I've really been looking forward to this weekend. Thursday the new Star Wars movie was released, and our church rented out an entire theater for a private screening. It was being done as an outreach program, where anyone could buy tickets for as many friends as they wanted, and invite them to come to the movie and as a tie-in, we've been doing 'the Star Wars of Christmas' as a sermon series on Sundays for a few weeks now. So, invite a friend to the movie, and invite them to church on Sunday. The kids all took friends along but Beth and I didn't. The movie itself was good, I thought, but it seemed to me that the action was driving the story and not the other way around. Too frenetic and jumbled in the first half, anyway. We were sitting in the very first row on the side because we got there a bit not early enough.....Friday was the Komets vs. Indy Fuel for the teddy bear toss game. They sold tickets at half price for Black Friday, so that's how I got the tickets. My guess is that they were trying to boost attendance at the teddy bear toss game deliberately. Anyway, I went through Goodwill after work on Thursday and bought 10 good stuffed animals for the toss, cost $5, so we would be ready. Unfortunately the game wasn't that great. The K's were down by 2 by the time they scored and played kind of lackadaisically for most of the game. It was kind of boring. Late in the game they tied it up at 3-3 after pulling the goalie, but they lost in overtime after only a minute or two.....Saturday Beth and I went up to Wakarusa to pick up our half-cow. The cow seems to have been smaller this year, but that's probably ok since we had a lot of meat left over from last year still. We gave a lot of it away to the Harrisons to make room in the freezer for the new beef.....Also Saturday Beth took the girls to the mall in Fort Wayne while Alex and I stayed home, and he got a message from a guy that wanted to buy his PC case and power supply that are left over from when we were trying to build a new PC a while back. He met the guy in Columbia City, and he paid $30 in cash.....Last Tuesday I took Missy to the BMV to get her learner's permit. She finally finished the online course a few weeks ago and we haven't gotten around to getting that til now. Now we just have to get Alex his license, he's way overdue for that.....Natalie is finally enrolled in the online high school course for next semester. After I got her signed up a few weeks ago, they told me there was a waiting list (they had said there wasn't one when I actually submitted everything) so she's been on it since then, and I was starting to get concerned she wouldn't get in. But she's all set now, so we'll see how this goes.....I am officially on Christmas break from work. We're visiting family in Michigan for a day, and we will have Laura & Thomas for a day, but other than that we really don't have anything planned, so we'll have to see what we can come up with.

The call from Chapman Place came at around 1:30 in the morning on Saturday the 14th: Mom has passed away. It was something of a surprise, as much as these things can be anyway, since although she's been on hospice for about a year, there hadn't been any signs that the end was imminent.  I broke the news to Beth in the morning and texted Laura to call me, which she did around 6:30. In the afternoon I headed to FW, first to the funeral home where Mom is being cremated, got all the necessary papers signed there, and then to Chapman Place where I got her all moved out. There wasn't much there anymore, so I was able to get everything into the truck in a single load. I was all done clearing the apartment by dinnertime. Laura wants the cedar sweater cabinet, otherwise most everything will be disposed of or sold. All of her clothes will go right to Goodwill. The nurse told me she had some laundry in process and I told them they could keep it or donate it. I did find a glass jar that had about 8 of her Zuni fetishes in it; I had thought those were all lost. I'll keep those. Her dresser needs some repair work and we may keep that it we can find a good purpose for it. The cremains and the death certificate should be ready by the end of next week. We'll have a memorial service for her in January sometime after the holidays; Laura and I will talk about it some more when they come by after Christmas. We also will wait for the death certificate before telling the financial institutions, I think. At least this time there are no cars, or campers, or credit cards, or leases to deal with.....Beth is sick again since early this week, this time with influenza, so I was sleeping on the couch when the call about Mom came. It's been bad for her. Coughs, chills, body aches, fever, fatigue, the whole bit. The kids all had flu shots, I didn't. I haven't had one since my Navy days. But after the doctor said it was influenza on Thursday I went and got one. It takes a bit to be effective, but I hope it helps. I was at the doctor myself on Tuesday, for an inflamed prostate. That again. The check absolutely sucks. So I'm already on a course of antibiotics for that myself, but it won't help vs the flu.....

Beth's third and final craft show of the season was Saturday. When she finally felt well enough to make soup again she finished things off and got everything ready for the big Wawasee Middle School show, plus she for some reason she could not remember by now, volunteered to cater (of sorts) the church's secret sister reveal party on Friday. She needed to make 5 batches of soup for the meal, get everything ready and get it set up for a 6 o'clock party, so that left me and the kids to get the Wawasee show set up before 8 so it would be ready for Saturday morning. It turns out her secret sister for the past year was Kate, which she pretty much knew. Her own secret sister did not show up. The good news was that there was a lot of soup left over from the church party so she just reheated it for the Wawasee show. That's how she did her split pea soup and painted desert chili, she only needed to make a pot of soala for the show and didn't need to get up at 4am to do it. Natalie helped her run the show for a while; I ran her back and forth from home a couple times and made sure that Beth wasn't left alone for too long. Big space, big crowd, lots of noise; it made Natalie anxious and Beth nervous. But they both did ok. By the end of the day Beth was sold out of soala, love soup, pasta & tortilla, and split pea (!) and had sold 83 jars of soup. It still surprises me that most people buy 1 or 2 at a time to eat themselves rather than 6 or 8 to give as presents to their miscellaneous friends. Anyway, the show was a success but didn't seem as much so as last year, the crowds didn't seem as large and things weren't as busy for as long. But we only undersold last year by 6 jars.....Today Beth and I went out to FW to visit Mom since it had been a few weeks since I saw her. She was in bed, but awake, so the nurses got her up and into her chair for us to visit with her. She is wasting away. We got her to drink an entire box of Boost and most of another while we were there, though. She was a little responsive though, and she did hold my hand for a while as I was sitting next to her, although it was probably just a grasping reflex. We just sat and talked to her for a while, then headed home. Beth got a photo of mom holding my hand.

Thanksgiving: just the latest thing to not go to plan here. The plan was for us all to go to Laura & Thomas' for Thanksgiving, then visit with the Caspers on the way back. However by Tuesday night Beth started a bout with the stomach flu. We had been planning to leave Wednesday morning (I took Wednesday off) so we could be there by late afternoon, but Tuesday night it started in earnest for her and by Wednesday evening she was still all torn up inside, so we cancelled. The kids were pretty disappointed, so were Beth and I, but couldn't be helped.....so anyway we tried to make sure we did something fun this weekend. On Wednesday I took the girls to FW to do some shopping, mostly for Natalie's birthday coming up (17!) She wanted to go to Hobby Lobby and the mall, so that's where we headed. We started at Fazoli's (including cheesecake for all!) , then Barnes & Noble (I found a neat 80s themed puzzle for Beth) and Nat went from there to Earth Magic, because she is on some new age kick and wanted incense. She spent a looong time picking some out, and looking over all the crystals and stuff. Missy checked out Think Geek mostly. Hobby Lobby after the mall, which we went through in slow fine detail. Nat knocked over a glass thingy which shattered, and verrrry nearly started one of those shutdown panic attacks, but after a while in a relatively quiet corner she recovered. But by the time we were done, both girls just wanted out of there and to go home, which was fine with me.....Beth was able (with Alex's help) to do a bit of shopping Wednesday for our dinner on Thursday, which consisted of a crock pot chicken and veggies with mashed potatoes, so pretty much Thanksgiving fare. Family gatherings with a big meal are Beth's favorite part of the holidays so she's pretty bummed about this one, but it's better than traveling with a stomach bug.....Later on Wednesday evening we all went out to see "Frozen 2" which everyone liked, some more than others, but I thought was very good.....Black Friday Beth and I went shopping for a new bed. We've needed one for a long time; we're still sleeping on the one Ronnie and DeeAnn gave us when we moved in to this house. We thought that furniture places wouldn't be too crowded on Black Friday, and we were right. We wanted to shop local so we started at JB's, but we didn't find anything we were really enthusiastic about so we went to Mattress Firm, and we found a nice Sealy with a free adjustable base (for Black Friday) that we both thought felt really good. So we bought it, and spent a lot more than I was planning on (It all came to around $2200) but we really need it. The bed was delivered and set up today, and we are really looking forward to sleeping on it.....Also since we had a free weekend we weren't planning on, I finished replacing all the ceiling tiles and replacing the fan in the downstairs bathroom this weekend. It looks unbelievably better and it's nice that the fan doesn't rattle any more...Saturday everyone went out to see "Knives Out" which I really liked. It's been a long time since we saw two theater movies in the same week, maybe just as long since we saw a movie that had nothing to do with Disney. Gotta love a good murder mystery, even if I kinda called it, at least as to how.

We have struggled through another week. I took most of Monday off so Beth and I could have our meetings at the school regarding taking Natalie out. She’s over 16 so she can legally drop out, so I don’t think there’ll be too much problem with her not being in school until we can get her enrolled somewhere, but as of Monday she is no longer officially enrolled at Warsaw High School….. I took the van in Discount Tire Monday to check out one of the rear tires that hasn’t been holding air lately. They found a piece of metal in it and fixed it, so that’s better, and it was free…..Beth worked all week as she was able to get soups done for a show in Columbia City on Saturday. Tuesday the kids were off school because the teachers’ union had a rally or something in Indy. Protesting their wages, I guess. Warsaw does have to lowest teachers’ pay in the state, from what I hear. So over 20% of the teachers had requested the day off so they cancelled school altogether with no e-learning! Missy hung out at a friend’s house pretty much all day; Nat walked as far as the health food store in town and then had an episode so I had to go get her and bring her home……Beth was in Shipshewana on Tuesday visiting with Stephanie. She came back feeling refreshed; Stephanie gets her and gets what she’s going through…..Our nice new van was back in the shop on Thursday because the engine has been rattling and roaring at low rpm, and one of the things they found was the same suspension problem that Best Deal was supposed to have fixed. If they did fix it in the couple days they had the van when we bought it, it apparently didn’t show. Plus a bad axle in front. The fixes were around $1100. It’s better now, but the engine still is pretty noisy at low rpm especially when it’s cold. Sigh…..The Yuletide Treasures craft show in Columbia City was this weekend, and Beth did well. We made around $840 in sales, selling out of 4 different kinds. But not the curried lentil, such a big seller at the show a few weeks ago. We only sold 4 all day, and many people tried it and made a frowny face. They loved it at the last show. But we also sold out of chicken noodle, which has never happened before……Today we got a pop-up text from Marve asking if he and Beth could come visit for the day. Out of the blue. So they did, and were at the house around 4:30. They stayed to visit for a while and have dinner with us before heading back home. Long drive, short visit, but it was nice because nobody ever comes down our way…..

This week has been a disaster. Natalie blew up again. Big time. She’s still been struggling to get through an entire school day without spending a lot of time at the nurse’s station, probably going down there about every day. On Monday something snapped. Something the nurse said or Beth said was interpreted by her as we were planning to send her away and a full on Fukushima meltdown/explosion happened, including her screaming and hitting and swearing. Beth ran to the school and got caught up in the throes of it, and got called a lot of ugly names during it. Natalie wanted to go home with Kara who arrived on the scene as well, but I don’t think Kara has the resources for that. Anyway, I got called in as well and talked Nat down from the edge as best I could, but there is a lot of damage done. Beth is basically having another nervous breakdown and I think the relationship between them is going to be permanently damaged. But there is basically no way to change things, especially now. There was no school due to a snow day (early in the year for that, huh) on Tuesday, and Wednesday seemed to go all right, but in the aftermath of Monday, Nat, Nat’s counselor, and Beth and I have all agreed that she isn’t healthy enough to stay in school any longer, so we are going to withdraw her from school until she is. She was failing everything important anyway; it’s hard to get an education when you’re away from class so much. The reduced class load hasn’t seemed to help enough so this is the next step. We are going to have to enroll her in an online K12 school or homeschool her (which can’t happen). We’re now trying to arrive back at a new normal, but Beth is pretty much wrecked again….. Beth went away for a getaway weekend by herself again, in a local hotel like she did a few months back. It didn’t work very well this time. She was very anxious and never felt secure in the hotel this time, except when I came to spend the evening with her Saturday evening. I brought a pizza and we just hung out in the room for a few hours and watched TV, which she said was the only time she felt good all weekend. I just tried to get things cleaned up around the house during the weekend, not very successfully because the house is a cluttered mess, which adds to Beth’s stress more than it should….While she was away, the girls got haircuts on Saturday. Missy got a trim, and Natalie did a radical change and a lot of hair was left on the floor. In the end, with the bangs and shorter hair she looked kind of like Taylor Swift…..On Friday Beth and I took Missy downtown to apply for her passport book (we were there on time to do it this time).

We all headed to Fort Wayne on Saturday, mostly because Missy needs a tuner for her guitar and wanted to get some cool picks. We went to Sweetwater to get her stuff, then everyone else went to the mall while I went to visit Mom. She’s about the same, still losing weight though not as fast, still no real recognition (yeah that’s never coming back). Looks like she’s holding steady even though by last summer I didn’t think she’d still be around by year’s end. They had her up in her chair, I wheeled her over by one of the other chairs and talked to her for a while. At one point she reached over and grasped a fold of my sweatshirt between her thumb and forefinger and tugged on it, but she recoiled when I tried to put my hand on hers. We didn’t hang around much more in FW after the visit….I got some staples for my staple gun today so I can get Missy’s chair finished once and for all. I didn’t get it done, but I did get the fabric over the seat. We bought some fabric a long time ago, and I got some padding and a piece of plywood to be the seat several weeks ago, Missy painted it all last summer sometime, so she should have it done. All I need to finish it now is some screws to get the seat attached. I also got some ceiling tiles and a new vent fan for the downstairs bathroom. The fan has been screeching and banging every time we turn the dryer on unless we turn the fan on, something about the louvers in the exhaust side, I guess. The ceiling tiles in the drop ceiling in the bathroom downstairs are really ugly, and have been water stained ever since the upstairs bathroom had all the water issues like 5 years ago. I’ve wanted to replace them for a long time, finally getting that done….

Yesterday was Beth’s first craft show of the soup season. She was at the Brethren Church of Warsaw, 2nd or 3rd time for that one I think, and she did really well. She made some $750 in sales, most notably from the NEW! curried lentil soup, which seemed to be a big hit. Nat was there to help her out most all day and earned a few bucks too…..Halloween was this past week, and the girls are back into it. Missy has been working on her costume for a while, with my help of course. She tried painting the cape we got a little while ago, but that obviously was not working, so we tried to dye it in the kitchen instead, and that did not work either. So we punted, and she just wore the cape black instead of the green she wanted, oh well. We finished her helmet and painted it the other day, and I also rigged up a scabbard thing out of hangar wire for a foam sword, so she was a dragon warrior or something. Trick or treating was originally scheduled for Thursday (the 31st), but since the weather was so crappy and wet it was delayed until Friday night. Missy was going around with Kathryn along Main and Fort Wayne Streets. Natalie dressed as a fashionable demon and went around with Holly. And I missed seeing all the girls dressed up because I was setting things up at the church for the craft show, and Beth didn’t think to get a picture either, dang…..

Beth and I got away for a rare date night yesterday, and when I say rare I mean we got out of town together. We always want to go somewhere we've never gone before but usually wind up getting sushi in town and then going back home. But this time, I looked around for somewhere that we literally have never been before and looked good online. So we headed out and I didn't tell her where we were going until we were there. The Goshen Brewing Company! It looked good from the reviews so we went there. It's a small place and kind of confusing for first-time guests (where to sit, how to order, etc) but we figured it out. I got a sandwich called the Hot Mess which was a pork BBQ with pickled jalapenos, excellent, and Beth got the Vietnamese noodles, which was absolutely gross. It came with some kind of sausage balls on a skewer that smelled and tasted nasty. It was very nice to get out of the house and get away along a little bit, especially since I planned a nice date, but gee whiz. We moght come back, but certainly never get that one again.....

We got a letter this week from the attorney working on our adoption case, letting us know that it is done! The judge actually signed the order on the 2nd of this month so the adoption is now finalized. We got all the paperwork and the court order included a name change, so now we just need to get a new birth certificate and she will be officially Natalie Knight.....We have a new minivan. New to us, anyway. A nice 2013 Toyota Sienna with about 114,000 miles on it, and hopefully any more to come. I had it checked out at Ab & Tom's on Monday, they found a few things (front tires really worn, worn out bits in the front suspension) which the dealer agreed to fix. The suspension was a bit of a job because it took them a few days. The salvage company came to the house to collect the Chrysler on Thursday but the Toyota wasn't quite ready yet, so we were down to a single vehicle for a day or so. We finished off everything by Friday and took possession, so it is a done deal. Someone is probably going to buy the T&C at auction as-is and do well with it. Although the blowers did quit working this week before they took it away, and the dents did make a pretty loud whistle when up to speed, and the radio quit working too......Alex's VR system is finally up & running. The converter thing we ordered last week got here early this week, and it just did not work. At all. Which left us with an I do not know what we are going to do about this moment. Lucked out a bit though, since the graphics card Alex bought a few months back when he was trying to upgrade out old PC fit into the new computer we just got, and it has the correct input for the headset. It's a better card than what the new PC came with and is compatible, so we swapped it out for the old one and now it works perfectly, and the headset doesn't show an error message for insufficient hardware any more. We may never see him again.....Saturday was the Purdue Boilermaker Half Marathon. Since I have decided to never again run the Veterans' Half in Columbia City, I was looking for an alternative and thought this one would be fun. It was a lovely day, cold but not that much, sunshine, not much wind, but the course was a bit hilly in places. It was a nice course through the town and campus, across the river a couple times, started and ended by the stadium on the Purdue campus. I finished it in 2:07:38, good for 627th overall out of 1186.

I have returned from a conference in Philadelphia. A rare work trip. And I was told I was going just a little over a week in advance, and also just after the company announced there would be no more non-essential travel for the rest of they year. I guess I'm special. No really, it was the UHMWPE conference and my new bosses thought it would be valuable to send someone to see what's going on in the world of poly. I was only gone for a few days; I left for O'Hare Wednesday just after lunch (the rental car return setup there is now bizarre, seems to me, and the car GPS was confused. The toll transponder also did not work so I had to pay those myself). I got to Philly in the evening and rented a car for the short drive to the hotel, but I should have gotten an Uber because I did not move the car from the original parking spot until I left. The conference itself was held in a place called the Union League, which seems to be an old school gentleman's club, from a time when that meant where rich men go to hang out and smoke cigars and tell their big game hunting stories with other rich men. There were places in the building that were marked members only, but I walked through anyway. They have a dress code, but I wore a tie on the first day and just a polo the second day when I decided they weren't going to enforce it. After the first day (Thursday), dinner was at the Academy of Natural Sciences, which was super cool. We had a private dinner in a museum of dinosaur skeletons and a butterfly garden and animal specimens. I had a fun time texting pictures to Missy; that place was right up her alley. After it was over Friday I walked down to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, sort of on a whim, to see the Rocky statue and maybe run up the stairs. But when I got there I didn't. It suddenly seemed silly. After seeing the whole huge crowd in line to take selfies with Rocky, I just wasn't that interested any more. But at least I saw it. I headed home right after that. And the airline managed to lose my luggage on the way home.....Speaking of our minivan that can't catch a break lately, I got a message from our insurance company just after landing in Chicago on Friday. They have concluded that the van is not repairable and it has been totaled. The settlement amount is about $5300 which won't buy us a new van, so my first thought was to cancel the claim and just drive a van with a bashed side for a while. But by Saturday I'd changed my mind, since we'd never get that kind of money out of the van any other time, and the settlement could pay off the truck loan and pay for both girls trips to Europe next year, which would be a net savings of a few hundred dollars a month even with a new loan. So we went van shopping Saturday and found a could nice ones on the same lot where we found the T&C. Test drove them both, liked the Toyota better, and put a hold on it. So looks like we're getting a new van.....I did some shopping with Missy for her Halloween costume this weekend too. She has an idea for a dragon warrior kind of thing, so she wants to build a dragon head helmet of sorts. I'm going to give it my best shot. She also needed a cape and some gloves which she bought herself. She wants to paint the cape green and doesn't want to hear that it probably won't work.....Alex finally got his VR ready computer (the one that was cancelled twice) Saturday, but we still had to run around to get it to work. He needed a particular kind of cable for the monitor that we did not have, so we had to find one at Wal-Mart, and also needed a digital video input for the graphics card that we also did not have and could not find. In the end we had to order a DVI to display port converter on Amazon today, so his VR set still does not work and won't until sometime in a few days.....last week Natalie had her first choir concert, "Autumn Leaves," at the PAC center. She is the choir historian so she is supposed to photograph all the choir events this year but couldn't get the actual camera to work after changing the SD card, so she used my phone which doesn't take good photos inside in low light, so it didn't work out that well. The concert was nice though.Nat is in the beginning women's choir but some of the more advanced choirs were very good.

The van just cannot catch a break lately. Friday Beth was picking up the kids from school and some kid backed out of a parking space right into the side of the van and put a pretty good bash in it. The kid was also driving with a suspended license, due to underage drinking, and got really mad about Beth calling the police, reporting the accident to our insurance, taking pictures of his car.....Friday was also homecoming for the high school. Alex and Natalie both had dates, although there was no dance so I'm not really sure what for. Then Nat's date cancelled on her, but she hung out with Holly instead. I dropped the kids off at the football game (while Beth and Missy were in Goshen for Erika's wedding), Nat called to be picked up just after halftime but Alex hung out with his date for the whole game. She's in the color guard so she was working for a lot of it. Both dates also hung out at our house most of the day Sunday, and Alex may have a girlfriend there.....Unbelievably, the Dell PC for Alex's VR set has had to be cancelled and a new one re-ordered, again. Something in the PC I ordered after the last one was cancelled was also no longer available, again. So I placed an order for another PC, again. This time it's supposed to be delivered by next Friday, hopefully.....

Once more, with feeling! I took the van in to Ab & Tom's again on Wednesday. Believe it or not, they found a rock wedged in between the subframe and the exhaust which seemed to be causing the roar and hum. They also noticed that the idler pulley and tensioner were really worn and noisy, which they were and have been for a while but I never took it in for that. They fixed those too, I figured I might should have that done since the problem this time just seemed to be a rock. So what's another $339.67 but less than another car payment, even if it is the third such payment in about 6 weeks..... Friday was game night at the Rodgers house. Alex was working and it was thunderstorming, so we had to leave a bit early to pick him up, but we joined the group (pretty well attended) for dinner (bake your own pizza) and some games. Beth and I played a round of Survive, the Escape from Atlantis game, before we had to excuse ourselves and go get Alex.....Saturday we all went to Fort Wayne to do some shopping for clothes for the kids. The girls are in dire need of girl things that I can't help them with and which aren't very good at the places in Warsaw, so we hit Penney's for them. And a decent jacket for Alex. We (mostly Beth) got them taken care of, then I headed to Mom's place for a visit. However she was asleep the whole time I was there. I sat in her room for over an hour but she never woke up or even stirred......

We're back tonight from Michawana, something like the 11th annual family campout. It was much more subdued this year, several families were not able to come due to prior commitments, so there was a lot less boozing this time. I wasn't sure it was going to go to plan because Nat had a huge panic attack at school around lunchtime, a worse one than I've ever seen. I took the day off so I was at home when the call came, and after she was able to be moved we took her out on a wheelchair and to home where she feel asleep. These attacks just exhaust her.....Missy was on a school field trip to Chicago to see an art expo on Friday, so after school got out, Alex, Natalie, Nat's friend Holly and I headed to Michigan. We were actually there in time to set up the camper in the daylight. Nat and Holly set up the tent since they were sleeping there, but we did have to run to Walmart for an air mattress and pump. The truck battery somehow was dead for that (something was plugged in) so Marve had to jump it for that trip. Beth and Missy came up Saturday morning since Missy was so late getting back. The weather was nice so the girls hung out at the beach or on a paddle boat for quite a while (and I had a close encounter with a snake at the lake). No zip line or anything. We all had a community meal (Beth made a big fancy salad) and made our specialty tin foil dinners, and had the birthday party for Marve and Margie. Saturday night didn't last very late though, because the rain started at around 10 and chased everyone inside. The firewood that Marve and Ric brought was a bit green so it wasn't burning well even before the rain, so we rigged up the mattress air pump to act as a bellows and kept it going that way. It rained most of the night, but stopped in the early morning long enough for us to pack things up. Everyone went to the Walldorf for lunch and we headed back. However, on the way out of the campground, Beth reported, there was a loud crack from somewhere near the back of the van and then it got really loud. Roar, hum, vibrating. We stopped at Plainwell Ice Cream (so I could check out the noise), then it continued all the way home. Have to call the shop, again..... Thursday Beth and I got a letter in the mail from the county clerk, telling us that we had a court date set for the adoption hearing, and it was...tomorrow at 9:00 am! Thanks for the advance notice. We didn't know much about what it was for, if it was to finalize everything or what, but when we got to the courthouse it turned out to be a hearing only if someone showed up to contest it, which nobody did. Natalie was sure she saw her dad there, but the guy just waved at her and walked away so Beth and I weren't so sure it was him. Also, nobody else saw the guy. Anyway, it was a formality so now the judge just had to sign the paper and it's done. He was on vacation Friday so maybe Monday it'll be final.... Beth got her CPAP this week, finally, and slept with it for the first time on Tuesday. No snoring, but it's not a miracle cure for everything, either, it seems. She slept all right but woke up several times, and had a headache and drainage going on today. And it hurts her face, so it probably needs to be adjusted.

I got the van in to Ab and Tom's, again, on Monday this week. The check engine light was still on, but it wasn't chugging and coughing and wheezing like it did the other day. Of course, it doesn't do it when I get it to a mechanic. Anyway, they did find something. The check engine code was for a fuel injector circuit open, and they found fuel sitting on top of the valves indicating an intermittently sticking fuel injector. They replaced the injector, cleared the codes, and it seems to be running fine now. $356.71 is still less than a car payment..... Monday this week was the "celebration of excellence" at the high school. Alex was honored for having achieved a 4.0 for the previous school year, during at least one semester, and got to go up on stage with all the other honorees and receive a pennant. Yep. It was sort of surprising how few kids showered up for it, maybe 20% of the honorees were there.....For some reason, the computer I ordered about 3 weeks ago is not available. I got a message from Dell that some parts or other could not be ordered, so the whole order had to be cancelled, and I had to place a new order. For, apparently, a computer without whatever it is that was not available. So I did, after I contacted Dell to make sure it was a legit notice from them. So yeah, new computer ordered and new delivery date of late October....

Today we got lunch at Shoop's and when we came out, the van chugged and coughed terribly when I started it up and it rode really rough all the way home, with the check engine light on. Great, I sure need that. Oh well, at least it didn't do that the day before when we went to Cedar Point. Or even the day before, before we went there....Saturday was the Zimmer Biomet company picnic at Cedar Point. I had just about completely forgotten about it until last week when I flipped the calendar over to September. I wasn't sure what we were going to do since Alex had to work all day Saturday, but he was able to find someone to cover his entire shift. Nor was I sure that Missy, Alex, or Beth would want to go. But they all did, so I found an AirBnB for us (one night only, and a real steal since it was so late and still available). It was a whole house maybe 10 miles from the park. We got going Friday night after Alex got out of work and arrived at the house around midnight, and crashed. Then in the morning we were gone. So, barely 8 hours in the house but worth it? We were late getting to the park so it was already crowded when we got there. Nat and I headed for Steel Vengeance hoping the crowd was lesser back there, but no. Two and a half hour wait. Beth and the kids did some shopping. When we finally got done with the coaster, Alex was ready to try the mine car ride and Iron Dragon. We met up and rode those (short lines), then got lunch and split up again. Alex went to the arcade, Beth and Missy shopped, Nat and I rode Rougarou (short line) and Millennium Force (2 hours). After that Nat was done. She hadn't been sure about Steel Vengeance but after the last one she was done. By around 5 everything still had huge lines, I'd only ridden 3 good coasters, and we headed for home. Short day, but it was a nice time..

Labor Day weekend, and I hadn't even realized it was a holiday and I didn't have work on Monday until late last week, so bonus for me. And the kids, no school. Saturday we all (except Alex, at work) went to Plymouth for the Blueberry Festival. Man, can you spend a lot of money fast there. Nat and I (rides) split up from Beth and Missy (shopping) shortly after we got there, and we all were about done at the same time. Nat and I rode 3 rides, the biggest one being one of those where you swing back and forth and go all the way up and over ultimately, which we hadn't been expecting when we got in line. Nat was a little freaked out but recovered, mostly (she's been struggling with the anxiety lately). We never even made it across the covered bridge to the really big side of the park before everyone was done with it, though....This past week I got the new tabletop in the camper done; I cut and stained a premade shelf from Menard's and screwed it in place over where the sink used to be, so we will have some more countertop space now.....Today we went out to FW to do a little clothes shopping for the girls (mostly Nat). The Monsma kids both went with us as well. Missy did the mall with Katherine, Alex did the mall with Luke, and we had supper at Red Robin.....I have volunteered to be a guide for FCC Kids on Wednesday nights again, which starts up next week. There was an informational meeting for volunteers Wednesday. Seems like it might be pretty good this year, some structural changes are being made. I'm with Larry with the 5th and 6th graders, sounds like it'll be ok.

In the 'who needs this' department, the van finally quit this week. It had been chugging on startup a bit lately, and finally Monday afternoon it wouldn't start. And Beth was at Owen's, with a full load of groceries including frozens, and needing to pick up the kids soon. And I was in Columbia City at the time it died. So fortunately she was able to get a hold of Jessica who came right away to get her and take the groceries home, and the kitchen window was unlocked. Meanwhile I ran back and tried to jump the battery (didn't work), then called a tow truck. It took a few hours before he made it out there, and he was able to jump the van with a heavy duty power pack thing, but I had him tow it to Ab & Tom's anyway. I left it there overnight, and they checked it out in the morning. Turns out the battery was not just dead but shot, strange since it is not that old. There must be some sort of short in there somewhere. So Tuesday I got it back, $320 later but with a new battery....On a run Saturday morning I saw there was something going on at the village in Winona Lake, which turned out to be Canal Days. So Beth and the girls and I (Alex at work) went to check it out later on, got lunch from a food truck (which took forever) and checked out some art displays and the shops. We found nothing we needed, so we finished up there and went to the Heirloom Tomato Festival in Pierceton for a bit. Mostly, we visited with the McDonalds' at Kelsea's shop (Scott had their restored vintage camper on display there too) and got a drink, and found not much of interest there either.....I cashed in some stock purchase plan stocks a little bit ago, got the money this week so I have ordered a new computer. It's a new Dell PC that can run a VR headset, which Alex has been saving up for for quite a while. He's got enough to buy it, so I went ahead and bought the computer. We'll see if this turns out to be a good idea....Today I went to FW to visit Mom again. She was sitting up in the TV area in her wheelchair when I got there, and seemed better than she had been today. She drank some Boost from one of the boxes, and I got her to eat a whole little dish of applesauce. She even spoke; it was unintelligible and I could barely hear her but she spoke. And, she even laughed at something while I was there. One of the nurses sat with us for a little while and told me that Mom was her favorite....I took the opportunity of being in FW on a nice afternoon to do a little geocaching on campus at Purdue FW.....Natalie went with her friend Holly to some water park today, apparently it looks nicer on the internet that in real life (she had thought it was Deep River, but it was actually in Marion and was not in the best part of town), but she had fun....

School started back up again this week. Alex is now a junior, and the girls are both sophomores. The first week seemed to go pretty well, except for when some kid that Natalie was trying to be nice to basically told her that he was way too popular to bother with her. He almost made her cry. That's high school for you. She did make another new friend the next day though so that was good. Alex and Missy didn't report anything like that, fortunately.....Beth has decided she is not well enough to go back to work. Her meds have not been working much lately, and she feels like she is going backwards. Monday I went to the school with her to see her boss and tell her that she was quitting. She hates to leave them high and dry because they are sorely in desperate need of aides, but it is what it is, and Beth cannot do it right now...Something I ate disagreed with me on Tuesday, apparently, because shortly after getting home from work I started feeling really queasy and puked my guts out a few times, but after that it pretty much was over.....Wednesday was water wars for the youth group, and it always seems that the temperature drops precipitously when that comes around. It's been cooler and occasionally rainy for a couple weeks, but things held out just long enough for the kids to have some water fun at church.....I spent a lot of time at Iotron in Columbia City this week and last, and probably more coming up, including talk of me going out to the Vancouver plant again.....This weekend we've tried to just have chill days so nothing much going on. I got a few things done around the house, mostly working on staining the window trim in the living room (haven't worked on that in a couple months (it's been unstained for 13 years) and on the camper. After the last camping trip I decided that we really don't need to worry about resale any more (the thing is 23 years old, after all) so I also have modded it by removing all the water system to increase storage under the benches. We never use the water anyway. I'm working on replacing the sink (which flipped upside down for storage) with a tabletop that we can store more things on.

I've wanted to get a few things done on the house and camper this weekend but it hasn't worked out. Saturday, Beth sprung going to Fort Wayne on me, said we talked about it, I have no such memory. But we went, I mostly to visit Mom again. No telling how long is left. She's still losing weight and looks so very skinny, eyes sunken and everything. In the hour or two I was there, she was in her wheelchair at the table in the dining area. They started getting things out for dinner but Mom wouldn't eat any of it. I tried to give her some soup but she wouldn't do it. She did have a box of Boost there and I was able to give her some of that a few times, until she had drank most of it, but that was all. Beth and the kids went to the mall while I was visiting Mom, mostly to Barnes & Noble and a few stores on the mall.....Today we went up to Michigan to visit with Marve and Beth at their house. They had invited the siblings together to have a cookout and swim in the pool. So we were there with the kids (we also brought Natalie's friend Holly with us so Nat felt more comfortable there), Neill & Judy were there, and Ted & Monica were there. It was a bit cool for the pool (for me anyway) so not everybody swam much, but we had a really nice cookout dinner (chicken & corn, fruit salad, etc) and visit for an evening.....Lauren stayed with us through the middle of the week after camping last weekend. Beth took the girls shopping a few times and Lauren totally tried to play her. Judy was down to our house to visit last week, and helped the girls work on their painted chairs. She took Lauren back home with her.

We are back from a short camping weekend at Chain O' Lakes State Park. Ric and Nickie are on a vacation for their 25th anniversary, so we agreed to have Lauren over for a few days. Beth drove up to meet Stephanie for a handoff during the week, and she'll be staying with us for a bit longer. We haven't been particularly entertaining, I don't think, but as long as we can avoid drama it'll be fine. Anyway, after work of Friday we hitched up and rolled out, and got set up with plenty of daylight left. We had a very nice campsite, although there was pretty much no grass in it. The weekend was dominated by the beach, we spent time there Friday night, and again Saturday (most all day, except for a run to town to go shopping at Dunham's for beach stuff. We spent way too much money on floaties for the beach). I got a 7 mile run in Saturday morning early too, and my high ankle (which has been very sore lately) was feeling pretty good. Sunday we hit the beach early, then came back later to rent boats. Alex got a kayak, Missy and I got a canoe, and Nat and Lauren got another canoe. We went out for a sojourn on the lake all the way through one of the channels to the next lake over, then just back to shore because the girls were fighting and couldn't stand to be in the boat together any more. We packed up and headed for home on Monday (we got to see pretty much the whole park empty out Sunday, and were pretty much alone Sunday night. Our campsite neighbors even gave us a tote full of firewood as they were leaving because they couldn't use it).....earlier in the week Beth got he sleep study results. In the study period, she stopped breathing 57 times per hour on average. It is sever enough that she is going straight to having a CPAP. It'll be delivered to the pharmacy sometime in the next few weeks, she'll get fitted for it, and then she'll sleep with it from then on. I hope there's a big difference. She's so tired all the time, this might be why.

The softball season came to a close this week; we were in the losers bracket after the first game so we were in do-or-die mode, and we did a little. Our first game was against Christ's Covenant who gave us 2 of our 3 wins this year. We had a good game, back and forth a bit, we jumped on them early and they came all the way back and then some, then in the top of the 6th I came up with 2 outs, down by 1, runner on third, and hit a solid single up the middle to tie the game and keep it going. We were down to the last minute literally too. We held them in the bottom of the 6th, then because it was tied, we played past the hour. We then got 5 in the 7th, and held them to 1 to win the game 20-16. It was a really fun game, really exciting to play and to watch. Then in the next game we got killed 15-5.....This weekend is Beth's vacation. She's been told to lower her stress and the doctor suggested she get away for a while. This is the best we can do, she is staying at a hotel in town for a few days and we are going to leave her alone. She's there now, staying until Monday. We both helped the GT classes sell Nelson's on Friday afternoon, then she took off from there. I decided we were not going to eat out if I could help it so I've been cooking dinner and everything. The kids more or less take care of themselves; Alex has work (he's been working Thursdays and Fridays 4-8 and Saturdays 11-7), the girls both had friends sleep over Friday and Saturday nights, I ran on Saturday morning and my ankle (achilles, actually) has been killing me so I watched several movies on Netflix. Nat's friend went to church with us (Beth went too, unexpectedly, but she was singing) and spent most of Sunday here too. I got a text from Beth Saturday night, she's been reading, watching movies, and enjoying the quiet. She started some new meds this weekend, and says so far so good.

FIFTY. YEARS. OLD. As of Friday. Beth and the kids had a little birthday party for me at home on Friday; they got me some grilling accessories (glove, coal tools), a fire poker, and a new softball bag for the bats and balls. Nice. Then we went out to dinner at BWW.....Beth had her sleep study this week, wearing a funny contraption that measured how much or how well she was breathing. She's not sure what it's going to show, and not sure what she'd like it to show or not.....Mom's home called during the week and apologized for not letting me know when I was there last week, but she is out of toothpaste and I need to bring them some. So during the week I made a special trip to FW to drop off some toothpaste for Mom. While I was there, they asked if I could take away the Ikea chair and the area rug, both of which are in the way, especially the rug, which interferes with rolling the lift machine over to her bedside. She never uses the chair any more, she wouldn't be able to get in and out of it. So I took them home, not sure what to do with them. I'll probably donate them. Speaking of which, I found out that's what happened to Mom's bed when the hospice delivered the hospital bed. It was in storage for a while and I never came to pick it up, so they donated it. Yeah, they never called me to let me know I needed to get it. I didn't know where it was, and nobody I asked at the home did either.....

The regular season for softball closed out this week, with a pretty brutal loss by us. The team won last week without me, which was good, but this week we got thumped 13-3 in 5 innings. So we finished up 3-7 on the season. Tournament starts next week (our real season).....The whole family went to FW to visit mom yesterday. She was lying in bed, looked around some but did not show any signs of recognition I thought. She apparently doesn't talk any more, and hardly eats; she's still losing weight pretty fast. Beth and the kids visited with me for a while until it seemed too crowded, then they left me with her for a while. I talked with her for a bit, but she is just not there any more. There is also a painting in her room that I had forgotten about, which is a southwestern scene that looks a lot like where we scattered dad's ashes. That was pretty cool. We went to the mall after the visit, and the kids wanted to get her a present so we stopped and got her a little stuffed sheep that was very soft and she might like to hold with her. I ran back in on the way out of town and gave it to her; she was seated at the dinner table and showed no sense of recognition for me, or the sheep. Not sure there was any point to that. But, it's something.

We are back from Arizona as of yesterday. A week ago Alex got back from France; we picked him up in Chicago (I got pulled over for speeding [72 in a 60 zone] out near Etna Green, but was let off with a warning) and just headed for the hotel and let him rest. The flight was bright & early Sunday morning (earlier than I had originally reserved, we got changed to an earlier flight, I think because of the Boeing 737 Max grounding. Also it was Natalie's first flight ever, she did well and didn't panic much at all). It felt eerie landing in Phoenix. Everything looked so familiar but felt so wrong. We got our rental (a minivan) and hit the road for Flagstaff, getting there by afternoon.  Laura and Thomas were already checked in, they got there the previous day and were on a tour of Antelope Canyon (a photo tour, where they let you take all the photos you want for as long as you want, instead of hurrying you up) and Horseshoe Bend up near Page, and wouldn’t be back until late evening. We got set up in the house (a nice big rental house from HomeAway, and amazing: 3 levels including the basement, with bedrooms for everyone (the girls were doubled up). Two master suites. Deck, firepit, gaming table, video game systems, stocked kitchen, everything. Spotless too.) and went on a little hike in a wooded area just adjacent to the neighborhood with a lot of trails through it, then headed for downtown Flagstaff to look around and find somewhere to eat dinner. We found some shopping areas and a fantastic BBQ restaurant set up in a corner of an old warehouse-looking building that had been converted to a shopping center. The next morning we had reservations for the Grand Canyon Railway, a train ride from Williams AZ to the South Rim near the village. We had breakfast at Denny's in Flagstaff so we thought we would have plenty of time, but it turned out to be the slowest Denny's ever and it took so long (they only had one server working) we had to lay rubber to get to the train station in time. The train ride was a bit underwhelming, I had expected the scenery to be more interesting along the way but it was pretty ordinary. It did save us a lot of time in getting a car through the entrance at the canyon and looking for parking, but since the trip took around 2 1/2 hours to go 60 miles, it may have just been a wash. There was a little entertainment on the train, a fiddle player on the way there, and a "holdup" on the way back. We had about 3 hours at the canyon before catching the train back, enough time to walk around in the baking sun a lot and get pretty lost and unable to find somewhere to eat because the restaurant there seemed to close really early. And Thomas lost his GoPro. He set it up on the ground to record a time-lapse movie of the canyon with the shadows from the clouds, looked away for a moment, and then it was gone. Poof. Anyway it was a really clear day and we got some great views before heading back to the train again. Overall I'd call it overrated and I wouldn't go on the ride again. We should know by now to skip the long train rides. Tuesday was unscheduled and our designated day to go to the Desert View watchtower and scatter Dad's ashes. The drive was about an hour and 45 minutes, more riding time...but a perfect day. We all toured the area and the watchtower, then found a trail going off to the east and hiked just a bit. We found a nice spot where there was a juniper tree just off the trail and at the top of a pretty steep cliff, maybe only around a 100 yard walk from the tower. I opened the box of ashes with Dad's old Swiss Army knife, and we scattered all the ashes under the juniper tree, and in large part to the wind. So was Dad returned to his favorite place in the world. We spent a few more hours in the vicinity, checking out the shopping and lunch options (having heard so much about Navajo tacos, we gave them a try there...they were not all that...) before heading back to the house. On the way we stopped and did some shopping at the Cameron Trading Post. Wednesday was the river float trip, probably the highlight of the vacation. It was another long car ride, all the way to Page like 2 1/2 hours away, and we got to the wrong marina so we had to hustle back to the right one and make it on time. I also got pulled over for speeding somewhere in the desert by the Arizona highway patrol, for not pulling over and slowing down for a stopped police car. Same car got me for that. But we made it on time, again barely, and had an amazing river float trip starting at Glen Canyon Dam and going maybe 15 miles downriver altogether. I was not expecting the water to be as cold as it was, honestly, and the sun was brutal, but nobody got burned at all which impressed me (except for the bottoms of Missy's feet at the halfway point on the way to the potty). It was a perfect day for the river tour, and the scenery was amazing, including the same Horseshoe Bend that Laura & Thomas were touring (from the top) as we got to town the other day. We had reservations to do Antelope Canyon the next day (a faster tour) which I was looking forward to, but not the long drive again, but it turned out all right because the tour was cancelled due to extreme weather. It's that hot dry wind, it sucks the moisture right out of you. So instead, L&T went off by themselves to check out some wineries and maybe Sedona, and the rest of us went out to Sunset Crater and Wupatki. In the evening we all went downtown and walked around shopping/browsing, then L&T & us went out to a kid-free dinner and got the kids pizza. That was July 4th, so in the evening Thomas and the kids and I went out to see the Flagstaff fireworks. Interesting time that; we got there maybe 20 minutes before the show was to start, and we were guided to park in a field that was incredibly haphazardly arranged. We were already anticipating an hours-long time getting out of the field and back home again based on how long it took us to actually get to a parking spot. Then the show started, and it was so very unimpressive. The fireworks were small, ordinary, low, and partly obscured from where we were. So, less than 10 minutes into the show we bolted and headed for the exit. So had a pretty large handful of people. It wasn't easy even finding the exit from where we were, even without the nightmare traffic, it must have taken at least another 10 minutes to get out. Lamest fireworks show ever. I still wonder how long it did take to empty that field afterwards. Regardless, since the fireworks was a washout, I took Missy out into the desert around 15 miles or so just after we got back to the house so we could see the stars. Missy had never seen stars like that, I haven't since I was in the Persian Gulf. There was an enormous spread of the Milky Way over the entire southern sky, and more stars out than I can describe. We even saw a meteor. The next day we all went out to Walnut Canyon, which was also very cool. Nat started feeling bad after a bit of climbing and hiking so she punched out early, but I caught back up with Thomas who had been left behind as he took pictures. That was cool because we got to see a wild coatamundi come trotting along the path towards us for a few seconds before heading into the brush again. L&T went to an art fair that was going on (turned out to be just as lame as the fireworks) and to tour the Lowell observatory, then after all that they and I went out geocaching in the woods behind the house. Found 3 of 5 we were searching for before running out of time before going out to dinner at Black Bart's Steakhouse and Saloon (see 4/7/2013), and between the 7 of us with appetizers and drinks and dessert the bill was over $500, thank you mom! The next day (Saturday) were the flights out for everyone. L&T left a bit before us, so we locked up and headed out. We got back to Chicago and retrieved the van from the hotel park & fly, and made it back home by around 11 p.m. Missed church today.

Tomorrow is a big day. Alex is coming home (not home) and we are all immediately going to Arizona. Well, not immediately, but pretty soon. The week of July 4^th this year was about the only time Laura and Thomas could get a week off to scatter Dad’s ashes, so we are going to the Grand Canyon then. They will actually be arriving tomorrow, a day before us, since there was a conflict with Alex’s France dates. So tomorrow around noon Alex gets in to O’Hare, we will pick him up and stay overnight in Chicago near Midway and fly to Phoenix on Sunday morning (early). Alex is ready to come home, he happens to be in France while they are having record heat, hotter than Arizona actually. He’s been having a good time and there might be a girl that likes him on the trip, maybe….Monday I was in a bit of an accident on the way home from work: in heavy traffic along Center Street I heard a crash, then a split second later got a real jolt from behind. A Nissan Versa had smashed into the rear of a VW Golf behind me, which pushed the Golf into the truck’s back end. The Versa’s front end was smashed all to heck – bits of plastic all over the street, a spreading pool of coolant below it, airbags popped – and the Golf was pretty beat up in the back and had a perfect square hole punched in the front bumper from my hitch receiver. While we were waiting for the police to take all the details down, the driver of the Versa asked me if I thought her car could be repaired. I was noncommittal but it is totaled. Apparently she just recently paid it off. There was no visible damage to the truck, but I took it in to the shop today and they found the electrical socket for the trailer was pretty beat up, otherwise it was fine…. Softball turned in a valiant effort this week but came up short 9-12….We’ve spent the past week while Alex was gone painting his room. We did a good deep clean in there too, which it needed, and purged some old clothes and junk. We also patched the holes and replaced the vent covers. The street signs wallpaper border is gone, and the room is painted a silvery gray on 3 walls and a burnt orange on the other. He didn’t pick out the colors but we figured they would be acceptable for him. All the posters and pictures are also down, we figure he can put back up whatever he wants when he gets home. Now we just have to keep it a secret until we all get home.

Alex has headed off to France! We had the final meeting on Monday, and everything was all set to go. Friday was the big day, at about 10:00 they boarded the bus at the high school and departed for O’Hare. He was pretty excited but also very nervous. We sent him with something to help him sleep on the plane, but he reported he was not able to get any sleep at all during the flight. So for the next week he is going to be touring Paris, the Loire valley, and Normandy. Then as soon as he gets back, the whole family is heading to Arizona. Alex is going to be exhausted….This week the softball team finally had a long-awaited rematch with the team we defeated in the championship game last year, and the result was the exact opposite, with us losing 10-0 this time. We aren’t playing badly, but we just are not hitting and our defense in the outfield is not good…..Natalie has not been feeling good lately, with a persistent sore throat, so Beth took her in to the doctor on Saturday (we don't want anyone sick when we go to Arizona!) and as it turns out she has strep throat! Yay. So she's got a round of antibiotics, which should have taken care of things by the time we go.....Missy had a birthday party with her friends, going out to Black Pine animal rescue park (again. She’d live there) with some friends. Since we were short a seat in the minivan and I didn’t really want to go again anyway, I elected to stay home (she said it was ok if I did). Unfortunately it just so happened that they were closing early that Saturday because of some special even the next day, so the girls didn’t get a whole lot of time there. They did agree to keep it open like a half-hour extra since it was her birthday, but still not all that long. But it was all they could do. So they all came back home earlier than they were planning, and then had cake and ice cream and presents at the house.

Tuesday brought another brutal loss for softball; we played Pathway and they have a lot of hitters. We were also playing shorthanded so Shane's wife helped out in the outfield. We lost 19-4, although I didn't think we played badly at all.....summer school continues for the kids, although Alex finished his already during the week so he doesn't need to go back in any more.....Alex is having a rough time at work, he's not enjoying it much any more (if he ever really did) and it showed enough at work that one of the managers talked to him and asked him what was wrong. Beth and I talked to him some more after that and told him that no, we didn't want him to cut his hours just so he could come home and play more video games. Hopefully, he can fix his attitude quickly.....There was a graduation party for JoAnna McCoy Saturday so we went to that in the morning on Saturday, which was also Missy’s 15th birthday! For her birthday, she did something she’s been thinking about for a long time now, and got her hair cut! She got over a foot cut off, and now it’s just over shoulder length. She got tired of her hair always being wet and hard to brush through, I guess, and she donated the cut off hair to one of the places that makes wigs for kids with cancer. Then she wanted to have lunch at the sushi restaurant in town, although she’s not very adventurous with sushi yet. Then she had a small family birthday party at home.....afterwards we headed up to Michigan (as soon as Alex was off work) for Julia’s graduation party. We got there in the late afternoon when everything was already going on and stayed through it all. So we went to Michigan two weekends in a row. We picked up Alex from work (which he said went better) and headed up in the afternoon. The Pinksters were having a dessert bar/bonfire party at their new house, which is still a bit torn up. They have a lot of undeveloped land in their backyard, including a clearing that they have set up with a firepit. the party went on until late evening (and this time, Nat went with us but she did have a place to go to get away if needed....wait for it....) and spent the night overnight in their camper. Beth and I had been a bit envious of their camper but not any more. Mostly because their beds as very short; even Beth though the bed was too short. We have more sleeping room in the popup, by far. There are bunks in the back for the girls (also reportedly short) and Alex slept on a converted dinette (very short). We stayed overnight and into the afternoon on Sunday, when Judy brought over a cake she picked up so we could also have a little party for Missy's 15th birthday. We left in the afternoon.

Alex and Missy started summer school this week. Alex is taking health, and Missy is taking PE. Both have to go to the school for about 4 hours each weekday for 3 weeks. For Alex, it will free up his schedule to take more electives he wants, and for Missy, it means she doesn't have to take PE during the school year, so win for everyone. Alex will probably finish early since it's self-guided on the computer. Missy's stuck with it for the full term.....Softball has continued the losing ways this week; we played First Baptist (the Rahn's team) and stayed with them for a while but played from behind most of the time and ultimately lost 19-12. I also made a fielding mistake (I forgot about the runner at first and failed to cover second on a bouncer to short, which would have made the third out, and then five more runs scored) that cost us.....Saturday was Sam's graduation party up in Michigan. It was in the afternoon which was good, since Alex was working until 4:00. We picked him up and headed out right away. Alex drove for about an hour on the way up. However, Natalie chose to stay home. She was a bit panicky about being at the Wiessner house with nowhere to get away from the crowd and noise and all the strangers. So we let her stay home. Sam had a nice party (they had a hot dog cookout) and we stayed until it started to break up in the evening, then we had Alex drive all the way home since he still needs some night driving time.

We have returned from an amazing camping trip to Clifty Falls State Park in southern Indiana. For most of the week, Beth and I weren’t even sure we were going to go on the trip at all since the weather forecast was so bad. We left town on Thursday after getting lunch at Crazy Egg, but as late as Wednesday we were talking about whether to cancel. It was supposed to thunderstorm every day we were there. In the end though, we decided that we really wanted to see the Boschains and we would make do with whatever happened, and if we needed to hide from the weather we could probably crash at their house. So we hit the road and made out way south, and got to the campground by late afternoon. The park was nearly deserted when we got there, with maybe only about 10% of the sites occupied. Not surprising the week after Memorial Day, I guess. We set up and had dinner (grilled hot dogs) and played Uno and had a campfire and made smores, and the nice weather continued. Damp in the camper for sure but no rain. Friday we went out to explore the town of Madison a bit (we found a really nice coffee shop and a huge antiques mall set up in an old mill) and I explored one of the trails a bit (the tunnel falls trail) and by lunchtime the Boschains came up to visit us. They brought chicken to grill for lunch, then afterwards we went hiking on one of the falls trails all together. The kids (and the adults!) all had a great time exploring the trails around the falls, probably even going a few places we weren’t supposed to be going (above the falls, standing right on the precipice of a 100 foot drop, you know) and visiting 3 different falls along the way. Then we returned to the campground for a bit, then went to explore the town a bit more, before returning to start getting dinner ready. We made tinfoil dinners and corn in the firepit (and it was SO GOOD) and were so full we didn’t have any room to make the apple crisp dessert I was going to make in the dutch oven. They visited for a little while longer before heading back because Gary had a 12-hour overnight shift coming up. It was good and damp overnight again but no rain. And the park was full to capacity by Friday evening, by the way. Saturday Natalie and I went trail hiking in the morning, down the trail that runs through the old incomplete railway tunnel, then the one the runs along the river bed (the brochure says 'not accessible during times of high water'). The river trail is absolutely full of fossils; the rock layer exposed by the river has tons so you literally find several at almost every step. You're not supposed to take any, though, but I bet people do. We visited two other waterfalls along the way and were not lost even though Nat says we were (we just missed a turn off and had to double back a bit to find the right trail). It was a rugged trail and Nat's feet started hurting, but we found the trail back up to the road and made it out. After that we headed to Louisville to visit with the Boschains again at their place. They have a nice multi-level apartment, with a pool that we visited for a while, and a really good BBQ restaurant (featured on Triple-D) that we had dinner at before Gary had to get back to work (The drive from the campground to their apartment only takes around an hour or so, so we may do this again) and we headed out after visiting for a while again. Overnight it was actually nice and dry. Sunday we went out to lunch in Madison at a really great calzones/pizza place called Red Pepperoni, then headed out to a place Beth had heard about that is good for hunting fossils that you are allowed to take. Supposedly there is a road cut that's a good place for it but we drove and drove and never found it. So we got ice cream and went back to pack up. We also hit the pool at the park before leaving (it just opened this weekend). Then headed home. So it was supposed to rain and thunderstorm every day we were there, but it never rained even a little bit.....In other news of the week, the softball team got pounded 16-0 last Tuesday. We batted through the lineup only once and a few more. Nobody could hit, nobody could field....

School is done, finally. We had to drag Nat across the finish line, almost literally at times. We recognized that two weeklong inpatient stays and the crushing depression/anxiety have gotten her to the point where she is so far behind she would never catch up, so Beth and I met with the guidance counselor at the school on Wednesday to plan out where to go from here. The teachers are willing to work with us, so some of the assignments are being voided for her, and she will not pass algebra so so will have to retake it, but summer school is full already so she will take it next fall and we won’t worry about putting her in summer school at this point. We’re just going to hope next year goes better. Nat said the other day that she feels better now than she has in years…..however later that same day she had another anxiety attack at school, brought on by talking to the counselor and telling her about suicidal feelings. Beth and I rushed in and talked through a lot with them both, which ended with us both feeling that another inpatient stay was not necessary and the counselor agreeing with us. It seems (to me) to have been brought on by feeling guilty about still being depressed even though her situation is good. In the end we took her home. But she still needed to get some homework done…..Softball won again on Tuesday, we played a team that hadn’t scored a run yet this season and crushed them, even though they did score a few. They had a lot of bad breaks though, I thought they were better than how they were playing. They did make a lot of mistakes, however…..Wednesday was the last FCC Kids of the year, which I've been looking forward to for a while.....Thursday there was a big thunderstorm overnight and power was knocked out to more than half the town, including the high school and Zimmer Biomet building 5. Things were dark and quiet when I got to work, although my computer had a full battery and the intranet was working. I was able to get some work done but by about lunchtime I was hearing it wouldn’t be back for “quite some time” so I gave up and went home. School was also cancelled (second to last day…fortunately they don’t have to make it up next week). The Harrisons came to our house for lunch since their power was out, and since they are on a well that meant no water either. They picked up some groceries and we had a hot dog cookout. I’m not sure when the power came back at work but the Harrisons got it back around 1:00….We had a pretty chill Memorial Day weekend, Alex worked a couple days including a marathon shift on Saturday to get someone to take one of his shifts when we’re camping next week (I also got pulled over and given a warning for not having the license plate in the van displayed correctly...the bracket I got from the dealer covered up the name of the state...go figure), Sunday we went to Black Pine Animal Sanctuary and went to see "Aladdin," we got some of Beth’s flowers planted, on Monday I ran the Memorial Day 5k in Winona Lake (26:44, 12th overall, won my age group) and we all went driving (Alex was driving) up towards Nappanee to do some geocaching, we found 7 overall before heading to Rocket Science for some ice cream.

We met with the agent from the adoption agency today, she came to our house to do the home study. It went well; she asked us all a bunch of questions that seemed pretty general to me, about our families, activites, our relationship, parenting style, the home environment, and the like. She seemed to like us. The home study should be done early next week for our review, then it’ll be put onto letterhead and submitted for official approval. Then I think all that will be left is a court date….Tuesday the softball team won our first game of the season. We won the game 8-6, and successfully put down a late rally by the other team. Nice that we don’t just fall apart in games like that anymore…..Friday Missy’s Chinese class went on a field trip to Chinatown in Chicago. She had a great time, wants us all to go visit there next time wo go to Chicago.

Nat is home. Another week spent in a behavioral health clinic, another round of meds changes. Here’s hoping things are better now. Beth and I were impressed with Memorial much more than with either of the other places she’s been; a psychiatrist actually took the time to talk with us about her and gave us a lot of insight. We were also hoping that they would see one of her episodes where she can’t stand up or control her limbs, and apparently they did. Beth and I drove all the way to South Bend every day last week, and spoke to her on the phone at the designated times every day as well. She was incredibly angry with us for leaving her there, at least at first, so much so that she had a big production for us “I begged you not to send me here,” “I never ask for anything,” and all that, and she didn’t believe us when we told her that we didn’t really have a choice. It ended with tears and “I don’t want to see you.” She’s scared that we’re going to leave her there or that we won’t want her any more, I think. The next few times we went to visit she seemed better, mostly she wanted to play Uno or color with us and she seemed cooled down. But we went back every day to make sure she saw us every day. She was discharged Saturday morning….In other news, the softball team had our first game of the season on Tuesday. We jumped all over the other team in the first inning but let it get away from us down the stretch, eventually losing 17-11. We played with 8 players so took an out in the 9^th spot until a friend of one of the Swihart kids joined us for a few innings. Losing our MVP from last year hurts us….. We went shopping for Mother’s day today, once again at Menard’s for flowers. Beth’s present is more work for her but she likes planting flowers in the front yard so that’s kind of her thing. I also went to visit Mom again today, not much change. She was lying in bed, awake mostly but also nodding off several times, just looking around a bit with no recognition of anything or anyone.

It has not been a good week. It started off as a not-unusual week, not the best but at least meh….. Tuesday was supposed to be the first softball game of the season, but we were rained out…… I went to a junkyard in town Wednesday to find a replacement spoiler/third brake light for the van, since the new price for them is like $150. They had 5 junk vans that matched ours, but only 2 had the rear spoiler still on them. So, I suspect that it’s not uncommon for them to break, go figure. I got one off before realizing it also had two broken hold-downs on it, so I left it and went for the last option. It had duct tape residue all over it but it was intact and I got it off ok. It cost $32…..Natalie had cheer tryouts this week. She has wanted to try out forever but I never saw her practice anything for it. Anyway, she said the first practice tryout went horribly, but she was committed to doing it. She said the second practice was a little better. But then,. Friday she had one of those terrible panic attacks at school that leaves her unable to move her limbs, and I had to go help Beth get her home and she slept the rest of the day, missing the 3rd tryout, which was mostly for the gymnastic kind of stuff so the coach said it was ok for her to miss it. Saturday was the final tryout; she spent hours getting her hair and makeup just right and was all set for it, but she had another panic attack at the gym before it even started and ran away. She said it was too loud and people were yelling and clapping and there was fast counting and it panicked her so bad all she could do was run. She called me to go get her (I’d been painting the ceiling at home, second and hopefully last coat) around 45 minutes after I had dropped her off. She was crying out in front of the school when I got there, mascara all down her face. Beth and Missy had gone to visit Black Pine Animal Sanctuary but hadn’t made it there yet, and Beth had Nat’s emergency pills in her purse, so they didn’t get there. Afterwards, I think Nat wanted to get away because she called every one of her friends to hang out and they were all busy, but after a while Cara came to get her. Beth and Missy headed out to do some shopping. A bit later Cara comes pulling up into the drive and says Natalie collapsed at Wal-Mart, she was reclining in the front seat and couldn’t move. I tried to help her up but she screamed and cried when I touched her hand to try to get her out of the car. Beth pulled up about right then as well. We didn’t know what else to do so we took her to the ER. It was a couple hours before she was all the way back again, but she told a social worker she was suicidal so she was at that point going to go inpatient again regardless. She did not want to. She begged us not to send her there. But she was going. It took hours to find somewhere for her, since Michiana was full and so was Parkview. They were looking as far away as Anderson. Eventually they got a space for her at Memorial Epworth Center in South Bend, but it was a while before we could go check in. And they needed both Beth and me there to check her in, so Alex and Missy were on their own for pretty much all evening and late into the night. We didn’t get to SB until around 11:30 at night, got her checked in, and didn’t get back home until well after 2:00. The average stay there is 6-10 days, just like the others, so we’ll see how it goes. This is the first time she did not want to go, though. But we’re hoping the doctors see what kind of issues she’s dealing with and can get her some relief…..The church picnic was today. Beth and I were out incredibly late taking Nat to South Bend but we thought it was important to go since the Boschains will be leaving soon. Beth had planned and gotten the ingredients to make several dishes but there was no way with all the other stuff going on. So, we freeloaded.

A few things going on this week. Wednesday was the last FCC Kids of the year, so my Wednesday nights are free again. We had a carnival of sorts for the finale, so I was mostly watching things and eating pizza. Putting up the bounce house is much easier than taking it down and putting it away…..I’ve sold the trampoline. None of the kids have really used it much in a long time, so it was just taking up space. Natalie would lie out in the sun on it but nobody jumped on it any more. So, I put an ad on Craigslist a few days ago and got several responses pretty quickly. Maybe I undervalued it; the guy who bought it paid the $75 without a counteroffer. But I mostly wanted it gone. He said he had a 12 year old and a 6 year old who are really excited to have a trampoline, so I’m glad he will have it and it’s out of my backyard…..Trey and I ran the National Day of Prayer 5k in Columbia City (Julie from work was organizing it) on Saturday. There were not a whole lot of runners, maybe 30 or so, so Trey was the overall winner and I came in 5th with a time of 27:22. I also won my age group, but I don’t think there were a whole lot of 45-49 year old men in the race…..after the race, we all went to see “Avengers: Endgame.” I have never seen such a crowd at the theater here in Warsaw. I don’t think there was an empty seat. Quite a show, but time travel always invites plot holes…..after the movie, Alex was at work, and Natalie was in her room, so I took advantage of the space to paint the ceiling. I’d decided that I had done enough plastering the dips and valleys and I just wanted it done. It went surprisingly easily actually, and I got the whole living room/dining room/entryway ceiling painted a bright white (instead of the dull yellowish off-white it always has been) in just a couple hours. It needs another coat, though…..

Easter Sunday. We didn’t do a whole lot for Easter, but I did go visit Mom. She was lying in her bed again, awake, but not responsive to me. She just looked around a bit, didn’t say anything. I sat there talking to her for an hour or so but there was no recognition evident. Every time, it gets worse, and I wonder how much longer she’ll be here…..after I got home from FW we all went out to dinner with Mary Jane to the new Texas Road House. It was ok, but expensive and nothing that special, so I doubt we’ll be there much….. Friday Beth and Missy went up to Michigan for a birthday party for Julia.

Rough week overall. Nat was at the behavioral health center all week until Friday. The good news was the doctors thought she was doing pretty well, although she self-identifies with her diagnosis quite a bit. We visited a few times during the week or called, and we had a family session on Wednesday with the social worker. We had been told she would be there 6-10 days but in the end she was out in 5, with some meds changes. She called me Friday afternoon and told me they told her she could go home, but neither Beth nor I had heard that yet so we wondered if she’d got her story straight. It’s going to be tough to get her caught up again in school, though. We’re going to have to get with the teachers….Friday I took the van in to Ab & Tom’s due to the roaring noise it made all the way to NC and back. Turns out that a rear wheel hub had gone bad, and the brakes on the other side were grinding. So I got both fixed for about $600….Beth and I did have some kid-free time on Saturday, because Nat went to spend the night at her sister’s, Alex was at a sleepover birthday party, and Missy went to a youth group event at the Harrison’s church. She wasn’t back until 9, so it was like a date evening….Sunday we all went out to see “Shazam” which everyone liked a lot, although Alex and Missy got heated about whether it was better than “Captain Marvel.” Only a couple weeks until “Avengers: Endgame…”

We have returned from our spring break vacation, and must rank this one among the not so greats. We went to Beaufort, North Carolina at Judy's suggestion, but it kinda turned into a long way to go for what it was. Anyway. We left last Saturday, having lined up Mary Jane to feed the cats and rabbit, and drove as far as Asheville. We got there maybe around 8:00 after a good 10 hour drive and stayed in a motel there. Sunday we went to tour the Biltmore mansion. We weren't sure we were actually going to do that, because we hadn't realized at first how crazy expensive it was, but we'd already made the motel reservations and figured that since we were going to Asheville and had a spare day to spend there we might as well go. The mansion is incredible beautiful and huge, and we can see why the Vanderbilts referred to the Breakers as their "cottage" after seeing it. There wasn't much else to do though, after 2 or 3 hours at the mansion so we wound up chilling in the motel room rather than find some other expensive tourist trap thing to do. But then I did get to see MSU beat Duke to make the final four. Wrecked my bracket, though. We headed out the next morning, made it in about 8 more hours (would have been 7, but somehow we wasted an hour looking for a Chick-fil-a that turned out to be inside the student union at UNC). Tuesday was pretty limited; I went for a run in the morning and didn't make it home before the rain started, and the rain kept up all day. We went to the NC Nautical Museum in town but that was largely it, besides walking around town in the evening after the rain had finally stopped. Wednesday was nicer but cold, and we visited the NC Aquarium and later on Fort Macon (another cool old civil war-era fort with lots to explore, unfortunately a lot of it was also still closed since the hurricane last fall hit it pretty hard). Alex also ripped his pants wide open around lunchtime so we had to do some shopping. Thursday was a beautiful day. Beth and Judy and the girls went out walking around the town and shopping most of the morning and afternoon, Alex stayed at the house and I went walking all around town geocaching. Not very successfully, though. I walked a couple miles overall and didn't find anything, until the phone app was pointing me to the middle of someone's yard so I went back to the house and got the GPS. Then I managed to find a couple that had eluded me. At lunchtime we met the girls at a restaurant but Natalie was feeling panicky so I walked her home. Alex and I did some more geocaching after lunch but the final stage of a multi was almost 2 miles from the penultimate stage, so we went home and I got the last stage on a bike. Later on that evening Nat told Beth and me that she had been feeling suicidal again, so we struggled with what to do about that for a while, but ultimately there wasn't much we could do: either head home days early, or take her to a hospital in NC and have her there indefinitely 900 miles from home. So, in the end we kept the meds hidden and keep a close watch on her. Friday we were going to go on boat excursion out to one of the barrier islands to go wild horse watching and shelling (both girls were really looking forward to this), but the weather kept threatening to get bad so the boats weren't running. They kept asking us to check the weather and call back later to see if we could go, but in the end the captain said he wasn't going to go and they finally definitively cancelled it. So instead we headed out to Morehead City (which has an open ocean beach) to do some shelling there. The beach was nice looking but deserted, and as we got there the rain started up. It was drizzling pretty hard by the time we left. The shelling wasn't great either, but there were some small ones and some cool fragments. And going to the beach was Natalie's favorite part of the whole vacation. In the interest of time and money, we decided to drive straight home Saturday instead of going halfway and staying overnight. That made for a long day, around 15 hours, but we made it. And we also stopped in Beckley WV at Tudor's Biscuit World to pick up a dozen biscuits for small group tonight. We didn't go to church today (since we got in so late last night) and it became apparent that Natalie needed to get some care so we checked her in at Michiana Behavioral Health in Plymouth (don't want to go back to Parkview after her meds got so messed up last time). We're expecting her to be there for 6-10 days. In other news tonight we had small group, including the biscuits we got on the road trip. They were a huge hit, especially with Gary. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He was so excited when he saw that the big biscuit box we brought actually had biscuits in it.

Slow week in general but busy-ish weekend. Friday Beth and I had a date night (for a little while) and went to Tippy Creek Winery for a trivia night. We hadn't done it before so we weren't quite sure what to expect, but there was some guy there reading trivia questions and playing music, and tallying the scores in between. There were maybe 8 or 10 groups playing including us, and most of them had several people in them out on the town. But anyway, we only missed a couple of questions all evening, and by then end had a score that everyone there thought was really impressive. We came in first place and won ourselves a $10 gift card for Tippy Creek....Saturday was the Mall Derby, so the kids were all away most of the afternoon. Natalie even went, and invited a friend to go along with her. Missy's team wound up winning, and Alex's team came in second place....In the evening we took all the kids out to see "Captain Marvel," which we all really liked but I can see how some people might think she was too powerful. Trivial points though....This weekend I replaced the passenger side view mirror on the van, the one that had been smashed. It wasn't that hard once the door panel was off, but I did have to be a bit creative in fastening it to the door since the replacement mirror didn't want to tighten down. In the end I added a couple washers and it worked fine. The motor on the mirror adjustment device even works better than the old one did....

Alex turned 16 this week. Unbelievable. He chose to go to Flat Top Grill for dinner on his birthday so we drove out to FW for dinner (and dessert) and back on Tuesday. We gave him a couple of video games he wanted and $50 to put towards the VR set he wants (the one he’s trying to rebuild the computer to run). Friday, he had another of his standard video game sleepover nights, and once again the girls left me alone with them and stayed the night in a motel in town. I stayed in the kitchen on the computer doing genealogy research most of the evening and went to bed at around 11:30, while the crowd was still all up and shouting at the TV in the living room. I think they all went to sleep around 3:00 or 4:00. Alex was pretty tired in the morning and most of the next day….Beth is sick. She was coming down with something for a few days last week and it really hit early this week. She was off work on Tuesday, and tried to work Wednesday but got sent home. Thursday she went to Medstat and had an upper respiratory & right ear infection with laryngitis…This weekend I replaced the third brake light on the minivan. It's been broken ever since we bought the van, but now that Alex is driving I feel better with it working. I found the part online somewhere and found a YouTube video about how to replace it, so I was able to get the old one out and the new one in without too much trouble. I have also bought a replacement side view mirror since Beth has repeatedly smashed the one on the passenger side against the garage door. I also found a video of how to replace that, so I'll give that a go soon.

Saturday night was Warsaw night at the Komets game; not sure exactly what but there was a promotion that Warsaw residents could purchase tickets for $15, so we got some. Beth’s student Drake was doing a ceremonial puck drop with the mayor, so she was really excited to see him. We brought Natalie’s sister with us as well. Alex was working Saturday night so the girls all left in plenty of time to get to the game, and I picked up Alex and we headed for the game then, with him still in his work clothes. Leaving just after 7 for a 7:30 puck drop time in Fort Wayne meant we missed the first several minutes of the game, but it’s all good. We missed the first Komets goal, but caught everything after that. We saw a couple of the best goals I’ve ever seen, one on a breakaway where Szydlowski waited until just after the goalie committed and sprawled, then shot it right between the skate and the post, then another on a breakaway where the shooter shopped short and let the defender slide right past him, Top Gun style, then shot & scored. The final was 4-1, really good since it was against the Walleye. Really fun game….Sunday Alex was working again, and again we picked him up right from work to go to a movie so he was in his work clothes again. We all went to see “The Lego Movie 2” which we all like but I thought it wasn’t as fresh as the first.....I also went to visit Mom today. She was in her room lying in bed the entire time I was there. She looked at me when I walked in but I didn't see any evidence she recognized me. She never spoke the entire time I sat there talking to her, around an hour and a half or so. She just lay there, looked around, nodded off for a few minutes a couple times. Also, her bed has been replaced with a hospital bed, set low to the ground. I'm sure it was the hospice that came and replaced it, so I'm going to have to call them about getting her old bed back. I wonder every time how much longer it's going to be, but the staff tells me she has good and bad days, and she's more talkative most days.

Busy weekend, especially for Alex. Saturday morning he had a robotics meet (a makeup for one or two that were cancelled a few weeks ago due to the weather), which started out weird when I dropped him off. He was supposed to be at the school at 7:00, so we were there at 7:00, and there was nobody else there. We checked the email several times and it always said the meet was starting at 7. People from other schools started showing up at around 7:30, and nobody from the high school was there until nearly 8. And Alex was the only one of his team (except the teacher) that was there until around 9. So, we’re not really sure what the real schedule was supposed to be. Anyway, they didn’t do very well. Not sure why they seem to struggle so much at the meets, but they were around 3rd to last place. Alex was talking about not doing it any more after this year, but I think that would be a mistake, win or lose. Anyway, the meet went on until around 3:00. Then he had to get ready for the high school Snowball dance! His friend (it’s not a date) Sydney went with him (she’s driving now, so she picked him up) and they met up with a few other friends there. He had a nice new shirt and tie on and looked so grown up. While they were at the dance, the girls and I all went to see the new “How to Train Your Dragon 3” movie. Alex was back around 10:30 or so, and he said he had a really great time! Even danced some....Today was Fire & Ice for the kids, at around 2 we dropped them off at church and they spent the day going to FW with the youth group to get Mexican food for an early supper and going to the Komets hockey game (against the Cincy Cyclones, the Komets tied it up at 4 with seconds to go and their goalie pulled, then won in OT!). This was the first time we’d been away from all the kids for more than moments at a time for almost 3 years. It was a nice day off. They were back around 9.

Beth and I got our annual load of meat this weekend. Same place as always, but we had a pretty big cow this year so it was a large haul. And a bit more expensive because of the volume, too. We went out to pick it up on Saturday, and had Alex drive to get him some good driving time. All the way to Wakarusa and back, plus a side trip over to the Amish grocery store to boot, got him about 2.5 hours driving time. And we were well stocked by the time we got home....Monday Beth and I got fingerprinted for the adoption process. The fingerprinting place is at Goodwill, of all places, and they do it all electronically so there's no ink stains. I also had to recreate a list of every address we've lived at since 1988 for the adoption process, for some reason, background checks and all. But we're ready to send everything in now, so as soon as the references all come in and the background checks are done, they'll schedule the home study.....Natalie has been fighting awful migraines for some time now, and she continues to miss school time because of it. She went to the doctor on Monday and to the ER on Thursday, without a lot of relief either time. The doctors think it's stress, but we're not sure from what, if there is a what. Or it could be the meds, or going off the meds schedule a couple times lately, hard to say.....Valentine's Day was this week, so I got some flowers for both the girls, which they both seemed to like a lot.....Today Beth went up to Michigan again to spend some time with the Pinksters and Wiessners. Julia is doing really well, apparently she will have 6-8 weeks of radiation to kill off the last bit of the tumor that they couldn't get out, but everything is lining up really well and she's recovering like nobody else ever. Beth got to see her for most of the afternoon, then had dinner with Ric and Nickie. It was snowing most of the day both here and there, but no real accumulation. Alex had to work, and Nat's head still hurt bad, so I stayed home with them.....

This has been a long and boring week for everyone. A week ago school was cancelled on Monday because of the extreme cold we are having. The cold kept up, so on Monday school was cancelled for Tuesday, on Tuesday it was cancelled for Wednesday, and on Wednesday it was cancelled for the rest of the week. I didn't get work cancelled so I was away as normal all week while Beth tried to find things to do while everything was closed or cancelled. Mostly everyone was homebound.....during the week the cold was trying everyone's battery. I had to get the truck jumped on Tuesday to get home. Fortunately there was someone else in an F150 leaving work the same time as me that day.....and a boring week was capped by what had to have been the most boring Super Bowl ever, unless you're a fan of punts and field goals.....

Beth’s birthday was this past Monday, and she didn’t have to go to work since it’s also MLK Day. I took everyone out for sushi on her birthday, and also got er a new Keurig (the old one has died recently) with some new k-pods and a pressure cooker cookbook….I brought the van in to the shop again on Monday, since it’s still been making those clunking noises up front. They found a bad CV axle on the right front, but didn’t have the part, so it took until Tuesday to get it back. It only set me back about $320…Wednesday, school was cancelled again, so no FCC Kids again, then school was cancelled on Friday again. Alex was supposed to have a robotics meet this Saturday, but it was cancelled, which was a bummer also because he got a day off work to be able to go to it…. Saturday I wanted to go visit Mom before the roads got bad and I couldn’t, and everyone (including a friend of Nat’s) went with as far as Fort Wayne (I dropped them off at the mall). I visited her for a couple hours, by which I mean I sat at a table with her and tried to talk to her but she was mostly non-responsive. She looked around and occasionally laughed at one of the other old ladies there, and said a few words here and there. She did seem to recognize a picture of the cross-stitched wall hanging that her great-grandmother made (“I’ve seen seen seen seen seen that”) but I got nothing else out of her. She finally got a haircut last week, first one in months and months, so she looks a bit more like herself now. Afterwards, I picked everyone up at the mall and we had dinner at Red Robin before heading back. The roads were getting kind of slippery.