A Few Breaks

Hey everyone,
Sorry for the lack of posts over the last month. As most of you know, Brigitte was in the hospital (2nd time) about a month ago because of the pain in her back and during the procedure to repair her compressed vertabrae, it was discovered that there were more tumors in her brain and all treatment had already been exhausted so she was transferred over to hospice. So I've been spending alot of time with Brigitte, Sam and Sarah as Brigitte now requires 24 hour care. We (no, I'm not sure why I say we and a few people have remarked when I have said that in the past and I guess because she considers me family I'm referring to all of us) now have two caregivers. Emily, the night caregiver is here for a large part of the night and Alicia, the daytime caregiver, is here for several hours during the day. I have a few hours in the morning and a few hours in the early evening/night where I am with her and periodic visits throughout the day just to check in. Her friends are also visiting quite often.

So the last 6 weeks have been pretty crazy with alot going on but not much to blog about. I have had a few breaks and now with the two caregivers have a lot more free time so hopefully more blog worthy moments.

Wednesday night bible study fell on my birthday and the girls brought cupcakes and I got to make a wish.

My best friend from high school, Gail, came down to visit for a few days for my birthday and because things had been so crazy and stressful. We met while working at Subway when we were 16 have remained very close through the years despite going to different high schools, colleges and living in different states by talking on the phone every day.

Jen organized a birthday dinner at Chef Hannes the Saturday following my birthday. It was in a private room next door to the main restaurant with cool pictures on the walls and a train with a track running down the entire table. It holds up to 50 people for dinner. It was a wonderful night to spend with friends. Brigitte came for about 15 minutes (one of the last times she was out of the house) and Dan, Sam & Sarah's dad was in town and also was there. It was great to hear him say afterwards that he saw a different side to Christians - partly all of the bottles of wine and the genuine closeness that he felt we all had. Here are a few pics from the night.

Here's Dan, Sam and Sarah's dad. He was here for two weeks to spend time with the kids.

Travis, Jen's boyfriend, making the first appearance on my blog.

The Annual Memorial Day Weekend BBQ at the Gundo's Rec Park. It was freezing so there was alot of huddling together.

This past Wednesday, our bible study had a break as we are at the half way point of the book. Usually during those weeks, we go out to dinner but they decided to bring dinner for Brigitte and the kids. It was a great opportunity to witness to Brigitte, Sam and Sarah. We ended up eating at my house because Brigitte was really tired and had been sleeping the entire day.

Thank you to all of you for being there for me, for your prayers and patiently waiting for this post.