, but when Ron steps up to give his speech, his voice comes through loud and clear, despite the moment when it cracks as he gets kinda choked up. 

Ron thanks God, Jeannie Bower, a staffer who's been there from the beginning, a girl he calls his girlfriend, and Chad, as well as telling us all that he loves us.  I think you should be able to make it out.  Kim had taken my camera close to the podium to get it on video so Hazel and I sat holding hands and then sobbing together after Ron's speech.  He came back carrying that plaque, grinning from ear to ear, getting high-fived from friends and staff.  He wanted hugs, though, and he got 'em.   

The most amazing thing is that as we all sat being so emotional, we noticed Ron sitting, just staring at his plaque on the table in front of him, tears running down his cheeks.  He kept saying, "I WON it!"  It meant so much to him to have met those goals, and to have acheived this recognition. When we saw him crying, we all lost it.  Doug was sitting at our table and he was visibly shaken, too.  And he did it for some time, too.  I was a puddle.  I'd grabbed a wad of tissues before we left my house, and I must've used about 20 of 'em.  Good thing I had extra. 

After many more recognitions, The Voices of Hope sang one final song.  It's brief, as you'll see in the video Kim snagged.  But it's utterly charming.

Many of these people have watched enough reruns of the old Lawrence Welk show that they wanted a bubble machine working in the background, but the Scottish Rite's dining room floor could get very slippery with bubbles on it, and here are a lot of unsteady people in such a group. 

It was a grand evening.  I haven't even mentioned that it was a hectic day for poor Hazel - much in the usual vein, but still a rush, and she came and got me and my wheelchair and hauled it out and parked the van a block or so away, and then had to worry about getting me inside and on the elavator, etc.  But she knew I'd love seeing Ron, and that he'd love having me there, and I don't regret one bit of the fuss I caused, I tell you!  I am so thankful to have been there and shared that joyous evening with Ron.

me<><

         The roof, for all intents and purposes, is finished.  The foam insulation is on the whole house, and a good bit of the porch has a ceiling.  That said, the past several weeks have Not Been Fun, which is why, I think, I couldn't bring myself to blog about it all.    It was just too much for this bear of very little brain to cope with.  (btw, that is, for those poor souls who've never read, or had read to them, the Winnie the Pooh series, a reference to Pooh himself.  Just wanted to make sure ya'll caught that literary reference. Earlier today I made a reference to Boo Radley (from To Kill A Mockingbird, for those who might not recall.  I can't stand the thought that you might not have at LEAST seen the film, if not read the book!!) in chat and of 8 people present, there was no one who got my reference to poor Boo Radley.  READ, people!  Goodness.  Or at least watch some good movies. 

ANYway...we've made good progress on the house, with the help of our Amish crew, who, it turned out, weren't so good at what they claim to do, and then with my nephew, Duke's neighbor and contractor friend, Paul Young.  Paul's been great, giving us a quote to finish the roof (and fix the other crew's mistakes) put up soffits, fascia, etc., side the house and to drywall the living room that totaled up to exactly what was left of the money we borrowed. We immediately gave him a check for half of that toward the materials he's having to purchase.  I'm thinking they'll have two or perhaps three more days' work here, and then we'll have a house! We hope to get the living room painted this weekend and get the furniture back where it belongs.  Currently one of the big wing chairs is in my room, which we've found we quite like, and all of the rest of the furniture is squashed into the dining room. 

Life's slowly returning to normal...

And now here are a few photos of events in the past few weeks:

The Amish crew chief.  These aren't the same group that put up our pole shed last year. This bunch is far more "of this world," including smoking, cussin', driving that truck, using cell phones and electric generators...just not quite true Amish.  As I looked at the piles of materials, it ocurred to me that the trusses and those scraps of roofing looked like some kind of giant modern art project.

Unlike many work crews, and especially like that other group of Amish construction workers had last year, this was not a tidy bunch.  Faron made his share of mess in the yard tearing off the roof like a man possessed, but these guys left paper cups and soda bottles and such lying all around.  Ick. 

In the midst of all of this we celebrated Jason's 33rd birthday by going to the local Japanese hibachi place, Ichiban.  I got this terrific photo of J and Tiana at our table:

They're so adorable, aren't they?  What beautiful babies they might have...

There was a young family at our table with a child of about 3.  He was very vocal in his appreciaton of everything our chef did. He liked the flying eggs:

And he really liked the fire on the grill!  He kept saying that over and over.  And asking for more.  He was thrilled with the onion volcano:

We advised his parents not to leave him alone with candles. Most young children like to blow out candles, but this kid LOVED when the whole grill was flaming. 

Jason got this shot of Faron and me:

We're lookin' our ages, at least.

One day last week I snapped a few pics of the house progress as it was then - I believe the Amish team was still here. 

The front of the house - what a difference - you can begin to get the "vision" Faron's had all along at this point.  The wide steps, lined up with those double french doors just looks so beautiful.  Once the siding goes on things'll realy start popping out. 

This is what the "open" roof looked like for 2 weeks:

We had the structure of the roof over our heads, but nothing was closed in - and remember that the living room ceiling wasn't attached to the front wall because of having been cut off to allow the front wall to be nudged back into place, and that there were several holes in the ceilings as well.  It was drafty, to say the least.  And the temperaure didn't cooperate most of the time.  It got down in the 40s and even 30s most of those nights.  Jane, that blanket you sent me was a LIFE saver!  So snug and warm. 

This is on the driveway side of the house, where Faron's dumping all of the old asbestos shingles (which we're allowed to do legally, btw) and then he'll cover them with fill dirt and eventually concree for my ramp.

Back behind is some of the dirt he'll use to fill in this area.  Under the blue tarp in the lower left of the pic is a chute Faron built of concrete for future coal deliveries.  He hopes to put in a coal stove with a hopper system in the next year or so. 

And finally, Faron tried to capture for me a photo of the Hunter's Moon the other night, but as nice as my camera is, that shot was just a bit elusive. I'd been up all that day, and the day before, so there was no way I could go back outside to see the moon. Still, it's a pretty photo:

And, no photos of me on it yet, but my mobility scooter came the other day.  I had a ball with it that first day - even popped a wheelie as a came up a small hill in the yard and hit a root.  Yeeehaah!  I was all over the neighborhood, and it felt so good!  I'd forgotten the splendid feeling of just "walking" by oneself.  It's been at least 7 or 8 years since I've been on any kind of walk, and longer than that since I've been on one alone.  For now though, my scooter and I are grounded until we get some version of a ramp finished.  It's just to heavy and bulky to get off the porch without a ramp.  The weather will soon keep me from doing much anyway.  But I do love that scooter!  We're going to practice tearing it down to the 7 main pieces for transporting it, which will make it more practical for going places.  Right now, it takes too long and the batteries are to heavy for me.  But I'm gonna work on it!

me<><

But he's even more wonderful than I thought.

Joe and Amy left yesterday to fly up to Alaska to spend several days with Joe's twin, Jim, and his family. (Jim's my other "son," although we haven't seen as much of them, as he's still in the Air Force, and building relationships at that distance has been difficult...)

We all had some concern about flying for 7 hours with a 14 month old who's really loving the freedom of walking (but who still resorts to his much faster crawl when speed is necessary) and many of us offered suggestions for doping him to sleep with Tylenol or Dimetapp or something of the sort.    I think they may have given him a bit of Tylenol, but Amy just posted this quick report about how Derek made his first plane trip:

we have arrived safely and sane!!!!

hello all! Just a note to let everyone know that we arrived safely in alaska and the flight went better then i even anticipated.  derek needed to move the whole time but he was happy being in our laps and playing.  if he got a little fussy one of the flight attendants would show up and play a game with him and cheer him up.  Aside from a poopy diaper on the plane...he was awesome!  Derek is enjoying meeting his cousins and is having a blast!  I will post pictures when we get home!  So far alaska has been beautiful!  We have seen 3 moose...which is awesome, went to the top of the mountain and have plenty of adventures left while we are here.

Jim and his wife, Karen, have four children, aged 13 to 7: Zach, Johnathan, Brian and Caitlyn.  I'm sure we'll have plenty of new photos of them to share, as well.  I'm very jealous of this trip, especially in light of the chaos we've been enduring!

And, speaking of the chaos, we cried, "uncle!" and hired a crew of Amish men to come and finish up the roof and some of the other items. And since they couldn't come until today, and since there was a weekend of rain, supposed to start last night!, predicted, we prayed, a LOT, that the Lord would protect our house from His blessed rain, and He has.  The roof over the house is finished, with only the part over the new carport to be done yet. Our new front doors are framed and installed, and the hole where our old window stood is covered.  I need to get some photos, but I'm not up to going outside to do that. 

Yesterday, Faron and I rode up to Canton to visit with Faron's Aunt Alice, along with my sister Kim, and Faron's brother, Bill, who, for those who may not know, married.  They married first, and Faron and I met at the rehearsal.  We had a very pleasant day, for all that Uncle Louis' death precipitated it.  Aunt Alice was glad to see us, and after we left there, the four of us found a little cafe and had a lovely lunch, with both guys talking about their childhoods and things they did and places they remember.  I don't recall ever hearing Bill do that much before, so that was fun. 

But that meant my legs were down for several hours, and by last night they felt like they might explode. And I was up and down and back and forth several times today, giving my input to a few matters, so I'm plum tuckered out.  I'll get Jason or Faron to take photos tonight or tomorrow. 

Until then...

me<><

  I said I'd get right back on with the photos of Duke's injuries. I hadn't counted on the comings and goings of the family and the various friends and neighbors who are involved and fascinated with this project.  And my fatigue that laid me flat when I had an hour to myself yesterday afternoon.  Out like the proverbial light!

So, here, as promised, are the photos:

You can see the cut that had to be stitched - only three stitches, turns out, and there at Duke's wrist where the bandage is, it's a series of so many tiny cuts that it almost looks like road rash.  And he's got an annoying cut at the base of his thumb, and the wrist is sprained. 

But, all in all, he's fine.  Check it out:

That's our Duker's grin!

Love you, Duke.

me<><