Dogs are Just the Best EVER!

Anyone who knows me knows that I love dogs. I like most animals, but dogs are just the best. We have owned several dogs over the years. Many of them we have had to give up for one reason or another--usually because we were moving--and it was always so hard to let them go. There were a few that really stand out as being especially difficult to give away. For example, giving up Meshach, our Cocker Spaniel, was very hard. We loved him so much! And, of course Beckett, our Shepard mix we got from the shelter. She was just the best! We had a little Cock-a-Poo named Shasta that we had to have euthanized when she began having seizures that had really started to make her life miserable. She was such a sweetheart.

But, honestly, none of our previous dogs have been as special as Dakota, Bristow, and Bennett. They have been my favorites by far. We got Dakota, a terrier mix, in September of 2005, and Bristow, a Jack Russell, the following month. About a year and a half later, we got Bennett, another Jack Russell. The three have been constant companions of mine ever since.

Bristow, just chillin'

Bennett

Dakota

Bristow had a close call with death once, but we were able to nurse her back to health. We cherished her all the more after coming so close to losing her. She was a spunky, bossy little thing and definitely the alpha-female of the pack. She was always so curious and she seemed to truly be interested in whatever we were doing. When Gene would work on something, Bristow would be right there watching, as if she were trying to learn something. Unfortunately, when we moved to our house in Ramona, Bristow managed to escape our yard and ended up running out onto a busy street and got hit by a car. We were devastated by her death. We miss her so much.

Bristow had such a cute overbite

Then, last month, Bennett got really sick after getting a large piece of a dog treat stuck in her esophagus. The vet was doubtful she would make it through the night if they didn't do a bunch of tests (that would have cost almost $6,000) and then possibly surgery. After spending $1,200, we decided to bring her home and try to nurse her back to health. So far, it seems to have worked! It was a long, difficult road to her recovery, but she seems to be back to her old self. In fact, she's lost a little weight and seems to be a new woman!

Last week, out of nowhere, Dakota had a seizure. Gene and I had gone out for the evening, and Krista called, hysterical, telling us that Dakota was having a seizure. We rushed back home and kept a careful eye on her until we could get her to the vet the next day. She had another seizure that night. The vet didn't give us much hope, saying that two seizures in such a short time was not a good sign. She said that she really wouldn't be able to tell what was causing the seizures without some expensive tests, and even then she might not be able to tell. She did run a blood test and found that she had a slightly elevated white blood count and prescribed an antibiotic, but she didn't think that was causing the seizures. Dakota had another seizure that evening and then another the next day. But she hasn't had another one in three and a half days, so we are hoping that it was the infection after all. We know that she may still have more seizures and that we may end up losing her, but for now we are just appreciating each day with our two girls.

Of course we also have two new dogs that are our outside "guard dogs." Copeland and Winter have become fast friends and seem to enjoy playing with each other. We have only had them about 6 months, but we love them already.

Dogs are just the best EVER!

The Road to Recovery

It was so hard to leave Kathi, but my life was waiting for me back in California. Stacey and I had a HORRIBLE experience trying to get back home. I won't go into details, but, suffice it to say, I will NEVER fly United Airlines EVER again!

James has a lot to deal with right now, so I didn't want to bombard him with phone calls and text messages asking for updates on Kathi, but I had to check in with him a couple of times. The updates were short. Basically, not much change, but she is continuing to work hard in physical therapy, and there is some improvement in her physical condition. Good news, to be sure, but not super encouraging. My head knows that this is going to be a long process, but my heart wants to see quick, noticeable improvements. She has so much going for her, and she deserves so much happiness. This just doesn't seem fair.

Then, last Saturday morning, Patrick sent me a text message with a photo of Kathi and James that he took that morning.



The difference in her smile was nothing short of amazing. I could not believe it! In three short weeks, she has come such a long way! As soon as I got the photo, I called Patrick. He said that the doctor said that Kathi is "exceeding our expectations."

Exceeding expectations!

Of course she is. Kathi is a fighter. She overcame breast cancer, for crying out loud!

She can do this!

The Morning a Stroke, Like an Earthquake, Shook My Life

The call came at 3-something on Friday morning, July 12, 2013. When I saw my brother's name on the phone, my heart skipped a beat. I knew immediately that I was about to get some bad news.

Hello?

Deb, sorry to call you at this time, but I thought you'd want to know right away. Kathi's had a stroke, and it looks pretty bad.

I remember literally shaking my head quickly as if to clear the cobwebs, because, surely I didn't hear that right. A stroke? Kathi? That can't be right. She's not even 51!

You can't prepare for this kind of news. Like an earthquake, it shakes your life without warning, jarring you from your complacency, and compelling you to action.

In an instant, my priorities shifted. Nothing mattered except Kathi. Not the two freelance projects with their looming deadlines, not the boxes in my garage that I still hadn't unpacked from our move over three months ago, nothing. My beautiful younger sister was fighting for her life, and getting out to Virginia was the only thing that mattered. After losing my older sister, Carla, to pancreatic cancer ten years ago, the thought of losing Kathi, too, was something I couldn't imagine.

The next day news about Kathi was mixed. A message from one person said she was much better, even singing and laughing. There was hope! But later in the day, the news was bad. She was in ICU, 100% blockage, nothing the doctors could do, it's a waiting game.

The next several hours were spent making preparations to go to Virginia. And praying--lots of praying. I knew that God could spare her life, but would he? That was the part that scared me.

Thankfully, my niece, Stacey, came with me. I honestly don't know what I would have done without her, because I was completely unprepared for what I was when I got to the hospital. By then we knew that two of the main arteries to Kathi's brain were completely blocked, and because she didn't get medical care within five hours of the onset of the stroke, there was nothing they could do to unblock them. So, all she has going for her is her strength and her will to live.

And her family.

And her faith.

Over the next nine days, I witnessed that strength of Kathi's, and amidst the tears and the fear, there was laughter, and there was hope. Small victories that were huge. Like the day she remembered my name (it was only once, but it was a victory). And the day we showed up at the hospital to find her sitting in a wheelchair, dressed in her own clothes. She was beaming, and she was beautiful. And one day, she surprised us all by noticing that the calendar said it was June instead of July!


Stacey read "Hind's Feet on High Places" at Kathi's request

It's a surreal experience seeing my vibrant, smart, funny, articulate sister unable to communicate her thoughts, unable to walk or lift her right arm, unable to even feed herself. But in this vulnerable state, the core of Kathi shone through. It was clear to everyone she came in contact with that she has a pure heart, and a fighting spirit, and a sharp wit. She somehow found a way to make light of her situation, easing the pain for the rest of us with her sense of humor. The nurses would ask her, "Were you always this funny?" And she would immediately reply, "Yes." And then she'd look at us and say, "Right?"

Right.


Kathi and Me

Kathi and Stacey

The thing that struck me the most was how her deep, abiding faith in God was clearly comforting her. She asked people to pray for her, she sang songs from our childhood, she asked us to read the Bible to her. And, when a phrase touched her, she would get emotional. And, of course, that would make me get emotional.

We celebrated Kathi's 51st birthday while we were there. She asked for mom's homemade banana pudding instead of a cake. Stacey and I were only too happy to make it for her. I think it's safe to say that she enjoyed it (and she fed herself, thank you very much).





On the fourth day we were there, Kathi greeted us by telling us emphatically, "I'm going to get better. I promise."

Kathi has a long road ahead of her. It's not going to be easy. But I am going to hold her to that promise.

And I'm going to pray. Hard.

Dear Carla

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Dear Carla,

Oh how I missed you today! It was a beautiful day for a wedding. The bride was beaming and gorgeous. I tried to soak it in for you. The minute I woke up, my mind registered the fact that this was the day your beautiful Stacey would be getting married. I couldn’t help but think about how happy you would have been. . . how much fun you would have had helping her get ready for her special day, after months of planning. You would have probably helped her make her wedding dress, although she actually did just fine on her own (she’s so much like you). In the end, she wasn’t quite happy with the dress she’d made, so she bought one after all. It was absolutely stunning. After managing to hold it in all day, I lost it the moment I saw her in the dress. I couldn’t help it! She was breathtaking. And all I could think of was how proud you would have been of her—not only because of her outward beauty, but because of who she has become inside, too.

She’s wonderful, Carla. And although you died when she was only 17, it’s clear that you had a tremendous influence on her. She’s sweet, funny, giving, smart, emotional (wonder where she got that?) . . . I could go on and on.

On days like this one, I miss you so much. I can’t tell you the number of times something has happened and I have thought, “Oh, I’ve got to tell Carla about this. She will crack up!” or “I’m going to call Carla and share what happened. She’ll understand.” Of course I quickly realize that I can’t, and the frustration of that fact stings every time. But today, your absence was felt even more. It’s been the case on all of the special days you’ve missed—James’, Scott’s, and Anna’s weddings, Westley’s birth.

Throughout the reception, I kept getting caught off guard. Simple, little things would just touch me, and I’d get choked up all over again. Like the bride and groom’s first dance, the father-daughter dance, Adam dancing with Stacey, Anna and Kelby’s maid of honor speeches. Stacey looked so happy. You would have loved it.

But you weren’t there.

And I missed you.

Reflections of 2011

Now that it's April, I decided I should try to catch up on what happened last year. I know, I'm pretty bad.

January
The girls turned 13 and 17. I already posted about this, so um, yeah. . . they turned 13 and 17. Gene and I celebrated our 33rd anniversary. And, I already posted about this, too, so. . . moving on to February.
February
Gene turned 54. One more year until he's considered a senior at some businesses. Senior Citizen's discount here we come!
We went to see Nick Vujicic (pronounced vooy-cheech) at The Rock Church. He was born with no arms or legs, and he has an amazing testimony. You can learn more about Nick here: http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/around-the-world/bullying-stop-the-epidemic/
March
Ryan went back to Japan to visit Ai. The day he arrived there was a massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Thankfully he was far away from the disaster. It was so devastating to watch the destruction.
April
Nothing eventful happened this month. I continued to try to sell a home to a couple of different clients. Held a couple of open houses. By the way, open houses are a lot of work!
May
Got an MRI done on my neck and back. I'm so tired of this pain! The MRI revealed several small to medium issues, which apparently all add up to one big issue, but there's not much that can be done about it. It's very disheartening.
June
Got a new stainless steel refrigerator, oven, and microwave! Gene showed off his handyman skills by running a gas line for our oven, so now I have a gas stove/oven! He also mounted our microwave. Sometimes he really impresses me!
Leah left for the summer to visit her birth mother in Hawaii. It was hard to let her go, because I felt like it was the beginning of her leaving us one day, which turns out to be right. More about that later.
July
Got a bone scan and a mammogram (fun). Still no real answers. Krista went to camp for a week, and Gene and I went to visit my mom in Albuquerque. It was so nice to see her, but the visit was too short. I think she really enjoyed having us there.
August
Ashley, Eric, and the grandkids came out for a visit! We had a wonderful time. We all went to Disneyland. It was our first time seeing Alex. What a little character he is. And Marah is so smart and funny. And our beautiful Jenna is such a sweet, talented girl. They are all growing up so fast! I sure wish we could see them more often.


Leah came home from Hawaii right after Ashley left. It was so good to see her! Apparently she met "someone special" out there. She started talking about going back there to live when she turns 18. This was hard to hear, but I wasn't surprised.
I decided to home school Krista this year. School started this month, which was hard with Ashley here. As it turns out, homeschooling was a HORRIBLE idea. I thought it would be easier with Krista than it was for Leah, but Krista was just as hard, if not harder. She just kept making excuses and begging to get out of an assignment. I could only handle it for one semester. Lesson learned.
My best friend from 10th grade, Karen (Lepker) Bauer called up one day and said she was in town and wanted to know if I could meet her for dinner. Why, yes I could! It was so great to catch up with her. Now if she would only get on Facebook!


September
I took another course in SDSU's Educational Technology certificate program. This is the last of the required courses. After this I only have 2 elective courses to take. I'll be so glad when this is finished!
Ryan was busy planning his wedding. It was so interesting to watch. You don't often see the groom plan the wedding. But he did it all! He's quite the proscratinator, and I don't think he realized that you have to book wedding venues early, so he had a difficult time finding a place. But he eventually settled on a beautiful place in Julian. We were all so excited to meet Ai's family!
Carla's been gone for 8 years now. The pain is still intense.
October
Ryan and Ai got married!

What a special day it was. So many of Ai's family members came out from Japan, and we had a wonderful visit with them. They were so sweet, and they brought yummy gifts! And Ashley was able to come back out for the wedding. So all of my kids were together for the first time in a LONG time. We are blessed.
The sad part came when Ryan and Ai went back to Japan. They have to live there for AT LEAST two years. A lot can happen in two years, so I'm worried they will end up staying there. That's so far away!

November
This month turned out to be rough. First, I turned 52. It's hard to even type that. I'm still in denial. But the really rough part was that Leah left to go stay with her birth mother's sister in the bay area before eventually moving to Hawaii. It was especially difficult because it was right before Thanksgiving, and she left because she was angry (mostly with me, though she and Gene argued a lot). It was very emotional. Thanksgiving is always emotional for me, because it was Carla's favorite holiday, and my dad's birthday is around that time, so I think about them a lot around Thanksgiving. Leah leaving didn't help.
I did have my first real estate transaction this month. I sold my first listing. It was my neighbor's mother's house. She had unfortunately passed away and they needed to sell her house, so they asked me to help. It sold in 10 days!
Anna came out to visit, and we finally got to meet Luis. We had a great time at James' and Sabrina's.


December
Christmas was definitely different this year. With only one kid at home, it just seemed odd to go all out with decorating, so we bought a little tree and used just a few of our ornaments. It certainly took less time to decorate (and undecorate), but it didn't feel much like Christmas. We went to Hollywood for Christmas. We saw "Wicked" and we went to Universal Studios. We video chatted with all of the other kids on Christmas Eve, which was really nice.



It's hard to believe that 2011 is over and that we are well into 2012 already!

Real Estate is Hard!

Okay, so I'm finding out that having a passion for real estate isn't enough to make a living at it. Apparently you have to actually have some sales skills. And, apparently, I don't. I know I shouldn't be surprised at that fact--and I'm not really; I actually knew I wasn't a salesperson. But I truly thought that my sincere desire to help people find the right home or get a fair price for their current home was going to be enough. I figured that my knack for design or my trustworthy personality would win people over, and folks would naturally flock to me. But, um, that's not happening.

Not even close.

Now, I realize that my biggest problem is that I'm working full-time at another job, and I'm a mother of two teenagers at home, so my time is obviously limited. Not to mention all the physical problems I've had in the past year. Why I thought I could do this, I have no idea! But I did. And, call me crazy, but I still do.

Sometimes.

Like when someone tells me that they have met several real estate agents, but they just didn't click with any of them, and then they met me, and I was so down-to-earth, and they just instantly felt at ease with me. And I think, "Oh wow, that's what I was hoping people would feel with me!"

Or when someone calls me and says, "I met you at an open house a few months ago, and we're ready to start looking for a house now."

So, I've submitted three offers on three separate homes for three separate clients, but have not actually closed any transactions. For three very different reasons, each transaction fell through. But I'm still actively working with two of the clients, and am hoping to make a sale very soon. I've learned A LOT with these three clients, and I truly feel that if I could just get a sale or two under my belt, I'd be on my way to a successful career in real estate.

On the other hand. . .

I sometimes think that, if I could just make these two sales, I could recoup my costs, and then I should get out. It's stressful, this real estate thing. The last thing I need in my life right now is more stress.

Oh, I don't know!!!!!!

Birthdays and Anniversary

Last month the girls turned 17 (Leah) and 13 (Krista), and Gene and I celebrated our 33rd anniversary.

OK, seriously? Where did the time go?

How on earth did the girls go from this:

to this:

in just a couple of years?

I mean, how does that happen?

This year we let the girls each invite a couple of friends from church to spend the night. Leah invited Victoria and Mel, and another friend who couldn't make it. Krista spent the night at a friend's house, so it was just Leah and her friends. We took them to see Tron, and then back home for a quick dinner and an ice cream bar before Mel had to leave, because she was headed to Mexico for a missions trip. Here are a few photos from the evening.

Mel, Leah, Victoria

Victoria, Mel, Leah

Victoria, Mel, Leah

Mel & Leah

Leah & Victoria

Leah in the Christian jacket she likes to wear to pretend she's a Christian : )

Then the following weekend, Krista invited Becca, Charlotte, and Kelby to spend the night. We took them to see Gulliver's Travels (um, not the greatest), then we went to dinner at Pancho's. When we got back home, it was dark, but the girls wanted to play on the tree swing for awhile. Then we headed in for the ice cream bar and presents. The girls had all grabbed 3-D glasses out of the bins in the theatre lobby on their way out.

Krista, Becca, Charlotte, and Kelby wait patiently for Gene to dish out the ice cream

Twilight books (I still say she's too young for these)

Starbucks gift card (and too young for this)

The chocolate syrup came out like poop, which cracked them up

Becca seriously could not stop laughing, especially when it made a farting sound!

And then Becca gave Krista a whoopee cushion, and things really got out of hand!

Kelby is growing up, too!

Later in the month, Gene and I actually celebrated our anniversary, which is something we rarely do. We decided to just do a few random things that we've been wanting to do for a long time, but just never took the time (or money) to do.

We went to the Whaley House, which is famous for being haunted. Basically, it was a bit interesting for its historical value, but was a waste of time and money. Don't waste yours, here are some photos. The real thing wasn't any more interesting!

We also went to Old Town, and ate at a Mexican restaurant (not bad). We walked around a bit before going to the comedy club later that evening. Here's Gene outside La Casa de Estudillo, which was actually more interesting than the Whaley House (and free).

And we finally went to the Corvette Diner. We'd never been, because it's a bit of a drive for us and the wait is always so long. But we were in no hurry, so we braved the crowd. We really enjoyed it, and will definitely go back with the girls one day!

Finally, we went to see the musical, Emma, at the Old Globe Theatre. It was really, really good. I couldn't imagine how they would turn Emma into a musical, but it was fantastic. I highly recommend it! (Though I think it's only playing through the first week in March.)

We really enjoyed our weekend, and I'm looking forward to seeing another play at the Old Globe one day!