It is with sorrow mingled with relief that I announce that Daniel's father, Gordon, passed away at 9:40 on Saturday morning after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease. While it's always hard to lose a loved one, I think all those who loved him are glad that he has been released from his physical and mental suffering. He was a pious man of faith and spent much of his life in service to God and others. He will be missed and is still loved deeply by those who knew him in this life. Gordon passed away about a month before his 50th wedding anniversary, at 79 years of age.
Memory Eternal!
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I hope to share more about Gordon after we come back from the services being held in his memory and honor, which won't be for another week and a half yet. Daniel and I have decided to both go after some research and discussion. I will probably be singing at his memorial service. I consider it an honor, even if I am a bit iffy about how well I will do with almost no breath support and with an even more weepy than usual emotional state!
Whether I would go had been dependent on a couple of things, including:
1. whether we could find flights on reasonably-sized planes (most air trips between here and there are accomplished by flying on a puddle-jumper to an airport in a hub city, and then flying on a second puddle-jumper to the destination airport) and anything non-stop.
2. my doctor's input about my ability to travel safely.
Those things seem to have worked out with a bit of creativity. We found a way to make the trip sort of half-drive, half-flight time-wise. We'll drive to a more distant airport that has non-stop flights to an airport in Arkansas, we'll fly a single leg of the journey non-stop in a somewhat larger small plane (60-ish seats rather than 20-ish), and then we'll drive a couple of hours from there. I'm not crazy about flying these days, so the less time we spend in a plane, and the larger the plane, the better in my book. Really, I am just glad to be up to traveling at all. A few months ago I wouldn't have had the physical strength to manage it. I have an okay from the doctor to travel for about 3-4 more weeks, so we'll make it under that wire as well.
We spent a lot of time and energy this weekend working on the house in preparation for baby. I'll share more about that when we have a bit more done, including the delivery of a piece of used furniture we found this weekend to use as a wardrobe for baby. Our main focus was moving furniture and setting up the crib so that the big stuff is where we want it to be when baby arrives. The new set-up will also allow me to start on some of the sewing I want to do for him, such as making a crib skirt and sheet.
I was, thankfully, able to help this weekend with some of the moving and sorting of our things, which was nice. I have a feeling my ability to help will only lessen as the baby grows. As it was, Daniel did the really heavy lifting and worked tirelessly to get things to a pretty "finished" condition. In the end, we managed even more than I hoped or expected, and there are lots of little details to work out and many things we don't have yet, but we're well on our way. Life is speeding up now that we've hit the third trimester. Between doctor's visits, classes and our regular concerns, we've got more to do in the average day and week.
In the process of working on the house I realized I had another real blessing connected with this pregnancy. I usually would have a pretty awful allergy attack with all of the dust that the sorting kicks up. Not this time! I wore a mask for some of the dirtier tasks and while the vacuum was running, but I didn't even have any sniffles - without medication. With all of the pollen in the air adding to the allergy potential, that's nothing short of miraculous!
Tomorrow morning I get to do the 3-hour oral glucose tolerance test, as my screening came back with elevated levels. They weren't high enough to warrant an on-the-spot gestational diabetes diagnosis, but they did warrant a second test. The majority of women who test positive on the screening will not turn out to have a problem, so I can still hope that I am one of the lucky ones that way. It would be nice not to have a new complication now that the old ones have cleared up, especially since I would have to adjust to any new lifestyle changes at about the time we are getting ready to travel. Ultimately, it's not in my hands, so I will hope to face whatever I need to face with a modicum of grace and with faith that God is still in control.
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5 comments:
My condolences. I did get to speak to Dan's father at the wedding, and I could see how Dan was a chip off the old block.
Sounds like the drive part is a better plan. I flew out to Grandpa Walter's funeral when I was 5 months pregnant with Maria. (from CA to MI) On both trips my balance system picked up the motion of the plane, which my eyes could not. I had that airsickness bag in my hand at all times, even though I never used it. (You're cussing me out for that info even now. :) )
Part of the problem may have been that Thomas or Anne always wanted the window seat on the way out, so I couldn't see a fixed horizon. And on the return trip we couldn't get window seats. Bob didn't go, so I had to watch the kids at all times.
But I survived it. :) And I sang "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" as a duet with my sister Grace at the funeral. You'll have it easier than I did, I'm sure. My prayers for safe journey.
We are sorry for the loss of Gordy. We will definitely be praying for you, Daniel, and the rest of the family. I'm glad you were able to figure out a way to be at the memorial. Maybe you could do something fun on either end and call it a "babymoon." Maybe that isn't a good idea, considering the primary purpose of your event. But, I do think you should try a weekend away before Ian arrives. Vacation dynamics change drastically with a little one :).
I can't wait to see pictures of Ian's room (or at least progress).
I will definitely pray that the test will go well, be accurate, and indicate no problems. I hope you have a good book to read :). And no carbs tonight or tomorrow!!!
What classes are you taking? We took lamaze (although we followed a more Bradley-like method that we read in books) and child/infant CPR.
Forgot to mention: I'd never had an airsickness feeling before then, or since. So i did attribute it to pregnancy. Dan, if you don't have such problems, give Nikki the window seat. But move fast if your baby kicks the "water balloon". :)
At least your child won't be running up and down the aisle. :D If you don't have carsick problems now, there should be no other inconveniences other than the 'usual' more frequent 'pit stops'.
Your sister's post implies: you have a name for the baby already?
Oops! Please delete my comment(s) if name is still a secret. For some reason I was thinking it wasn't. SOOOOO sorry if I spilled the beans.
Erin,
The beans have been spilled in a number of ways on the first name. It was kind of secret and kind of not. I think Angie has referred to him by first name on Facebook rather publicly, so you can have the honors on Blogger. I figure that enough people know now that it's probably impossible to keep it a secret, but I haven't started using it myself in posted things. The middle name we're keeping under our hats, so there's a little suspense left. :) In other words, don't worry about it. I may still refer to him in the generic, but people who are clever enough can find the name here.
I'll probably put some pictures up of what we've done so far for baby space pretty soon. We're taking a slew of classes - we took infant/child CPR and pain options. I spaced and put the breastfeeding class on that last post - it was actually CPR we went to. We're taking two breastfeeding classes and a several-week series of "childbirth" classes that cover a variety of topics. The hospital doesn't offer specific Bradley/Lamaze classes that I could find, so we're just taking the all-in-one class unless I find something else I think looks good.
Susan,
I have problems with air and car sickness anyway, which is part of why I want to be on a larger plane and as few flights as possible. There's really no avoiding motion sickness if the conditions are right for it. That reminds me that I will need to ask the doctor what, if anything, I can take for it...
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