Joy

Joy
October 2005-January 2008

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Grandpa and Joy

I took this video Dec. 26th. (Background music provided by my sis-in-law on the violin.) We were performing a Christmas Concert for Grandpa and Grandma. I wanted to remember how Grandpa and Joy were buddies. And since we all knew he was going to be the first one to die.
Now I find myself watching it over and over just remembering how she sounded, how she looked, how she moved. Remembering HER.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

My Last Day of Joy

I am so glad I started blogging. This was the last day I spent with Joy. While I was packing, Joy was making messes and I was taking pictures. She had gotten into the brown sugar that was left out from breakfast. She made a mess and got it everywhere. So typical! Now my house is clean but my heart is empty...



Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Sad News

Tami's last post was all about our upcoming exciting vacation to see Wicked and play at Disneyland. You already know that our vacation didn't end quite the way we expected.

On Sunday morning we got a call from my dad with the terrible news that Joy had died in her sleep. We found out this evening that she died from acute respiratory illness. Her lungs had an infection that constricted her airways and lowered the oxygen levels more and more. Since she was sleeping she just reached a point where she stopped breathing. There was no struggle or pain and the coroner told us that unless you were watching her bare chest all night, or had monitors hooked up, you would never even notice when she slipped away.

This was very comforting news for all of us to hear, especially to Grandma, who, despite all our assurances, still felt some blame and in the back of her mind kept asking those torturous questions: "what if I had just done this?" or "what if I hadn't done that"? The final answer is none of that made any difference. Heavenly Father was ready for her to come home and nothing could change that.

We had so many people rush to our aid and we were quickly flown up to I.F. where the family was gathered. Someday ask me about some of the little miracles that occurred to allow us to make it to I.F. so quickly. The Lord was definitely watching over us, and I think we set a record at getting through LAX.

This is all very sad and hard to deal with, and I've had my teary moments but the thing that really gets the eyes running is all the outpouring of love. Family and friends have been calling and sending cards and bringing food and coming to visit. This is even coming in from people we don't even know.

Thanks for letting me tell you all this. We know you are praying for us and sending us your love and we feel it and it's such a comfort.

We love you all.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

The Blessings of Living by the Parents...

Do you ever wish that someone you know would show up in the Costco parking lot when you have two babies asleep and you just need one thing? I was in the middle of the great debate (Do I wake them? Do I skip my errand?) when my phone rings and my mom says "What are you doing? Would you like a shopping companion? I'm right by Costco."

Tonight, my Dad did babysitting duty while we went to play practice. It seems that I call him quite often but he assures me that he would say no if he didn't want to come. (He also runs my errands and delivered the library books I had on hold.)
Oh, I can't forget he was the junior jazz cheerleader and driver for the Saturday games and he brought home a sack of tacos. What a guy!

I just wanted to give them a shout out and I hope they won't avoid answering when they see it's me on caller ID.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

The One About Christmas...

We had a wonderful Holiday.
Christmas Eve we had a snowstorm that we thought might prevent us from going up the mountain to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We followed a plow up and made it for a beautiful and delicious feast. We had very cute entertainment.



Then everybody came to our house to sleep. We opened our traditional Christmas Eve Jammies and had a surprise in store. SLIPPERS!

After a long night of playing Settlers, we finally made it to bed about 1:30 a.m.

The highlight of the day was the treasure hunt created by the most clever Dad.
Donning winter gear and traipsing outside to the sport court for one clue. Figuring out that one clue was a haiku and one was a limerick (We're a little nerdy at our house.) The girls got the GRAND PRIZE. A trip to L.A. to see Wicked and go to Disneyland.

We loved hosting and having everyone stay. Then when everyone left around 5:00 we decided to go up to I.F. a day early. (Thanks Mom and Dad for cleaning up and helping us get out the door.) Stay posted for the I.F. post...

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Two words...

The reason my blog hasn't been updated...
The reason my housework suffers...

GUITAR HERO...