Hold on Grandma

I'm coming grandma. I pray you will hold on for another week. That's my thoughts this afternoon after talking with my mom. My grandma has not been doing very well. My aunts and mom moved her out of her place into a nursing home where they were hoping to get her back on her feet and moved into an assisted living place. Unfortunately, after moving her to the nursing home she has made a turn for the worse. I am flying back to OR on Thursday. It's a trip that has been planned for months as my cousin is turning 40 and I'm going back for the party. Now, there's a dual purpose for my going. This will, I know, be the last time I will see her alive. That saddens me. However, I know she has not been happy since my grandfather passed away almost 8 years ago. She has missed him greatly. After almost 96 years of life I suspect she is ready to go home and see her Jesus. Death is always hard, especially for those you love so much. She has been such an encouragement to me and was my prayer warrior when I was living a life for myself instead of Jesus. I have missed her since being back here in IA. Calling her every other week to make sure she is okay. Now, I can not even talk to her as she does not have the strength or motivation to talk on the phone. One week from tomorrow I will see her. I pray she'll hold on that long.

Engeldinger Marsh

I asked the family today if they wanted to go to the Pleasant Hill library and see the movie Pinocchio or we could go to Engeldinger Marsh and explore the creatures that live in and around there. I found that activity through the Polk County Conservation website http://www.conservationboard.org/Pages/em.aspx.  They always have activities that go on throughout the year.  So we decided to head to Engeldinger. It is just 5 miles outside Bondurant, about a 25 minute drive from our house. We arrive and a lady was talking and giving instruction. After a few minutes she says grab your nets and lets go exploring. Well, when they say explore the marsh, they really do mean explore the marsh! We started walking on the trail and pretty soon the trail became wet. Not just wet, but very wet and muddy and well, just marshy!! As we got further out it got deeper and deeper. The boys, well mostly Renn, was finding frogs, tadpoles, crawdads and lots of bugs. Zayvn? The marsh was up to his hips and he had a hard time getting around. Eventually Kevin had to go rescue Zayvn since he lost his boot out in the marsh. All of us, mostly the boys though, were so muddy and wet! I can tell you this wasn't one of my brightest ideas but boy did we have a laugh on the way home!!

IA Cubs Game

Kevin found this incredible deal on Groupon.com.  10 IA Cub Tickets for $25!!  Enough tickets for us as a family to go to two games and each boy could bring a friend.  Tuesday night was Zayvn's turn and he brought along his buddy Drew.  It was bobblehead night so the boys each got a bobblehead of the IA Cubs Manager.  I thought it was going to be a hot evening but actually there was a little bit of a breeze and turned out to be a nice night.  Cubs played a great game and the boys had fun.  They even got the camera guy to film them and they made it on the big screen!!   After the game they had a chance to run the base so they went down onto the field and ran from home to 1st base.  What a great night of fun!