Catching up

So... the only resolution I made this year was to blog at leas once a week. Scratch that! It ain't working! There is a good reason I never make resolutions, I simply don't keep them. What can I do-I am a wimp! It is more prudent to just do things without making any resolutions (Wow! What a profound thought! please, don't laugh at me too hard).

So...what is happening in this neck of the woods... Erin is trying to babysize herself (Look ! I just made a word up!)I am not sure if it is due to the fact that Pook finally believed that mama has a baby in her tummy or if it is just a normal stage for a 2 and a half -year-old. Anyhow, Erin spotted her old sippy cup, that she used to transition from a bottle and asked me to fill it with juice. I thought that was cute and obliged. Not a smart move! Now she wants all of her drinks in the "baby bottle" as she calls it. Yesterday, she came to me and asked for a binky. Remember, that this is the child who rejected the above mentioned binky at the age of 3 months. Now she wanted her binky! Again, I thought that was cute and dove into the changing table drawer to find the requested item among different baby stuff. I finally dug one out of the very back corner. Erin's been walking around the house with the binky since. She won't even take it out to say something. This makes the task of figuring out what she is saying even tougher! There is more-the babe refuses to climb into her crib. She drops on the floor and wants me to lift her up like baby. It is cute and all, but I hope this will pass. What will come in September?

Andrew is carrying on at work. Things are going well there and he is even considering applying for another position that might be more interesting to him. Despite the company's relationship with the car industry things are going quite well.

I am home (duh!). I have been perpetually tiered for the last months, so the house looks ....rather eclectic. I am kinda glad we live far away from family, which means no one will drop by unexpectedly and I won't be embarrassed. Though, I am proud of finally making an effort to put the Christmas tree and decorations out of the house. We have been eating pizza and frozen isle bounty (which reminds me of that bag of frozen cherries downstairs!) Erin has been living of yogurt, apples, juices, cereal, soups and oatmeal with raisins. We also eat out. The other day the baby numero dos told me that she needed Jason's Deli sandwich (if you leave in Orem area and have never been to that place than you need to go. The food is amazing!). Off course we went there! Erin, instead of behaving like a little Tasmanian devil, behaved as a dove. She sat in her chair, ate her food and entertained us with a conversation.

This Monday Erin and I went to a funeral. The last funeral I have been to was my grandpa's in October 1999. Grandpa Aliosha died in front of me. Everything happened so fast. He was fine and than he was not. The ambulance came, tried to revive him, injected something, put an IV, but it was his time to go...I will never forget the smell in the room, mix of blood, sweat, medications odor...to me it was a smell of death. He was 78. I miss him...I can still hear his footsteps as if he was walking towards me. I remember him reading me fairy tales ("Poidi tuda ne znaju kuda, prinesi to, ne znaju chto"), making me jam on baguette sandwich to take to school (I can still taste it), teaching me to tell time on the clock in the kitchen.
I remember not long ago looking at the pile of dishes on the counter and thinking that if he would see it, he would disapprove. Grandpa was so neat, he even brushed his hair before going to bed, he was usually the last to go to bed and always made sure the kitchen was immaculately clean. I do not know if our loved ones come to visit us after they step though the veil, but not long ago, I felt like he came to see me and look at his great grand baby. I hope this was the case and this makes me want to get up and go get my kitchen immaculately clean so that he does not disapprove in future...After his death my grandma's sister, grandma Tania told me how happy he was when I was born. He had sons and I was the first girl born in his family. I was special to him. He was the only grandpa I knew, he was special to me.

The funeral was for Gwendolen Mary Franck, aunt Theresa's Mom. My memories of her are happy. There was always a smile in her eyes and a sincere inquiry about how I was doing. She was always doing something for those around her. After this thought occurred to me I tried to remember an instance when she did something for herself. Despite how hard I tried I could not. Her life was a service filled with kindness and care, an example worth of emulating... loosing loved ones is the most painful experience of mortality, nothing else gives such hurt. Saying good-bye is hard, even after years and decades separate you from the day of their death. But at least there are only hellos in the future.

I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that death is not the end. Life never ends and families are eternal. Bonds of love and friendship can not be broken and will prevail through the mortal death, all of it because of my Savior.