Passover.

Though things are still kind of rough around here (well, at least for me, the kids seem to be doing well), life continues to go on, and here we are at the start of Holy Week. 

Holy Week and Advent are my two favorite opportunities each year to really focus our home on Christ.  We've started our Ressurection Eggs, and this week we will be reading some special Holy Week readings through the Gospel of Matthew. 

 

 

Tonight also marks the start of Passover.  To honor this, we watched a video that taught what Passover is, highlighting that Jesus celebrated Passover, and how we can do our own Passover celebration and Seder meal.

I'm hoping to do our own Seder this year, but we'll see. 

Today we remembered the first Passover, and how the Israelites used the blood of the lamb painted over their doors to save them from the tenth and final plague.  By the blood they were saved.

 



 

It's easy to make the connection:  by Christ's blood we are saved. 

 He is the Lamb of God that has rescued us from death.

We will keep this over our door to remember, and to say our house will follow the LORD.

Mom's Obituary.

I tried to copy Mom's obituary here so that I could just see it-but it's more complicated that I'm able to handle right now.  So, here is the link to the obituary from the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls.

 

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/argusleader/obituary.aspx?n=lois-widman&pid=163606488#fbLoggedOut

My Mom.

I hesitate to journal about this, because my words are so inadequate, and because part of me wants to forget March 10, 2013.  It was the worst, most painful day of my life.  It was the day we had to say good-bye to my mom.

My mom has been in a battle with metastatic breast cancer for about a year and a half.  Throughout this fight, she has never let the cancer control her life; she has lived her life the way she chose.  Though it may have slowed her down-she had to use a cane and could only work half-days-she never let it get the better of her, and she believed that in time she would beat this.

She lived with strength, love, and dignity.  I am thankful for all that she has taught me-especially how to be a mother, to work hard, to not complain, and never give up.

Saturday, March 9 my mom couldn't get out of bed.  She was very dizzy, and my dad was forced to call the ambulance, despite my mom's requests to just let her rest a little longer.  When she got to the ER in De Smet her blood pressure was 40/22 and her pulse varied from the 30's down to the mid-teens.  She needed to get to Sioux Falls, but the weather made that very challenging.  After failed attempts with the helicopter and hospital airplane, my mom was taken to Sioux Falls by ground ambulance, arriving at about 3:00 p.m.  Though she was tired when she arrived, she was responsive to medications, and became stable after only a short time.  I even had tickets to a concert (Sara Groves, my fave) which I had decided not to go to, but changed my mind since she was doing so well.  I left at 6:30 p.m. to go to the concert and she was fine.  I called after the concert to see how she had been doing, only to discover things had been interesting while I was gone.  They had to shock her heart to get it into rhythm.  So, I went straight back to the hospital, but again, she. was. fine.  Her heart rate and blood pressure were fine.  Her potassium which had been elevated had come down.  Her kidneys were in shock, and she would likely have to do dialysis-but in time like always, she would be fine.  I said good night again.  This time it was 10:15 p.m.  My mom said it was getting late, and we should get home and get some rest.  She was tired too, and we would see each other the next day.  I hugged her and said I love you.  I told her I was praying for her.  She said thank you, and Love you.  These were the last words I heard her speak.  I got another call at 5:40 a.m.  She had coded during the night and had to be intubated, but was now (again) stable.  I was worried, but she was always okay when I saw her; she was strong; she would fight back.  She fought most of the day Sunday.  I believe she tried, and I know the doctors did everything they could.  But, Sunday afternoon we lost her.  She couldn't keep a blood pressure or pump blood throughout her body. We had to say good-bye.  She had machines keeping her alive, but her life was gone.  With tears, hugs, and even wails of pain, my dad, my three sisters, my aunt, and myself let her go.  We joined hands around her and prayed, and quietly she went. 

All the dads and kids came in the room shortly after.  All 10 grand kids got a chance to say good-bye to Nana-though most of  them weren't able to make much sense of it.

So, now I figure out how to move on.  I know there are bigger tragedies in this world...I've seen the newspaper...but not to me.  It doesn't seem fair right now.  She wasn't done with this fight, and she wanted to be here.  I prayed for miracles, and it feels my prayers went unanswered, unheard.

I don't like where I am right now, but that is where I am.  I miss my mom, and I see the voids that she has left.  My heart breaks for my dad, and how is life is forever changed.

But, I will cling to the little bit of hope and faith that remain.  I pray that God will grant comfort and peace during this time, to me and also to all my family.  So, hopefully I'll have something more inspiring to write another day.

I decided to post this picture of my mom. She's holding Evelyn this past summer at a cabin in the Black Hills, wearing some new glasses Amy thought would look good on her. :)

I think it shows how she lived.  She was all about family, she was a "go-getter", a leader, a fighter, she enjoyed life, and together we had some cherished times. 

 



 

Thank you mom "for everything". We all love you, and miss you very much.

 

Progress?

I need to post some interior photos of our new home (which means first I need to take some photos)- but I think this kind of sums up  the progress we've made:

 

The kids of course love to "help", but we all know how that goes.  I like Matt's expression, which shows that all though we are doing work, no real progress is actually happening!  The good news: the kids had fun, got to paint some designs on the wall, and soon they were finished and Matt and I actually painted it for real.  The bad news:  there were a few tense moments about dripping paint and getting too close to the wood work, and no matter how many times we reminded her, Addie kept touching the wet paint.  You can't see the color at all because of the light, but if you are into details we painted our entry Moonshine (a light gray) by Benjamin Moore.

On a positive note, nothing needs to be done to the house immediately, and we are enjoying slowly making changes as time and money allows (although if anyone wants to come rip down some wall paper, we won't stop you).

X-Wing

Nathan, like many 6-year old boys is super into Legos right now.  For Christmas he asked for several different types of Legos...fortunately Grammy came through and got him the much-asked-for Star Wars variety.  It's clear to see why this is called an

 X-Wing!

(beyond that I have no idea what it is:)

 We wouldn't let him take out all the pieces the night he opened it, but the next morning he ripped into and worked on it for about an hour (before we had to leave for our Christmases).  Once we returned several days later, the X-Wing was not forgotten and he spent about 4 hours finishing it up.  The box said it was for ages 7-12, and he did have some initial frustrations, but I'm proud of him for doing it on his own-excepting a question here or there (to which I was little or no help).  It's definitely the most complicated things he's made, and so far he has not wanted to take it apart, unlike his smaller sets which he will assemble and dissemble over again. 

The Type A side of me has to separate from it or I will stress about Legos going missing...after all I think there are about 800 Legos on that thing!

Way to go Nathan!

Christmas wrap-up.

So, this is going to be a Christmas "wrap-up" (pun intended, but it's still going to be long). 

We did our family Christmas (previous post) on Thursday the 20th.  Friday morning, the kids had small gifts in their stockings and then it was pack for the weekend as efficiently as you can.  Matt took Friday off of work, and though it took us all morning to pack we were on the road for the Twin Cities by 12:30 p.m.   We drove to Elk River, MN to visit the Kleins.  The kids always love to see their cousins Logan and Julia.  Friday night we had pizza and went to bed, but Saturday they were able to go sledding and that night we did a gift exchange.

 

Here are all the Thompson-side cousins:

 

 

 Nathan (6 1/2), Evelyn (8 mos), Ella (4 1/2), Logan (6...almost 7), Julia (4 1/2), Adeline (3)

 

 

 Sunday we drove to Edina, MN to celebrate Christmas with Matt's dad, grandpa, and aunt & uncle.

Here we are in the party room at the condo.  It's strange that have them be the only kids around!

 

 

 

 

Matt and his Uncle Brian. 

 

 

 Whenever they're together this is what they do.  You see how Brian's arms are crossed and Matt is holding a book.  They're sitting off by themselves and discussing great theories and/or projects they've been reading about...or constructing themselves. 

They're engineers.  They're nerds.  I love 'em.

 

Grandpa Bob. 

Who as far as I'm concerned is the most loving, caring older gentleman in the whole wide world.

 



 

Matt's favorite Christmas cookie:  Sanbakkels. 

Prepared by Aunt Jodi with love.

 



 

This is Ella's 5th Christmas...she knows what to do with a sanbakkel.

 

Nathan and Addie are yet to learn to enjoy the sanbakkel.  They only lick off the frosting.

Nathan opted for a more chocolatey treat.

 

 

More cookie time. 

 



 

Matt's dad told us we could bring treats to the Christmas dinner.  We laughed.  Jodi always brings enough treats for a small county.  Needless to say, we didn't bring treats, and no one was in want.

 

 

After dinner, we of course opened gifts.  Nathan's final gift was an accordion which was Jeff's (Matt's dad) as a child.  About a year back, Nathan told Grandpa Jeff  he had wanted an accordion his entire life (which he said at Cracker Barrel while looking at a toy accordion).  Nathan remembers saying this and was pretty excited about it!

 

Evs and Me.

The Thompsons:  Matt with his Grandpa, Dad, and children.

 



 

So, three Christmases down, three to go!

After Thompson Christmas, we drove to De Smet, SD to celebrate with my side of the family.

We arrived there about 10:00 p.m., and unfortunately during the car ride Evelyn had started to break out in hives.  Christmas Eve morning it was worse.

So, baby's first Christmas, all broke out!  It's hard to see it in the pictures, but she was pretty pathetic looking.  It was all over, even her eyes were swollen.

 



Thankfully, she wasn't bothered by it.  So, we used a little cream and moved on!

 

We are blessed that the entire Widman side is still able to get together for Christmas Eve.  It is great to have a time of year to see all my cousins, aunts, and uncles.  This year we even did an ugly sweater party.  Matt's idea was pretty good.  He didn't have an ugly sweater, so instead I stitched a squirrel to his back (if you haven't seen Christmas vacation, this isn't funny to you, but in my family this is hilarious).  To finish off the outfit, he wore his dark green wool "nursing home" pants.

 

 

Kearns'.

 

There were even prizes.  Amy won 1st prize!

 

 

Matt got 1st runner up!

His prize was a fruit cake...unfortunately I looked at the ingredient list and opted for us to not eat it:)

 

All the cousins and their spouses. 

 

 

Here we are after a change of clothes (we didn't want to wear our sweaters to church):

And then ensues the craziness of Christmas Eve. 

It may be my favorite day of the year, but every year the house seems to get a little fuller!

 

There are 10 cousins total on my side (Nathan is the oldest and Evelyn is the youngest).  Unfortunately we never got a picture of them all together.  In fact, I didn't really take any pictures at all.  Sometimes it's best to just put the camera away and enjoy the moment!

 

I did take a photo of the Santa plates though!

We are likely the only parents in America who try to teach their children the truth about St. Nicholas and have their children argue with them that Santa is indeed real and magical.  So be it I guess!

Here is Nathan's note:
"For Santa Love Nathan Lego City"

 

Ella's note:

"Santa i want a kitten"

 

The older cousins worked together to leave out some drinks, cookies, bows, candy canes, and of course, cocktail shrimp and cheese.

It was all gone in the morning, to which they exclaimed, "See, Santa does like shrimp!"

 

 

Christmas morning everyone opened their gift from Santa, and most departed to celebrate with their other families.  We had already done that, so we stayed and celebrated with a few of my mom's relatives.  My mom has been battling cancer for over a year, and though she is truly an inspiration and tough as nails, I was thankful that we were there.  My dad and I were able to handle most of the meal preparations so my mom could rest, and afterwards my aunts and I cleaned up so she could take a nap.  We kept telling her not to over do it, but it was a full weekend and I'm glad she was well enough to participate in all the celebrations.

 

Last Christmas photo opp with the kids:

 

 

 And speaking of naps, this is what Addie looked like at about 5:00 p.m. 

 

 

She transferred to the car, slept the whole way home, into her bed, and then until 8:00 the next morning. 

We did it! 

Family Christmas, Klein Christmas, Thompson Christmas, Extended Widman Christmas, Widman Christmas, & Garner Christmas...whew!

Family Christmas 2012

A few years ago the kids were so little that we never bothered to have a private family Christmas.  It probably seemed absurd to others, but we already had a lot going on adding another Christmas seemed unnecessary (after all, they wouldn't even remember it:).  However, this is our 3rd year doing our own Christmas and it is such a treasured time.  I really do believe that the kids are at a perfect Christmas age.  It is such a blessing to experience all the amazement and excitement through them.

We followed tradition and had a pizza party...we are celebrating a birthday!

 

 

Evie's first Christmas (had a "blow-out" and is in her jammies!)

 

 

Matt and I like to keep it simple with gifts.  This year, everyone received some shoes, and Nathan also got a Star Wars Legos (his current obsession) t-shirt.

Everyone helped each other open their gift...Nathan was especially willing to lend a hand.

 

Evelyn had no idea what was going on but loved the paper and boxes...and had a great time!

 

Most of their gifts that night were from Grammy.  We even got to Skype with her so she could watch them open them up.  From her, they all received some clothes, Nathan got a big Star Wars Lego set and the girls (minus Evelyn) got Lalaloopsy Dolls.  They of course loved everything!

Oh yeah...I almost forgot that we also got the kids a map (in photo below amongst the rubbage).  The kids were excited about it, even if Matt's co-workers told Matt he was lame for buying his kids a map for Christmas (it apparently is not the latest and greatest:)

 

 

Ella opening a gift from Grammy.

 

 

Following gift opening, Matt surprised me with a stainless-steel cookware set.  It definitely was a huge surprise, and I love it...thanks babe!

Then we had one more surprise for the kids.  We told them to get ready for bed, then once their pj's were on, we gave them each a ticket and told them they were riding the "Minivan Express".  It was totally a Pinterest idea I found, but it worked well.  Upon entering the Minivan Express, Matt (wearing a conductor hat of course) took their tickets and handed them some popcorn.  We then drove around Sioux Falls, mainly the Falls Park area, and took in the Christmas lights. 

As we got into the van I realized that we were taking the kids out at bed time and this had the potential to go very badly....but surprisingly everyone seemed to really enjoy it, and Evelyn even fell quietly asleep.  It may become a new tradition.