Oct. 7-10, 2019: Days before Cameron's wedding

Lee and I flew to Redmond to see my Mom, Dean, Reed, Lise and Adam.  We stayed at our home in the guest bedroom.  Thayne and Craig are taking great care of our home and it was fun to be there.  We spent time with Reed and Dean, taking them to Costco for treats and shopping.  It was amazing to see how much they had grown physically and matured too.  Reed was so fast with the online ordering and making payment and purchased items for us with our credit card and was a pro at checking out.   Dean amazed us with his college plans and help with dishes.

We spent 3 days in Redmond--met with our wonderful Family Home Evening group at the church, just after we arrived, Monday night.  Tuesday and Wednesday we spent with Mom and woven through all were great times with Reed, Dean, and Lise, who fed us every night.  We shopped, wrapped presents we had brought from Jerusalem,  went through clothes that we wanted to bring back, got teeth cleaned, haircuts, banking and more.

We brought Israeli chocolate for our grandchildren who couldn't come to the wedding , 

so as to soften the blow a bit.

Wednesday we celebrate our two October birthdays with dinner and Plain Cake cupcakes with Powell"s and Grandma McEntire

This was also 2 days of miracles.  Tuesday, when I saw Mom, I immediately knew something wasn't right.  I could tell she had lost weight, her speech sounded like she was walking through molasses--kind of slurred and her tongue had difficulty while speaking.  She didn't feel well, had no energy, and kept saying she couldn't think.  She had the Friday before and had an open wound on her left arm that the nurse had dressed.  It was Wednesday, and no one had looked at the wound, so I took off the bandage and when I saw how big it was and had not healed at all, I called the nurse.  She came to look at it and suggested I take Mom to Urgent Care.  We have not had good experiences at Urgent Care (I call it NO care), so MIRACLE #1:  I called Dr. Nishino's office and he had an opening!  When we got there, the receptionist told me someone had cancelled.  I had taken Mom in to have the wound looked at, but Mom also had an appointment for the next week while Lise Carpenter was here, so I suggested to the Doctor that he draw the blood work, so they could talk about it at the next visit.  Mom weighted 87 pounds and I explained that she didn't feel right.  Miracle #2:  Dr. Nishino decided to do the blood work which resulted in Miracle #3:  He read the blood results later that day and contacted us  that Mom's blood sugar was 650 and that we needed to go to the ER immediately.    Mom didn't want to go and I didn't want to take her, but we had to with a blood sugar that high, she could have gone into a coma.

But I also had a 4AM wake up time to catch the plane to Toronto for Cameron's wedding.  So we got to the ER around 7 PM and I stayed with Mom until 10 PM, when Art was able to join us at the ER.  Miracle #4:  I felt a deep peace--the peace that passeth all understanding, as I said goodbye to Mom, not knowing what would happen to her.  I felt assured in my heart that I had arrived at the right time, to help Mom in her time of need, and that I could leave for the wedding knowing I had done all I could.  I felt Dad's presence and that he was involved.

Thursday at 4:30 AM we left for the airport, with the Powell's driving.  About 15 minutes into the drive Lee realized he had not brought his hearing aids!  We decided not to turn back, but to have Orgills mail them to Angela's parents' home.  We probably should have gone back, but didn't want to chance missing our flight.  HOWEVER, once we got on the plane, we couldn't leave because it was below freezing during the night and the wings had ice on them.  We sat on the tarmac for 3 HOURS!
When the man came to de-ice the plane, he said it was already thawed--we could have left earlier!

This turned out to be a day of mishaps!  Because our plane was 3 hours late, and by the time we got through customs and got picked up for our car rental, we were 45 minutes late to the dinner we were hosting for Angela's parents.  We drove straight from the airport to the dinner--didn't stop to change and looked horrible--but we had a great dinner and Cameron had ordered appetizers that they ate until we arrived.  The other difficulty was that we had no phones!  The only time our phones worked for texts only was if we could connect to WiFi.  We gave our gift to Kate and Jim Hui--an olive wood statue of Christ.  We weren't able to give it in the gracious way we had planned, but it was okay.

The hearing aid debacle only got worse.  Adam used his (working) phone to call Canadian Customs, when we found out that the hearing hadn't been delivered as promised, and when all was said and done, they arrived at the Hui home four days after we left Toronto.  They will stay there until Cam and Angela can bring them to the States in early November.  Lee is somewhat handicapped because he can't hear very well.

We also had a comedic time calling Grandma and Art and trying to do the best thing regarding Grandma's hospitalization.  She went home for about 12 hours and was readmitted for breathing problems.  The doctor wanted to do a bronchoscopy, which Mom had declined in past years, and he scheduled it without any one's signature.  Miracle #4 (or more)  I called Mom right when the Dr. was in the room and was able to tell him NOT to do the bronchoscopy!!  I must have made 15 calls during the Tea Ceremony, post-sealing pictures and reception to keep everything going.  I made arrangements with Fairwinds to check on Mom every 2 hours, once she got home, and before Lise Carpenter could get there to help out.  Lise has done a fantastic job of caring for Mom and Mary Kay comes this week.  Mom is doing much better.