News...

I wanted to share some news...

My grandpa Harlan died on Thursday. He fought Multiple Myeloma for several years and was very strong through the end. From what I understand Multiple Myeloma is a cancer that decalcifies the bones and creates bone lesions. My grandpa had a lot of pain in his legs. There wasn't a lot they could do to treat the cancer. I think they just focused on keeping him comfortable, especially at the end with a lot of pain medication.

It was a blessing from God that Sarah, Craig, Mom and I went to visit him the Saturday before he died. He was a fraction of his size with his arms looking long and his hands looked too big for his body. He could no longer eat due to his organs shutting down. The kidneys are one of the places that the calcium was deposited. His pain was pretty well managed on the day that we saw him. Mom told him that we were there to see him, but he was pretty out of it. I held his hand for a second before he moved it. Sarah bent down to talk to him and told him "goodbye" and "I love you" and he repeated it! Those are the only words we heard him speak that day and those are the last words that we heard him say. It was a very special and moving moment.

My mom went to see him on Thursday. They had arranged for a CD player to be set up in his room and my mom brought her piano hymn cds. My mom was with him for about a hour and a half. The hymn "It is Well" came on and my mom was praying. She heard his breathing pause and her prayer was answered. Grandpa peacefully passed away. I am so grateful that my mom could be there at that moment that Grandpa went to heaven.

I have many memories of enjoying time on the farm with Harlan and Wilma. It was a very peaceful place to enjoy the pond and nature. Grandpa was always very sweet to Sarah, Abby, Mom, and me. Grandpa served God in many ways and I know he touched many lives.

So while I am sad, I am glad that Grandpa is no longer in pain and is in heaven!

Progress

The house is a dusty wreck! The work on the house is also disrupting my running schedule. Last week I got on the treadmill on Monday and could only run a mile before I got too stressed out thinking about all that had to be done at the house. I calmed down and was able to complete a really good run on Tuesday. However, that was all the running that happened for the rest of the week! We received almost a foot of snow by Wednesday! I ran 5 miles Sunday after church and felt great! I was thinking, "Hey that wasn't so bad. It's ok that I was lazy all week." Then it hit me Monday afternoon...I was so sore. Actually, I realized that only my left quad was extremely sore! I've never had that happen before.

Progress on the house is going well. Craig has been working on completing the master bathroom while I worked on scraping the ceilings. We are working on one half of the house at a time. Tuesday, the man started working on fixing the drywall. He works pretty fast and expects to be done with this half by Friday. That means the priming and painting begins this weekend! I work Saturday morning, but hopefully we can be very productive.

Nice Evening

This isn't the best picture (I cut most of Carol out - oops!) but it was a fun evening at the Beef House. The best rolls and broccoli cheese soup!!! It was nice to celebrate everything Craig has accomplished so far. I can't believe he is almost done with school! We thought May 2009 would never come when he decided to go back to school.

Chad and Craig were practicing their "botox smiles." It took several tries to get it just right for the camera without laughing. These two get pretty silly when they spend time together. I just roll my eyes at them and try not to encourage it. Chad was nice enough to help us out with one of the house projects this morning.

First changes

Before

After

This is the first of many changes! We changed the cabinet pulls in the kitchen. I am so happy to get rid of the gold accents. I have never been a fan of the gold and the brushed nickle seems to blend in much better.

Back to it

It has been a while since I have posted...lots going on around here...

One of things that has kept me busy is getting to the gym 5 days a week. I'm trying to run 5 days, with cross-training 2 of those days and weights the other 2 days. Almost 2 weeks down...and 14 to go before the mini! I lost all my endurance from the marathon by taking 2 1/2 months off. I am finally comfortable with 3 miles and working my way back up with a 4 mile run scheduled for Saturday morning. The gym has been VERY full with everyone making their New Year's resolution to get in shape! I have been getting out of work late, so a lot of the 5:00 crowd is already done.

One of our goals for early 2009 is to sell our house, pending many improvements. The work officially gets kicked off this weekend! Wouldn't it be wonderful if one of those home make-over shows came to my house and got everything done in one weekend?! (I think I have been watching too much TLC and HGTV!) Please pray that someone wants to buy our house this spring!

Back to the old routine

The holidays are over! It was a rough morning Monday getting up early and getting back into the groove of the old routine. It was really nice to have a lot of time off. I have slowly returned the house to its pre-Christmas look. The tree is finally down and it always looks so bare without the glow of the tree.

Craig had an appointment with his surgeon on Monday (six weeks since the surgery.) His surgeon told him he could start walking! He started by putting some weight on his foot, but still used the crutches. By Wednesday he was walking without the crutches, but still had the air cast on. Tonight (Thursday) he put full weight on it and has been walking around without the cast! I'm so excited for him that he won't have to lug those crutches around any more! Hopefully he feels comfortable and confident enough to return to school without the crutches and air cast. (Classes start next week!)

I have definitely enjoyed all the holiday food! Unfortunately I haven't been in the gym since Craig broke his leg. I feel like I have gained 10 pounds! I ate extremely well at all the Christmas gatherings and did some extra baking for around the house! Now that it is the new year and I am bombarded by all the weight loss commercials, I am feeling the pressure to get back in shape. My training for the mini starts Monday, the 12th. I also just found out about a 8K race at the end of March. I usually need to have a goal in mind to keep me motivated!

Happy 2009!