Pet Portraits

Just quickly posting a couple of pieces of artwork my aunt did of Jasmine. The pastel of God reaching out to pat Jasmine was inspired by something my mother wrote and my aunt sent that to us to be framed. The painting of Jasmine on the couch she kept for her shows. Really good stuff and we love the outcome and effort.

2009: Roller Coaster Year

Well we made it to 2010 but what a roller coaster of a year 2009 was. I was reading back on some of my blog entries from the past year and lots of emotions were invoked. Employment issues marked most of the year, but that was resolved in the best of ways. The end of the year was an emotional time for the family as well with Jasmine passing away and another issue. Sometimes we make the right decisions and sometimes not. But as I look back I can clearly see that the constant through 2009, and every year, is God's goodness. It is up to me, and everyone, to decide whether to stick to that plan or venture off on our own. Believe me, the venturing off is not the way to go but thank God there is place to come back to. So I thank God for His goodness and mercy and for my family and close friends. I was never much of a roller coaster guy...

We Lost a Family Member Today

Jasmine, our loyal and loved friend of over 11 years died this morning. She had been lethargic and not eating for two days and was having a hard time breathing. Somehow I feared the worst and did not think she would make it through the night. We all gave her a lot of love before bedtime. I carried her upstairs and laid her on the floor at the foot of our bed and I made up a bed next to her. She seemed to be OK all night and changed positions a few times. In the morning I carried her downstairs and outside and she went out in the snow and laid down. She loved to do that. I had to carry her back in and when I came down from my shower, I found she had climbed up to her spot on the couch. I took the picture above this morning. After Lucie took the kids to school, I put her in Lucie's car and she took her to the vet. The vet did x-rays which showed a mass in her stomach and lung cancer. He said she might not make it through the day. So I left work and went and picked up Ashleigh and Elliott from school. She was fading fast when we got to the vet but hung on and waited till her family could all be by her side. Then she just closed her eyes and went to sleep one last time. Saddest day of my life.

You Never Know

It seems lately that this is the time for the unexpected. Several people I know have had job or personal experiences twist and turn and go in directions they never saw coming. Me too. Every day it seems something pops up that I never saw coming or things go in a direction I didn't think would ever happen. In the past I would spend a lot of time, and looking back perhaps it was wasted time, thinking and planning and trying to account for every conceivable option that could affect a particular situation. How many times did things NOT go the way I planned? Over and over again I had to learn to just let it go and let "nature" take its course. That does not mean I was uncaring or lazy - of course I had to make contingency plans and do my due diligence to be prepared. But I have come to realize that even my best laid plans are often not enough. It is exciting to see where life takes us. I guess one could chose to be afraid of the unexpected and withdraw for fear of the unknown. Or one could choose to embrace the energy and "go with the flow" knowing God is in control and ultimately, it is all His plan. And for my benediction (!) I offer these verses from Ecclesiastes: Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come? No one knows what is coming--who can tell him what will happen after him?

But for today, there was nothing unexpected about the storm going on outside. We have about 6 inches on the ground now with at least another foot on the way. It is light and fluffy but the wind is blowing. I am going to go out and make the first pass at clearing the driveway now. I am the only New Englander in the neighborhood and usually the only one that goes out several times in a storm to shovel. I say it is better to shovel 4 inches three times than a foot once. There should be a Bible verse for that too!

Elliott is doing well at basketball. He scored 16 out of 33 points the other night for his team but it wasn't enough and they lost. They are off for a few weeks but are going to try and practice sometime during the break. Ashleigh is still playing indoor lacrosse and doing well. I have told them they are dedicating one vacation day to cleaning their rooms. Which goes back to my philosophy: better to clean a little every day than waste a whole day cleaning.

I should go into the fortune cookie writing business...

It's been a while since I posted and I was telling a friend the other day that I have been busy and didn't really have anything blog worthy to post. Then I looked back and realized that never stopped me before...!!

Thanksgiving was very nice and relaxing with friends. Lucie did make us a turkey too so we were able to have leftovers.

Since then, Ashleigh has started playing indoor lacrosse with some friends from school. They will be the varsity high school team in the spring so this is a great tune-up. They are playing just over the PA line every Saturday. Elliott is back playing city league basketball. He is the tallest and best on his team but he cannot carry the whole team. He is the veteran on the floor and his skills improvement is really good. I don't see a good year for his team though. It seems the other teams all have about 3 good and tall players. Elliott is the only one on his team... He also has had some major dental work done with a palate expander and a jaw alignment thing. He looks like The Godfather and is very uncomfortable. But it is only for a few months and of course the benefits will last a lifetime.

It seems like it has rained every other day. But it beats the snow alternative so that is OK.

Lucie's kid's church play went very well. Next Saturday is the church dinner. This morning was the church choir concert. I woke up just as it ended.

Timing is everything...

Kissin' Cousins

My brother and his wife and daughter arrived Friday night for the weekend. They are spending the week in SC for Thanksgiving, then stopping back by on their way home to NH. Saturday morning we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast and headed off to Hershey. We had a good trip and got to see a lot of Amish horses and buggies and the country side. The last time Lucie and I were out that way was when we had to race to see Elliott get his finger tip sewed back on. At Hershey we did the free tour and ate some chocolate stuff there and picked up some Christmas presents. Then we hit the outlets for a while. For supper, we went to Sonic (they had never been there either). So we ate there and then when I went to start the car, I had a dead battery! I guess my headlights were on the whole time and the auto shut off didn't so there we were. The Sonic workers were great and came out with jumper cables and jumped me and we were on our way.

After church on Sunday, we went to another place they had never been to: CiCi's Pizza. The service was poor and the selection wasn't that great but we had some friends from church join us so that was fun. After that we roamed the mall and watched the Patriots on TV. For our family viewing night, we watched a National Geographic special on Amazon headshrinkers... This morning they continued on their trip to SC. Lucie is off this week and I am taking a few days off so I don't lose them. No plans besides creating excuses on why NOT to put up the Christmas decorations.

In other fascinating news, I did a day of volunteering at a Habitat for Humanity site. Part of my new hire requirements. So the other new hires and I spent the day moving dirt and mulch for a multi-tenant condo in Wilmington. It was a nice day and fun. When I got home I blew the rest of the leaves out of the pool area and into the woods.

The kids brought home their report cards. Ashleigh remains in the top 10% of her class and Elliott is in the top 2%. Ashleigh's field hockey season is over but she may play indoor lacrosse over the winter. Elliott is still practicing in the city basketball league and doing well.

We are going over to some friends' for Thanksgiving but I think Lucie is making turkey dinner for us to have here also. Her birthday is Wednesday so I hope she makes herself something reaaaal nice...

Sod And Soggy

This picture has nothing to do with anything but I thought it was kind of funny. This is how I found Lucie in bed the other night - sound asleep with the book in her face.

We have had nothing but rain for several days. A cold, soaking, miserable rain. But a friend of mine gave me 59 rolls of sod from his yard (he cut it from where he is putting in a shed). So I placed it around some low areas in my yard. With all this rain, it should settle in nicely.

Ashleigh finished her field hockey season. Another year with a losing record but their intensity was much better and their skills greatly improved. Elliott just started playing basketball for the Newark city league. He had the option of playing one more year in the division he has played in for a few years or moving up to the next bracket. He wisely chose to stay in his division. So now he is one of the veterans and is the team leader. He is really hitting his shots and has some skills. Must be a genetic thing...

I upgraded Lucie's church computer to Windows 7 the other day. That went very smoothly. Elliott had saved up his money and bought a new Xbox game. Ashleigh had a firepit party here last week and hooked the Xbox up to the 52 inch Sony HD in the living room so they could play Guitar Hero World Tour with her friends. So Elliott was playing his game when he got the dreaded red rings of death on the machine. So we contacted Microsoft and will ship it in for free repair. But he is bumming because it may not be back in time for Thanksgiving break. Now all he has time for is reading and cleaning his room... He did just win a $3000 scholarship for doing so well in the state tests so I can't get on his case about studying!

Work is going really well. I seem to be creating a lot of work for myself as I dig into things. But in this company, initiative and not going with the flow is actually encouraged and hopefully rewarded. I really enjoy going into work every day. Well, make that most days. The other day of my co-workers was let go. She was like the buddy you first make when you move to a new school. We hadn't worked together long but we had some good laughs in that short period. So I guess that even though I lost a co-worker, I didn't lose a friend...