A lot going on...

There has been a lot going on in our house. We've been plugging along in homeschool, but took a break for the holidays. The break turned out to be much longer than I had anticipated. My mother had a stroke in February, and was put in a nursing home so that there would be someone constantly available to care for her. She was miserable there. With all of us kids scattered in different states, full time jobs, and illnessses, it seemed the best solution. As time went by, she became more and more disoriented. She often forgot where she was and why she was there. On Christmas morning, she tried to get out of bed, and fell. She hit her head pretty hard on the way down, and had to be admitted to the hospital. She remained there for the next few days, and passed away on December 30, after some complications.

In the meantime, my sister Linda developed problems with her lungs, and also had to be admitted to the hospital. At one point she and Mom were in the ICU at the same time. Linda was diagnosed with cancer.

All of this illness and death necessitated a trip for our family to Montana. We got up there on Sunday, Jan 6, just before the funeral. It was a white knuckle ride through part of Utah, and all of Idaho. The weather in Montana was beautiful. We got to Billings safely, and checked into the hotel where Nathan works. Creede and Sharleen got in the day before. I found them, and we decided to go to the hospital to see Linda. We met Patty in the lobby as she was coming in the front door, and turned around and saw Nathan coming in the back. We all got to the hospital and had a nice visit with Linda. She wasn't going to be able to go to the funeral, but someone managed to get her out .

Monday morning dawned bright and clear. We got to the church and had to wait for the undertakers. They set the casket up in the Relief Society room. The person inside did not look like my mother at all. I had to look twice to make sure they had the right body. We met with various relatives, and had the family prayer. Linda was able to make it for the last half of the funeral. I'm so glad she could. Mom's bishop and home teacher spoke, and Patty sang. I know I wouldn't have been able to do it. Nathan also spoke and did and excellent job. I'm sure his Grandma was very pleased. Creede dedicated the grave, and gave a very heartfelt prayer. It was a nice service.

Monday also happened to be Jared's birthday. I can't believe he's 17! I apologized to him for having to spend some of it in a graveyard. If you're in the Addams family, that may not be a problem. Jared took it all in stride, though, and we will make it up to him. We had a family party in the conference room of the hotel. Having connections on the staff is really nice. We had:
Me and Steve, Jared, Jacob, Karen, Sarah; Patty, Nanci-Joy and Jack; Creede and Sharleen; and Linda and Nathan. That's a lot of people! It was a nice little party, and Jared got to spend his birthday with his maternal relatives, something he doesn't get to do very often.

We spent the rest of the time in Montana doing a preliminary going through my mother's things. People are in her basement, and threw all of their stuff on top of hers, which made it hard to find anything. They also packed some of it away. We have plans to go back this summer and do a more thorough go through.

Linda had her first chemo treatment, and it wore her out. She was going to come up and see us on Tuesday, but didn't make it. Wednesday morning found her back in ICU again. The chemo had killed off a bunch of cancer cells, and they collected in her lungs. The drs managed to flush those out. She will spend a few more days in the hospital.

We were going to come home on Wednesday, but bad weather watches kept us in Montana an extra day. We got home Thursday night. Once again, it was a white knuckle ride through Idaho. We managed to beat the storm into SLC though. Jacob and I went to the store to get some groceries. On the way out, my purse was snatched. I got a sore arm in the process. I think I may have sprained my elbow. I can't extend it very well. That was the perfect ending to the trip. I've cancelled my credit cards, etc, and now I get to spend Monday rebuilding my credit and identity. Fun, fun.