Resting in Peace

~erica

Nathan with Great-Grandma Hendrickson the day he came home from Afghanistan in March

Ryan's Grandma Hendrickson died this morning at 91 years of age. She loved the Lord and had a good life; outliving her husband, her sisters, and 2 great-grandchildren. She'd been relatively healthy for all these years as well. Recently they found a mass near her pancreas (but not pancreatic) and another one on her back. She had opted for no treatment, just palliative care at home. As I sat down to write this morning she was failing and I didn't know how to pray. Did I pray that she rallies or did I pray that her passing was peaceful and mercifully quick? All I could pray was "thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven."

Yesterday was her only bad day, she was weak and in a lot of pain. The pain was allowed to overwhelm her and it took a long time to get it back under control. Ryan's cousin spent the night with her and texted me updates every hour on the hour, it was like having a newborn. She ended up spending the entire night sitting next to Grandma watching her breathe. This morning she reported that Grandma was sleeping comfortably. I got a panicked text about 9 that her fingers were turning blue and I called Shar to ask if she needed me to come. We got out of the house as quickly as we could, I was making arrangements for the kids while we went out the door. 2 minutes from her house we got the text that she was gone. She went peacefully in her blue recliner, where Ryan promised her she could die. She went about 40 minutes before a hospital bed was due to be delivered (she adamantly did not want to have a hospital bed- they made her hurt).

I've spent all day with the family and working to tie up loose ends. Ryan's clinical schedule doesn't allow for time off for these circumstances so it's falling to me, Nathan came down and he's stepping up in his dad's stead to "make things right." I'm proud of him, he has Ryan's empathy and seems to be developing my attention to details. I'm proud of all the kids, they spent a long and stressful day peacefully, without adding further stress. Rush hung out with the other cousins, Arin's friend skipped school to be with him and they helped with VBS prep for next week, Tovah spent the day in the church daycare, and Jonah & Isaac played video games in a Sunday School room. Rush was good about checking on them and taking them lunch and making sure they were okay. The only issue of the day was Isaac's tooth, it broke while he was eating a jawbreaker, the problem is our dentist is out on jury duty the whole week...   

We don't know when the services will be. The family will be meeting with the pastor tomorrow.

Saturday Confessions- June 18

~erica

1) We are on our second day of day shift and Ryan overslept. I Hate dayshift! I'm tempted to make a paper chain so that we know when we are close to being done, but I think that might be too childish.

2) I've had a whole week of summer vacation and have nothing to show for it- I don't feel relaxed or rejuvenated or even that I've accomplished anything.

3) Tovah and I tagged along with the boys when they went to Seattle to see Super 8. Our friend, MaryLinda, met us and we had a girls' day. We rode the Monorail, ate at the Westlake food court, went to Old Navy, wandered around Pike Place Market, then back to the Center to meet the guys. MaryLinda says my kids are too well trained. Tovah found a seat and turned around and smiled just as I got my camera out of the bag.

4) We did a lot of shopping, at least for me. Tovah's shoes hurt so we got her 2 new pairs of flip flops at Old Navy, I got 4 more macaroons from Le Panier, we found curry ketchup at the Bavarian Meat Market, got Tovah sunglasses and a purse at Claire's, and candy at that little shop where you pay way too much money for a quarter pound of candy.

5) Tovah and Rush are registered for Public School. Right now most of my angst is about what people are going to think.

6) Ryan took an almost 30% cut in pay this summer as well as doubled his gas budget for clinicals. His car will be gone every day so that means I have to take my van any time we need/ want to go anywhere. I think this is going to be a long summer. I'm trying to make the best of it- we have projects to get done and Rush has half his Algebra book to do. I'm trying to cut the grocery budget by eating what's in the deep freeze and pantry, using coupons, and shopping deals. I got butter, flour, and sugar for baking. I may gain a ton of weight!

7) I hate dayshift, did I mention that?

8) Rush and Arin are asking for razors and I'm trying to ignore them. I'm just not ready for this.

9) The Toothfairy seems to have boycotted our house. Tovah and Jonah just threw their teeth away and asked for their money since she's so unreliable.



I'm linking to:

Saturday Confessions

Corydalis scoulerii Scouler's Corydalis

1) I was going to write a Saturday Confessions post 2 weeks ago when I was trying to do everything except what I was supposed to be doing. But Blogger wouldn't let me load our page on the laptop and I didn't feel like moving my pictures to the desktop.

Geum macrophyllum Large-leaved avens

2) I need to change my blog header. Big changes are happening and I'm not ready to deal with them yet but I do need to change the header. The last time I did it I think I got lucky and did it right the first umteenth time.

This wasn't one we had to identify but it was really cool. I think it's a Colt's Foot Petasites palmatus

3) I completed 18 credits this quarter and my children are all still alive. I did not get a 4.0 which bothers me more than I want to admit.

Trillium ovatum western Trillium

4) I got a 3.8 in Health and Fitness. The only C I got in high school was in Freshman PE. Do I see a trend here?

Dodecatheon hendersonii broadleaf shooting star

5) My house is a disaster! The past two weeks the kids have done their chores but I haven't done mine. Ryan and I have dressed out of a laundry basket in the family room. I told the kids if we believed in Evolution it would only take a spark for new life to grow out of the primordial ooze that was living in the bathroom.

Camassia quamash common camas

6) We are sending Tovah and Rush to public school in the fall. I'm trying not to let the perfect homeschool mom syndrome get to me...



Orchid- I think its a western coralroot Corallorhiza maculata ssp. mertensiana. They are cool but don't smell good and aren't very impressive except in their rarity. I'm really jealous of Marsha right now, she gets to spend the next year or so on Guam and they have sunshine, orchids, plumeria, sunshine, sand, sunshine...

 7) I got an easy A in Native Plants, it was lots of memorization of latin names.

Vaccinium ovatum Evergreen huckleberry

8) My plan for this weekend was to stay in my pajamas and watch DVDs and do absolutely nothing. I am finding that I really don't do that very well. I've updated my calendar, recycled all the papers out of my school notebook, put away baseball gear, folded laundry, cleaned the toilet (this was a kill or be killed situation), and taken 2 naps while watching 4 episodes of Midsommer Murder. We went to a birthday party last night because we had to go to town to return the movie I forgot to turn in earlier. Rush went to graduation this afternoon and we're going to another graduation tomorrow. Then we'll do nothing...

9) The kids have watched more Dr. Who the past 3 weekends. I've been too busy to find them alternative activities to TV watching

10) This is Ryan's last weekend working nights and I'm going to miss my quiet time while he sleeps and having the bed/ TV all to myself.