One Long Month

Recently, we lost our courageous, kind, honorable, loving SiL. Duane, was truly gracious until the end of his journey. He greeted each person with a poised face, a smile, if he could manage it, and ended every conversation with a handshake, hug or even kiss and a tenderly uttered; "'Til we meet again." I am so proud of this great man, he has paved the way and set the example for all of us to follow. The key is to be able to combine life's great challenges with graciousness, courage, humor and love. Thank you Duane, for all that you taught our family, for being such an extraordinary example to all men on how to love and care for their family and for being NOT my SiL, but my son.

It's difficult to believe that this is the one month anniversary of Duane's passing. As difficult as these "pangs of the heart" have been, I've observed that we have knitted together even stronger as a family, developed strength, and gratefully allowed the Holy Ghost bestow peace in our hearts.

The Ring, The Ring!

ACK!!!! My dear husband dislocated his knuckle last night -- on his wedding ring finger. A friend that was with him did the manly thing, he popped it back into place. Can you say eewww??? Sometime in the middle of the night, he woke me up to let me know that he thought his finger was swelling, well THAT was an understatement. I put together an icepack and he slept with that, but this morning, he woke up to a finger about 3 times its normal size and it was a dark purple! Fortunately, we knew that our local jewelry store was able to cut off his ring, so off he went. The finger survived, but the ring was a total disaster. Well, lets hope in the fairly near future they can repair the ring.

Today is my birthday and I spent it just about exactly the way I would want to, with my family. Unfortunately, my precious, dear husband of 33 year was out of town on business, had he been here and if it had not rained, it would’ve been a perfect day. So, to celebrate my birthday I am going to introduce to you two of the most precious pieces of my heart . . .

These two incredible, beautiful women are the joys of my life. In spite of my failings, they have turned out to be the bravest, kindest, most righteous women I know. They are perfect in their imperfections. I couldn't be prouder or more blessed to be able to say that I am their mother. Thank you Heavenly Father for these two true and great blessing in my life.

Becky, my oldest daughter is fighting the biggest battle of her life, to keep her large family sane and normal during her dear husband's battle against colon cancer. She has 7 perfect children (hey, I'm the grammy I can make that claim.) and still finds time to blog, serve in the Primary Presidency at church and perfect her cooking skills. Becky, is one of the best cooks I've ever known! She's beautiful inside and out and has the most melodic laugh you'll ever hear.

Megan, the baby of the family is still relatively a newlywed, pregnant with her first child and a cancer survivor herself. She underwent surgery when she was 16 years old to remove a malignant brain tumor; it was a lengthy battle that she won. Megan is obsessively organized and neat and puts everyone else in the family to shame. She makes the most perfect dinner rolls and cookies you'll ever lay eyes on and taste. Her eyes are the true windows to her soul and like her older sister is beautiful inside and out.