Happy Birthday America!!
We had a wonderful 4th of July celebration with everyone but my dad being up at the lake. It was so good to see Katy home again, and playing on the jet skis, water skiing, and just enjoying her nieces, brother and sister. Travis had broken his hand right before they got here, so he was somewhat limited to what he could do, but we all got to know him a little better. Roxi was sick much of the time, and got some rest. She and Jason tried to celebrate their 12th anniversary, but there was a 3 hour wait where they wanted to go, so just shared a quick meal somewhere else. Mel had to work, so Rob stayed till Friday after playing a round of golf.
The girls loved the golf cart parade our association had, and the sparklers were a big hit. This year Evy got to go on the boat for the first time to see the fireworks. However, our poor dogs were terrified buy all the loud noises. Both Jager and Maddie were trembling, panting, and hiding. It was so sad. They wouldn't even go outside they were so scared. Jager was hiding behind the toilet in the basement. :-(
During our celebration, there was a military coop in Egypt. People there decided they did not want to live under the Muslim Brotherhood rulers anymore. Made me appreciate the freedoms we so take for granted here in the US. I am so terrified that our country as it was founded, representing liberty for the world is slipping away. So many people won't or don't realize the harm that is being done by Obama and his socialists friends in power. I pray that Anni and Evy will still be celebrating the 4th of July with their children!
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Posted by Bibi Ronnie at 1:30 PM 0 comments
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Hawks WON!!!
The Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup again this week. The entire playoffs were crazy, with a comeback being down 3 games against Detroit, then defeating the best goalie and the LA Kings. But the series with Boston was brutal, exciting, and extremely stressful. The first game we won after 3 overtimes!!! The final game was played in Boston, and they were winning 2 to 1 about halfway through the third period. They thought they were forcing a game 7 in Chicago, but the Hawks tied it with less than a minute and a few secs. AND THEN 17 SECS LATER SCORED THE WINNING GOAL!!! Never has a team won a Stanley Cup like that. What a thrilling game, and the entire city went nuts with VICTORY!!!
Hockey Fever had taken over the city. Even my 91 year old dad stayed up to watch the final game. He usually goes to bed by 7 pm, but called me at 10:30 all excited about what a sensational game it was. When I first told him to start watching the Hawks a few months ago, he claimed he couldn't see the puck, and it was too fast, yet boring because it took them so long to score. But now he is hooked, and it is so cute and fun to share it with him, since I don't get excited over his baseball or golf.
We are up at the lake preparing everything for our 4th of July celebration. Katy and Travis are flying home Tues, and for the first time since Christmas, I'll have everyone home together for a few days. Roxi is now 6 months pregnant, and starting to feel better. Travis hasn't met anyone else yet, so it should be fun getting to know him better. I pray the weather is good for all of us, since it has been raining almost every other day. Nice and sunny, but not too hot would be wonderful Lord. I'm just looking forward to having all my family at the lake house at one time. It is the reason we built the house, and now it can become a home filled with family love at last.....
Posted by Bibi Ronnie at 10:11 PM 0 comments
Monday, June 17, 2013
I'm Back!!!!!!!
I know, another blog starting out about how busy I've been, and haven't written, but actually my old computer wouldn't let me on my own blog. NOW, I have a new computer, and sooo much to share. Some huge things, like Jason, Anni and Evy were all electrocuted and survived last year all covered in Roxi's blog: Roxengstrom.blogspot.com in much more detail and wisdom than I could ever describe it. Ironically, tho, she called me while I was watching the Blackhawks play, and they are in the playoffs again, so I guess I'm just a little over a year late in that story. They are home, and the girls are sleeping in the next room because they are going to my church's VBS all week, so how great is that?
Other big news, is Roxi is having our first grandson. We are all thrilled except that she suffers so with HG, and has been sooo ill. Again, details are on her blog. We all went to Disney World with the girls in January and had a wonderful time. Roxi didn't know she was pregnant yet.
In Feb, Steve and I went to New Zealand for two weeks! It was wonderful! Will have to add pics later.
Katy got her own territory in Virginia Beach, and we have been out twice, me three times, to see her. She has a new fella, a Navy deep sea diver named Travis. They are coming home to the lake for July 4th so everyone else can meet him. He seems like a really nice guy. Artistic and sensitive. Not crazy about his tattoos, but he's a sailor, right?
Rob and Mel are still living together, and real estate in Chicago is slowly starting to pick up. They got a new car and a new place this last year. Would like a wedding and more grandkids, but I'm trying to be patient.
My Dad is still living with Tanya and Jari, and I see him almost everyday. He loves seeing the girls, and we are going to take him out with Rob tomorrow night. He was getting depressed and drinking too much again, but through the Hospice people they found a volunteer that comes once a week to visit him. He and Mark really hit it off since they were both engineers, and it has been such a blessing for Tanya and me.
Since it is getting late, and two darling little girls will be calling,"Bibi" first thing tomorrow morning, I better get to sleep. Now that I'm back, I'll try to keep in touch more than once a year......
Posted by Bibi Ronnie at 11:50 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Hangin' In There
The month is coming to a close with an extra day, but I seem to just be going through the motions of day to day living. Sunday would have been my parents 64 anniversary, so I took Tanya, Kitty, and my Dad to Red Lobster to celebrate. He got all dressed up to go out with his girls! We had a really fun time, and it made the day pass without too much stress for my Dad. He is actually do quite well. I think after living with Mom's constant falling and dementia for over two years, he feels somewhat relieved that he doesn't have to worry about her anymore. He couldn't take care of her anymore, and that lack of control over a situation frustrated him. He also has a new found respect for Tanya which is great. She is pampering him well. Dr. Chang came to check him out last week, and when Tanya described what happened with my Mom, he said he thought she had had a blood clot in her lungs. It was the only answer for him that would take her so quickly. What is strange, is that is the same way Steve's Mother died.
A friend of mine from church, who was dealing with her mother's dementia, lost her mother on Valentine's Day. We hugged on Ash Wednesday, and decided to do lunch around Mother's Day to share our memories. I was lucky tho, that Mom was lucid. Her mother was angry and mean the last months before she passed.
Great Performances last week had the Broadway musical "Memphis" on, and I so wanted to call her to tell her to watch it, because I know she would have loved it. Watching the Academy Awards without her seemed weird too. I think about her fondly, but it is strange that I seem to be doing okay otherwise. I know a lot of people are praying for me, and I feel that support, because I am not wallowing in grief. Maybe it is because we didn't have a service yet. Or, like Dad, I truly feel she is in a better place and didn't enjoy living stuck in bed. I've never lost anyone close before, so I am making my way down this unknown path slowly and carefully. 88 years is a good life. Losing a child would be far harder. I also told Roxi, that in a way, I feel like I had already lost my Mother to the dementia. Once you have to parent your parent, you stop being the child in a way. I'm just moving on, hoping that I don't suddenly fall down the rabbit hole of despair. But right now, I'm hanging in there, so thanks for the prayers, they're working to keep me sane....
Posted by Bibi Ronnie at 8:44 PM 1 comments
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Time Flies and I've Lost My Heroine!
The fall brought a different concern. My dear Mother who kept falling was finally forced to move out of Windsor and into a home Robbie found for them, so they could live with a 24 hour caregiver. So, we packed, unpacked, found Tanya and Nejari, to live and care for them. Daddy had a collapsed lung while we were hunting in Michigan, and before we had actually moved them into their new house. All was well for a few weeks after we got him out of the hospital, and Katy came home for Thanksgiving! Then, started a downward spiral of circumstances that I don't even want to recall. Mom fell again, got aspirational pneumonia because her dementia worsened from the fall. This cycle was repeated twice between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hospital, rehab, hospital, and then the dreaded word-hospice! Don't get me wrong. Hospice workers are the most caring and incredible people I have ever met. It was the only way, Mom was able to come home for Christmas, and after weeks of confusion, she was lucid most of the time. I was no longer her sister, but her daughter again. We spent hours going over the pictures from her life, and sharing stories. Tanya and Nejari would play games with her, and Katy and Robbie had a chance to be present with her too. Thanks to Skype, she was even able to talk with Roxi and the girls. We celebrated New Year's and Daddy's 90th birthday! Even though she was confined to her bed, she was doing much better, and the doctor thought we might be able to take her off hospice.
So in January Steve and I, Robbie and Mel, met up with Katy in Florida for the annual DVM convention in Orlando. It was a time to get away, as well as see Katy at work. We visited with our dear friend, John, and my Mother's real sister(not me), Jerry and her husband, Bill. Two weeks later, Steve and I had his SCI convention in Las Vegas, and again we thought we could go, since Mom was doing so well. However, Daddy had been getting more depressed, and was drinking more, which in turn caused much stress for Mom, Tanya, and me.
So, on Groundhogs Day, a day I never want to repeat, my wonderful, loving, creative, heroine suddenly passed on without me being there. Luckily, I had called her an hour before, and talked with her. She was fine. Then I got an urgent, frantic call from Tanya. She said Mom couldn't breathe even though she had given Mom morphine, the nebulizer and oxygen. Mom told her to call me, and I only had a few minutes to tell her I loved her and then she was gone! It was like a whirling nightmare! Poor Tanya and my Dad were devastated and I was in shock in the middle of a convention hall! How could the woman who gave me life, just be gone without me there to kiss her goodbye?
Today was Super Bowl Sunday for the rest of America, for me, it was the long trip home to reality. I was comforted by many, and distracted by the convention during the day, but at night, the quiet brought tears and such a feeling of aloneness. I know she is in a better place with her Lord. I know she did not want to live in the circumstances she found herself in. She had always been a fighter; a stubborn, German Dutchman! While in the hospital she was pulling out IVs, trying to talk anybody to help her get out of there, and after she was home, she dreamed of throwing her old, worn out legs over the bed so she could get up! I think her heart just gave out trying to fight with her circumstance.
Besides all the wonderful things she did in her life to make me a proud daughter, the one that always made me see her as a heroine was the story of her getting thrown off a public bus in Memphis after the war. She had given her seat to an elderly, black woman during the time of segregation, and both were forced to get off the bus. My Father's Father was a racist. My Mother taught me the sin in that way of thinking. She also taught me that if someone gives you lined paper, to write the other way!
I find it comforting and curious that the woman holding her hand as she entered Heaven was Tanya, a loving and caring black woman who loved my Mother as her own, even though she only knew her a few months. When I first met her in the interview, we both felt God's hand in bringing us together. We called each other "sistas", and strongly felt that we were intermingling our lives because it was God's Will. Her son Nejari, has become apart of my family too. He fills the void I have from not seeing my own grandchildren, yet I can't wait for him to meet them.
God works in strange ways, and we should not question His wisdom in directing the choices we make.
Pastor Patrick from Hospice came immediately to be with Dad and Tanya, and he called me in Vegas to pray with me. He said that often times people can choose when they leave, and they go when they think it will be less stressful on those they love. I don't know if I completely agree with that, but I am grateful I didn't have to witness what poor Tanya did. I can remember the last month of conversations with Mom, not the helplessness of trying to save her, or see her after she was gone.
My Mother was artistic, creative, compassionate, especially towards animals. She loved to read, see plays and movies. The last movie Kitty and I took her to, was "The Help". Ironic, I think. She loved flea markets and antiques! She loved beautiful things of any kind. She loved roses and lavender. She was strongly conservative, and hated what has been happening to our country lately. She was worried about the future of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Having lived through the depression and four wars, she thought we were on the verge of loosing America, and it scared her. Her friend from Collinsville wrote me to say, "she was a remarkable, loving, and caring person. She shared smiles, and her happy outlook on life made you happy to see her." That was my Mom!
The following are two beautiful emails of comfort sent to me while I was in Vegas:
One Door Closes..Another Opens Revelations 3:8 When God leads you to the edge of the cliff, trust Him fully and let go, only 1 of 2 things will happen, either He'll catch you when you fall, or He'll teach you how to fly! 'The power of one sentence! God closes doors no man can open & God opens doors no man can close...
~DEATH~ WHAT A WONDERFUL WAY TO EXPLAIN IT ..
A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to
Leave the examination room and said,
'Doctor, I am afraid to die.
Tell me what lies on the other side.'
Very quietly, the doctor said, 'I don't know..'
'You don't know? You're, a Christian man,
and don't know what's on the other side?'
The doctor was holding the handle of the door;
On the other side came a sound of scratching and whining,
And as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room
And leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.
Turning to the patient, the doctor said,
'Did you notice my dog?
He's never been in this room before.
He didn't know what was inside.
He knew nothing except that his master was here,
And when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.
I know little of what is on the other side of death,
But I do know one thing...
I know my Master is there and that is enough.'
May today there be peace within you..
May you trust God that you are exactly
Where you are meant to be.
I believe that friends are quiet angels
Who lift us to our feet when our wings
Have trouble remembering how to fly.
They both give me such comfort because I know Mom knew her Master was in the next room, and like all the dogs she loved, she was ready to leap into the room and fly with Him where she was free of her bed, and she could soar like the angel she was! She told the pastor weeks ago she was ready to meet God, and to see her Father and her friends that went before her. So I envision her decorating her new location, and preparing it for all of us to follow. I love you Mom, and will miss you so....until we meet each other again in His home for us.....
Posted by Bibi Ronnie at 11:06 PM 2 comments
Monday, December 27, 2010
Here and Gone
The week before Christmas, we found a wonderful home for our Little Big Man pup. A sweet lady from the doggie park had told a relative from MA that we had GSHP pups. After a few phone calls, John decided to make the long drive to get our pup, while doing some work on the way. However, he had no idea when he left, that he would be driving through one of the worse blizzards in Ontario history. After another long drive home, he and Blitz (pup's new name) are doing great! He was an exceptional puppy, and we hated to see him go, but I had the feeling this was a special home for him. John loves to hike 3 to 5 miles a day, and Blitz would run till his little heart gave out. So having a kind of Steinbeck journey(Travels with Charlie), both are doing well.
Katy and Santa Bogie
After dinner they all went big game hunting on the new Wii, while I loaded the dishwasher.
Steve finishing the last glass of wine while the creatures weren't stirring. So after a few hectic days of preparations, a few hours of eating, and visiting, we were alone again with our dogs who always love us, and want to be with us as much as they can. So this will be remembered as my dog Christmas. Last year, Princesses and new baby girl, this year, pups! God thank you for healing Evy, finding wonderful homes for my pups, protecting and loving my children wherever they roam, and keeping my parents safe. So to all a goodnight...........
Posted by Bibi Ronnie at 10:32 PM 2 comments
Friday, December 10, 2010
Have Fallen into Winter
I have meant to write so many times this fall, but once again my life was a blur of puppies, football games, holidays, and work. We had a gorgeous warm fall that just seemed to fly by, and are now entrenched in cold and snow. We were either at U of I football games, or at the lake closing the house for the season. It was Katy's last year as an Illinette, so each game was a sad countdown ending with Dad's Day and Senior Day on the same weekend.
Senior girls crying after the Three in One for the last time, but there is a Bowl Game yet.
Then Homecoming before the last home game. Many fun tail gates with old friends, and a chance to finally meet Rich's parents and extended family. Katy even got her new Yemm car!!!Even though we had many close games that we lost, including one to Michigan in the third overtime, we won our sixth game against Northwestern at Wrigley Field, and thus became bowl eligible. So Katy will be leaving the day after Christmas to get on a bus for 18 hours to Houston for the game on the 29th. We thought about going, but with the economy being so bad, we thought we better just watch it on TV. The basketball team has also started off with only one loss in overtime, so I am still hoping for a Final Four year!
After one of the football games, we rushed back on Sunday to show the pups, and were able to sell the two girls on the same day. Both have great homes, and the families really love them. We saw them two weeks after selling them for their last shots. Sally, now Gracie, lives in WI, and has already been hunting. Serenity, now Rascal, has her own dogie door and fenced in yard and a loving elderly couple who spoil her. Last weekend we also sold Butkus to an old employee and client of ours. They had lost a young GSHP a few weeks before, and Jorie, one of our receptionist brought him out to show Sue. He had almost found a home over Thanksgiving, but the family had two young children, and the wife thought she couldn't handle them and a new puppy. Butkus learned his lesson, and really sold himself by being calmer, and very loving. This time he found a home!
Katy will be home in a few days, and she, Rob, and Steve will go pheasant hunting with Dip in Iowa, while I puppy sit. Then Christmas, Bowl game, New Year's, Katy and my Dad's birthday, a trip to Florida for the DVM convention, my birthday and Rob's birthday. Looks like life will just keep swirling by unless I have another dog wipeout. Bless all and all of mine. Thank you God for all your gifts and blessings, and for your Son, the REASON for the SEASON despite what the ACLU says. Especially thankful for the election results which hopefully can save this great country from those who are trying to destroy us from within.
Posted by Bibi Ronnie at 9:55 PM 2 comments
Labels: Bogie II, dad's day, Evy, puppies, senior day