Cyber "stalking" and Outrage

This is a picture of my classroom.

One day, many months ago, I typed in the URL for my blog. At this time in my life my memory fails and some of the details are wrong. This is what happened this time. I made a mistake when I typed in my blog address and “found” a blog written by a lovely woman with a young family. The photos of the children were cute and she reminded me of my daughters so I have been following this blog ever since.

About a week ago I checked in with her blog and read the account of a celebration that this family had recently. The father is a police officer who had been shot in the line of duty a few years ago. This woman wrote about her memories of that horrific night and the gratitude the family feels that this loving husband and father survived. I had tears in my eyes as I read the blog.

For anyone reading my blog who doesn’t know what I do-I teach science to adjudicated youth in a privately funded alternative education program. Every student is on probation. They all feel unjustly wronged and feel they are victims of the judicial system. They don’t seem to realize that their own poor decisions have resulted in them being on probation and being in our program.

Last week some of the students at work were talking about things they had done one weekend. One kid was talking about stealing things from unlocked cars. He said, “It’s not my fault if I steal something out of a car because it’s unlocked. Lock the doors!” He went on to say that a police officer stopped him and a friend and asked them if they knew anything about the thefts. He lied to the police officer and said that they had seen someone who went “that-a-way”. He was quite proud of his lies and that the police officer believed him. A little later in the conversation this same kid was talking about a peer who, in a separate encounter with the police, punched the officer in the face. He was laughing about the incident as were the kids who were listening.

Juxtaposed with this conversation was the memory of reading the blog last weekend and the police officer who had been shot in the line of duty. I outraged at the kid's narrative. I wanted to call him out and make him realize that the police officer that had been punched in the face was a father, a husband, a son, a brother. That he had a family who loved him. That he was putting himself in danger from thugs, like this kid who has no moral compass, for the greater good.

To my Aunt Phyllis

Aunt Phyllis-about 18 months old.

Tommy-about a year old.

Today my aunt passed away. She had had breast cancer 4 years
ago. About three months ago she was walking with a friend when she did a face-plant
along the side of the road. I’m not sure of all the details but that experience
culminated in a diagnosis of an aggressive brain tumor which wasn’t treatable.
Hospice was there to help out and the good women of our church’s Relief Society
brought in meals to my mother and cousin who provided the care that my aunt
needed during these last months of her life.

When Alma met the sons of Mosiah, whom he hadn’t seen in 14
years, he was on his way back to Zarahemla.
He rejoiced in the knowledge that the sons of Mosiah were still his
brethren in the Lord. The sons of Mosiah had “waxed strong in the knowledge of
the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the
scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.” (Alma 17:2)

My aunt joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints some years I was baptized. It gave me strength to know she and my uncle
were strong and faithful members of the Church. My aunt has done extensive
family history work and now has the opportunity to meet those dearly beloved
ancestors that have passed on. She will also reunite with my grandparents and
her older brother whom she never met because he passed away at the age of 18
months.

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I
have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day.”

(2 Timothy 4:7-8)

How glorious the hope of the resurrection! “I know that my
redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And
though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.”
(Job 19:25-26)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtU1c5JZf0k&noredirect=1

Rest in Peace, Aunt Phyllis. Until we meet again.

Summertime-a few months late

This blog entry was in my blog in an alternative universe. Now, thanks to some cyber friends, I am reposting the entry on the blog that I want to keep.

Amanda was home visiting in mid-June for her birthday. Since her birthday is close to Father's Day we had a combined birthday and Father's Day picnic. In the picture picture below Adrienne is putting the cupcakes she made on the table. Amanda is in the background and my
mom is in the way background.

Here is Amanda holding Ethan. He was just two weeks shy of being one.

Mark is holding Ethan in
this picture.

Mark is holding Ethan in this picture.

Here is Rachel holding Sonnie. Sonnie was about 2.5 months old in this picture.

Amanda and I delivered some gifts to the leaders at our church's girls camp. On the way back we stopped at a restaurant in Wrightsville, PA and ate dinner along the Susquehanna River. The view was beautiful, the food---not so great.

Amanda is getting married next May so while she was home we had a girls afternoon out. Rachel, Sonnie,Adrienne, Cala, Ethan, Amanda and I all went to David's Bridal so Amanda could
try on dresses. This one is my favorite. No decision on a dress has been made as yet.

A back view of the dress. Doesn't she look beautiful!!

Here is Amanda in another dress with Cala in a fancy dress she got to try on.

Cala consults with the bride-to-be about beading details on their dresses.

Cala also got to try onsome fancy dresses. The child is always in motion.

Here's Cala in another dress.

Ethan enjoys looking at himself as Aunt Amanda holds him.

And Sonnie was chillin' the whole time. She is such a sweet baby.

When my children were little and I was caught up in the daily routine of caring for them I never imagined that I would have such a lovely extended family as two of my children are married and have families of their own. I look forward to welcoming Amanda's fiance, Jeremy, into the family.

And that's all the news that isn't.......

The purpose of this post is to help me get over the death of the little stray cat that has been hanging around our house for the past 4 months. She wasn't even our cat, yet. I took her to the vet in order to get the necessary shots so she could come inside and join the otherfour cats in the household and not cause them harm with any communicable diseases. First things first-the vet took her away to draw some blood. Then it was bad news: she had feline leukemia which shortens a cat's life significantly. But there was hope for some sort of quality of life for a couple years. But the other four cats would need to be vaccinated against FLV. Then I asked if she could be pregnant because she had had quite a belly on her at one time and then some weeks passed and then she was thinner. Before the vet gave her the vaccinations they wanted to check out the pregnancy question. So they took her away for an x-ray, and then another x-ray. Then they developed the x-rays. Then the assistant came into the exam room and said that he would stay with the kitty, who I named LEH (pronounced Lee).

As I was driving to the vet's office I thought I had better think up a name since they might ask. We don't have specific names for our cats. Two of them are named "the grey cat" and the other one is named "the white cat". I thought of "Fluffy". Yck. Too commonly used. Then I thought of LEH which stood for "long ear hair" because this cat had the longest ear hair that I have ever seen. And so it was decided.

LEH remained in the exam room with the assistant while I went to the x-ray room to talk with the vet. No pregnancy but the stomach was chock full of food, as if she had eaten a stomach full in the last 10 minutes, which she hadn't because we had been at the vet's for 90 minutes at this point in time. The spleen was very large-the vet pointed out the image in the x-ray and said that she shouldn't even be able to see the spleen. The reason for the stomach not emptying was probably because the other organs were so enlarged that food couldn't pass through the intestines. All manifestations of an advanced stage of feline leukemia.

So there wasn't any chance of two good years of the soft life as an inside cat. LEH couldn't even come home with me. She might disappear for good and then suffer a very painful death as a result of her illness. The only option was euthanasia---right then. What a shock! I hadn't wanted a fifth cat but didn't want the option taken away from me in this way either. The vet was so sympathetic and cried along with me. And so LEH took a one way trip to the vet. My consolation is that she died a quicker, painless death than she would have if I hadn't "rescued" her. "Rescued" was the word the staff used at the vet's office. The vet said that she believed that everything happened for a purpose and that LEH came into my life so she wouldn't have to suffer a very painful death.

And that's all the news that isn't.....

Fall Festival

I'm taking a class about accomodating learners of all levels. One of my assignments is to spend time with a family with a child with disabilities. One family in the ward has graciously given permission to visit with them during the fall and learn with life is like having a child with a disability. Their child has autism and uses this notebook for communication. The child will choose a thumb nail picture and hand it to their mother when they have a need. This is an awsome tool that enables the child to experience less frustration when they have a need. I didn't know there were apps for ipads and iphones that would also assist with communication for non-verbal people.
There were inflatable party--what is a good descriptive word? Things? The day I was going to accompany my family to observe their child coincided with the day that Adrienne and Mark were going to run their half-marathon. I had agreed to watch Cala and Ethan so they came along while I did "school work". Ethan was so good and was content to sit in the stroller and watch the action. Cala had a great time sliding down this inflatable slide and jumping in the jumping house.

Here's Cala climbing up the rope ladder so she can go for a ride down the slide.

In motion in the jumping house.

Here are two videos of Cala on the slide. I just love the "Yea, baby!!" and the end of one of her rides down the slide.

Cala's Birthday

Cala was four on September 11. We had a birthday party and one of her presents from Mark and Adrienne was a bike. She had a good time riding it around the living room for a little while and then she tried it out outside.

Ethan had to try it out also.

Adrienne did a beautiful job with the decorations and the cake. Cala was very happy with her birthday cake as you can see in the picture.

Family Reunion/Air Show

There is a very cute story I used to read to my kids called "The Relatives Came" by Cynthia Rylant. It is illustrated with watercolor pictures and tells of some relatives who had to travel many hours to reach their destination. There were days of playing together and nights of sleeping on floors and where ever they could find space. Everyone had a good time and then it was time to return home which made the families sad because they knew it would be a long time before they saw each other all together again. I thought of this story as relatives gathered at my parent's house in Southern Maryland. A cousin, his wife and son came from Michigan, my brother and two of his children also came from Michigan, my younger brother, his wife and two of his children came from Illinois, my sister and her husband were there from CA, my son and his family and my daughter and her family were there also. Plus me. We made quite a crowd. Above is a collection of shoes that everyone left at the front door with Ethan's shoes by themselves near the front door.

Relatives, left to right: Alice, her father and my brother-Phil, another brother Ken talking to a cousin Chris.

Left to right: Dad, brother-in-law Tom, Dianne, and with her back to the camera-Diana, Chris' wife.

Left to Right: Kyle, Kym-Kyle's mother and Barrie, Phil's daughter.

Hurricane Irene passed up the east coast late in August. Mom and Dad came here for Saturday night. They returned home Sunday and when they got home they weren't able to drive up the street to their house. There was no electricity so Dad had to walk up the street to their house. The hurricane knocked out power for the neighborhood and they didn't get power back until Thursday-a day before the relatives started to arrive for the big Labor Day weekend party/air show. The above picture is the view of their street.

Below is a picture of a tree that was knocked down across the street from their house and had been laying across the road. Thankfully, their house sustained no damage and they just had a comparatively small pile of brush to drag to the side of the road for eventual pick-up.
Ahhh-the Air Show at Patuxent River Naval Air Station. It happens every two years. The last one was over Memorial Day weekend and this one was over Labor Day weekend. Below is a picture of one of the Blue Angels. I don't particularily need to see displays of air planes. I just want to watch the Blue Angels fly, hear the roar of the engines and appreciate the skill and beauty of precision flying.
Here is Sonnie in shades. Rachel and Derek were very careful with her and she didn't get any sun.
Cala sitting in a Black Hawk helicopter.
Here is Cala in a stroller. I didn't realize it when I posted this picture-but its not the greatest picture of her. She looks like she was going to cry, but actually she had a pretty good time. Check out Adrienne's blog for more (and better) pictures.
Derek and Mark looking at the intricacies of one of the airplanes on display.
Woo-hoo!! These videos are just short clips of what I went to the air show to see. We were able to watch the Blue Angels fly from the VIP section which was great. But even better, I was able to watch the show with my brother, Phil.