July 6, 2021

 It is my sister Joanne’s 75th birthday today.  Hard to believe and the older we get the more we marvel and wonder where all the years have gone. 

We have been blessed to have the Burgess family with us this past week and it has been busy, exciting and fun. They are our first in house guests in a year and it is just nice to have our family back in our home including Cindy’s family. Sayde had her CP camp with Anna everyday and the rest of the family kept busy. They went shopping, raspberry picking at Krause Farms, to the drive-in movie, to Whiterock beach and to the Chiliwack water slides. The girls bought Chinese food for Canada Day and everyone came here to eat including Ross and Sarah. Bryson did quite a bit with Jack and the Hardy Family accompanied them on several adventures. Brendon came down after work on Wednesday and he did a great deal of work around our place. He trimmed our cedar hedge and other trees and painted the trim on our back deck roof. He and Liza mowed and trimmed our grass and Liza trimmed our bushes. The place looks lovely and we really, really appreciate their help as Tom is not allowed to do such things right now and we feel a little hindered in our capacities. We have been independent all our lives and it is difficult and humbling to require the help of others.

Tom had his blood test on Friday and his PSA and testosterone levels were good but potassium and creatine levels were up. His is still suffering with sciatic pain due to his herniated disc and we would like it to improve so he could get off all the painkillers he is now on. We do a very short walk with him each day and he does exercises Justin has given him. Liza had him buy a large wedge to use under his legs for at least for part of each night. He moves around the house but has to sit down if his pain becomes bad. He is so patient and so sweet with all that is going on. He has a physiotherapy appointment and an appointment with a pain specialist.

I drove the Tesla to Costco today by myself as Tom was waiting for a delivery of extandi to arrive. Tom was determined that we were also going to visit Roger today “in person” no matter how he was feeling and we did. He had committed to be there today and nothing was going to stop him.

We suddenly received the go ahead to have church as normal this week and it was a little shocking for many of us. Zoom is continuing simultaneously, for the time being anyway. We stayed home and probably will next week too, easing ourselves into the transition. We had the music organized and the organist and chorister ready to go. There are still concerns with covid variants so we are uncertain if we have an end to the virus in sight yet. Many countries are still in the midst of the pandemic. This has been an uncertain and ever changing year. Nothing we had planned for but hopefully our life experiences had prepared us for.

June 29, 2021

 Our week has been busy as we have been learning to drive the Tesla, Max and John Layton came over for John to rest drive the BMW and we used the Tesla to chauffeur Jack and Sianne to part of their grad festivities. John cannot buy the BMW right now because of his wife’s desire for a new kitchen first and we still have a lot to learn about the Tesla but we really like it, especially as gas prices are going up. 

We have had an extreme heat wave this week with temperates over 100 degrees. It has been impossible to go outside for walks or any activities. The flowers and bushes are dying. It does not cool off at night and we are grateful for air conditioning during the days and a fan during the nights. We water every night trying to keep things alive and we are fighting an ant infestation by the back door, along with swarming mosquitoes outside in the evening. I also had a rat run in front of me as I was turning the water off one night. Do I sound like Job.

Liza’s family arrived last Saturday for Sayde to attend her CP camp this week. We are thrilled to have family in our home again. We love it and we love them. Liza took the children shopping to the mall yesterday and they went raspberry picking this morning and to IKEA this afternoon with the Hardy family.  Brendon will be arriving in time for Canada Day. 

Our big news this week happened when Justin and JayLynn FaceTimed to announce that they were pregnant! We were thrilled and they are so excited. They posted the video of Justin learning the news on the family site. The whole family is excited.  

Cindy and Lara Lyn celebrated their birthdays this week on the 25th and the 26th. Rissa held on until the 26th many years ago so she did not have to share a birthday with her sister. Love them both.

Tom’s disc is still causing him sever sciatic like pain down his left leg but he has been able to reduce his pain killers and Liza and Justin are both giving him their suggestions. Dr. Collingridge has an appointment for him with a pain specialist. I am hoping and praying that it will slip back into place and heal itself.

Excitement, heat, celebrations, plagues, family and concerns - we have it all. We are blessed. 

June 22, 2021

 The highlight of our week was Saturday the 19th as we were able to attend the Temple twice in one day as Temple workers, first to seal Ross and Sarah and second to seal Ethan Officer and his wife Amanda Leavitt. Tom is still in a great deal of pain with his sciatic leg but he did so well as the sealer for both couples and I was proud of him. Brother Bigler wanted to insure that there was enough room for me in the sealings as numbers are still restricted due to covid regulations, and so he called and asked if I could act as a living ordinance worker for both brides. Perfect. We were so thrilled to be in the Temple again and to both be serving made it doubly special. Max was able to attend Ross and Sarah’s sealing which was lovely for him. We are so pleased to have these ordinances finally completed. It has been a covid wait.

Tom’s pain has continued and he finally spoke to another doctor at Glen’s office as Glen was out of town last week. The doctor informed Tom that the CT scan showed a herniated disc causing sciatic pain. I am sure it is the result of yard and housework he had been doing.These problems can heal on their own or with physio treatment or with other injection or surgical options. We are hoping for the first. Justin was on it right away and talking to Tom and prescribing exercises. Liza has been talking to him as well. Glen finally returned home and suggested a change in painkillers. Poor Tom now thinks he may be developing an abscess tooth. He has so many drugs going on right now that it is not only mind boggling but concerning. I pray constantly and Tom feels the Lord is refining him.

The other development of the week has been the ordering and acquisition of a Tesla Y. We went into the dealership on Thursday, June 17 to put an order in. They said it may be here quickly or it could arrive between now and September. We prepared for September and of course we received word during the weekend that we could pick it up Tuesday, June 22. Tom wanted to sell the BMW to Max for a good price and allow Max to sell it on his own at a realistic price so that he could make some money. Max went with us Tuesday to change the insurance on the BMW to him and we went in the afternoon to pick the Tesla up. Max is preparing to sell the BMW but leaving it at our place and we are trying to learn how to drive the Tesla. We are hoping we will both be successful. We are leasing this car. We have never done that before but Tom wanted to give it a try and leave the servicing and such in the hands of the dealer, although the Tesla is suppose to require very little servicing. This is a new adventure for us and I hope Tom feels better soon to enjoy the ride.

Marie next door has gone to their cabin up North with her two dogs and we are hoping she is having a peaceful, relaxing time. Lincoln Harvey is watering her yard plants and we are keeping an eye on her place too. The Hardy family came last night and kindly did our lawn mowing and edging. We taught Geoff Cleeves another Temple Prep lesson and will teach him again this week, combining the final lessons. The weather has turned very hot and we now work to keep grass and plants watered and ourselves cool.

Tom is in a lot of pain but he is very patient and kind to me. He gets tired easily and we make sure he has a nap each day. He is sleeping pretty well other than hot flashes which are a result of his hormone treatments. He is such a precious spirit and I count myself blessed each day to have him as my sweet companion. I can never, never express the magnitude of my love for him.

June 15th, 2021

 Somehow every week and everyday seems to fill up. We had been trying to get Esther Lai’s new address from her children but they have been hesitating,  not wanting to break her confidence. We emailed Esther and told her we wanted to drop off a birthday gift and then after leaving her two phone messages, she called back and gave us the new address. We took a planter,  balloon, and card over. She was out with Joelle when we arrived but we had a nice chat with Joshua. Jonathan messaged us that she had appreciated our gift and concern. We want to help them but Esther, though normally private, with her leg now amputated due to diabetes, seeks even more isolation. We will keep trying and praying. Tom had an eye appointment with Chip who is retiring soon and then we quickly drove to Abbotsford for Tom to have his “zometa” infusion. We went to get the car washed on Friday and ended up test driving a Tesla “Y”. Not sure how that happened but I think we are getting a Tesla and we never did get the car washed. We went to the North Shore on Thursday for Karl to cut my hair and took flowers to Mom and Dad’s grave. We try to take flowers either May or June as it is during those months we celebrate Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Mom’s birthday (May 31) and their Wedding Anniversary (June 18).

Saturday, June 12th was a special day as we were able to go to the Temple for Max to receive his Endowments. It was exciting to be there with Max and lovely to be in the Temple again. The Vancouver Temple is in Phase 2 reopening which allows small numbers in at a time for living ordinances only. Max asked his grandparents, parents, his brother and John Layton. The Van Hornes were there and the new Temple presidency - the Herringtons,  the Rempels and President McKenzie who all helped out. It was lovely. Jacqui received her own endowments in Sydney, Australia on June 12th too which made it an extra special day. We just need to get them together to be sealed now. Tom will perform Ross and Sarah’s sealing this coming Saturday, June 19th. We are so happy to see these ordinances happening.

We were concerned about getting Tom the CT scan needed to determine what is happening with his painful sciatic like leg. Everyone kept telling us that it would be a good while before we could get an appointment to receive the scan. Our dear Wendy Jack, as a medical clerk, had been telling Cindy if we ever needed help obtaining needed medical testing to call her for assistance so Tom finally told Cindy to request Wendy’s help. Almost immediately the hospital was on the phone offering us an early morning Friday appointment. What a blessing to get that done and we are now awaiting the results. He is still in a good deal of discomfort and we are anxious to know what we are dealing with. He is trying to keep moving as the doctor suggests and he goes for short walks with his poles and pushes the grocery cart at the stores.

We gave the first Temple Prep lesson to Geoff Cleeves via zoom on Thursday evening and we were happy to finally meet him. He is single adult in the ward preparing for the Temple. We talked to Roger who is finally out of the hospital following his surgery. We watched Jack’s Seminary Graduation which also was held via zoom. Shens dropped off a Chinese holiday treat for us and Jean and Cheyenne came over to help us mow the lawn. Every week fills up with good things.

June 8, 2021

 The great blessing this week was that we were both able to receive our second covid dose on Friday. Tom had an appointment and I went in with him to help him walk due the pain he is experiencing. We asked two people on the way in if I could receive my shot too and we were told they only had enough for that day. I had an appointment for the next day and we resigned ourselves to that option. As the fellow prepared to administer the shot to Tom, he asked if we were both receiving it. I explained our situation and the girl sitting next to him who was taking care of the paper work kindly said, “Let me see if I can change that.” She left her table and went to talk to two supervisors and returned with a “go” for me. We count every blessing these days and we were grateful for that particular one.

Tom’s pain continues and the strong painkillers provide little relief. We waited until Monday to phone Dr. Collingridge with a report on things and were given a phone appointment for Thursday. Tom called Langley Hospital to make sure the requisition for a CT scan had arrived and found it had not. It was to be sent a week ago and Dr. Collingridge’s office thought it had possibly been sent to Abbotsford by accident so they resent it and told Tom it would be a long wait before he received a call for an appointment. All this took place on Monday (yesterday) and by evening Tom told Cindy to go ahead and have Wendy Jack use her position in medical administration to help hasten the process. Wendy had been offering to help us hurry needed tests but we had never wanted to bother her or step out of  line. Cindy had been pleading with us to accept the help. First thing this morning Tom received a call from Langley Hospital with a CT appointment for Friday morning. Another perfect blessing as we have appointments tomorrow and Thursday. We are so grateful for Wendy’s kindness and the kindness and prayers of so many. We do count our blessings.

In person church resumed this week according to provincial guidelines and zoom meetings continued for those unable to attend in person. This change of protocol meant we needed to select hymns again and notify our organists about what would be happening. At the moment, as Dan Davies is the organist and for the present time we will only be having one sacrament meeting a week, the other organists received the hymn selections so they are prepared but left on standby. They have all been so accommodating during these ever changing days. We were also asked to teach a young man named Geoff Cleeves the Temple “prep” lessons and we set that up for a zoom meeting on Sunday but he never turned up and didn’t respond to phone and text messages. We are hoping his plans and desires have not changed.

Max has his endowment scheduled for this Saturday and Jacqui will be going for her endowments on the same day in the Sydney, Australia Temple. That is very exciting. Sarah receives her endowments the next week and she and Ross will be sealed by Tom on the 19th. Zachary says he is hoping to go thru the Temple some time this summer. We are so excited for these boys and girls. Tom wants to be in the Temple so badly and to be serving. That is our wish and our prayer.

Comedy of the week. It is Brendon’s birthday today so last night while I was making dinner I suggested Tom get an e-card ready and send it in advance to Brendon. He did so. We then got a call from Cindy saying we had just sent a card to Sam. As the evening went on we heard from Jon Elton and Barb Rhodes saying they had received cards too and it wasn’t their birthdays. We realized that it had accidentally gone to everyone on our e-card list so we then sent out an apology card to everyone. Oh dear! Tom heard from his brother Wayne today also saying he had received the card. We laughed and laughed when we saw everyone the birthday card would had gone out to.😂

We are managing to get our house and yard work done on our own but I was upset with Tom yesterday when he started doing too much out in the yard.  Sciatica requires that you not sit too much and that you move around but you should also not be doing too much. I fear overdoing has got us to this point and we had been so grateful to be off painkillers. It is hard for him to walk now and when he walks outside he uses his walking sticks. He holds onto the lawnmower in the yard and a buggy when getting groceries. We just try to keep moving and we are constantly praying - every step of the way.

June 1, 2021

 It has been a difficult week for Tom as his hip and leg pain has not improved and perhaps even gotten worse. He is fine when he is sitting but it is extremely painful for him to walk unless he bends over like an old man. Dr. Collingridge had him get an X-ray on Friday and we went to the Langley Hospital for that. There doesn’t seem to be a fracture and that is good. We asked Paul and Max to give him a blessing on Sunday and after they finished giving Tom a blessing, they drove to Chilliwack to give Reid a blessing because he is suffering from a similar ailment. We went to see Dr. Collingridge yesterday and he said Tom definitely has a pinched nerve and we are now going to have a CT scan to determine if it is just sciatica or cancer related. We are praying that it is the former. He also prescribed some better pain relief pills but they take a couple of days to be of benefit. Tom has been so pleased with the improvements he has been experiencing as a result of his treatments and he has probably been overdoing things with yard work such as shovelling dirt, mowing the lawn and power washing along with brisk walks and housework. I am just praying that he receives some relief soon. He is the sweetest spirit I know and very accepting but at the moment he is also frustrated by his desires to be doing things and feeling of value.  He is always of great worth to me and valuable beyond words I have to express.

President Van Horne emailed us on Sunday to let us know that with the new provincial guidelines the Temple will be opening to phase 2. He suggested our children, who have been waiting to receive their endowments and sealing, book ASAP. The Temple actually opened yesterday and Max is now booked to receive his endowments on June 12th, the same day Jacqui will be receiving hers in Australia. Sarah will receive her endowments on the 15th and she and Ross will be sealed on the 19th by Tom. Such a blessing to move forward with these ordinances and finally have them completed. Hopefully Jacqui and Max will be able to get together soon for their own marriage and sealing. 

We were able to book our appointments for our next covid vaccinations for the end of this week and it will be a blessing to have that taken care of. We hope all of these happenings mean a step closer to normalcy for the country and the world. We had no idea when we left our mission over a year ago that this pandemic would still be raging months later or that we would not be returning to our mission. How we miss our mission and life before 2020. However, we have been greatly blessed and have had some wonderful things happen, special people bless our lives and we have learned some valuable lessons.

I made some of Mom’s cookies this week and gave some to Marie next door and then we took some to Carol Jones on Sunday as it was our last day helping her with the sacrament before their move to Saskatchewan. That cookie recipe has been enjoyed by many over many years. It was Mom’s birthday on May 31st and she would have been 101years old. We miss her everyday but know she is always near even when we are not eating her cookies.

We always watch our five “Come Follow Me” broadcasts each week and we met with the Sister Missionaries yesterday via zoom. We are still zooming our church meetings although in person meetings will be starting again following covid protocol. We will probably continue to zoom for the next while ourselves. The last time we were in a sacrament meeting was March 15, 2020 at the London Temple Lodge in the meeting room across the hall from our own apartment #16.

We continue to receive calls, kindness, food and love from others. It is overwhelming and causes us to reflect on what we should be doing for others. We did go to Sandra Barroby’s this week to help her select a new paint color for her front door.😊

May 25, 2021

 Two steps forward and one step back. Tom has been doing really well - blood count numbers down, energy up and very minimal pain. He has been going on regular brisk walks, working in the yard, helping with housework, power washing and then ... Saturday he began getting pain down his backside and upper leg, very much like sciatic pain. It has continued since then and gotten somewhat worse. He feels well otherwise. He had a phone appointment with Dr. Bahl, the oncologist, today and Dr. Bahl really had no suggestions and told him to call Dr. Collingridge so we have a phone appointment with him on Thursday. My main concern is a possible stress fracture but it could be sciatica too. Dr. Collingridge will probably suggest an X-ray or CT scan. We just keep praying. Tom wants to be ready to serve in the Temple when the doors reopen.

Tom did a blood test last Tuesday in anticipation of his appointment with Dr. Bahl and his levels had improved even more. We had an appointment with Dr. Vrabec the same day for a lupron injection. I purchased a plant and card for Marie the same day and took it over to her. We spread our last bits of soil on her plants and I made her blueberry muffins later in the week as she said those are her favourites. We have been trying to stay in touch with her and I called her on Saturday as that was a week since Gene’s passing and we wanted to comment on the lovely obituary she had put in the Vancouver Sun. We cut Tom’s hair this week and I worked on the Relief Society lesson I taught on Sunday based on President Nelson’s priesthood conference talk on Recognizing lessons learned while experiencing adversity (eg, covid) and then Remembering those important lessons. We did the Sacrament for Carol on Sunday and Sandra brought us yet another meal on Wednesday. We cannot get her stopped. I can and do cook every day.

Cindy dropped by on her way home from work today and we had a porch visit. We talked to Rissa earlier and have been messaging with Jadyn and Tammie. We have good kids. We really appreciate our family, Sunday zoom meetings. Justin is still in Nampa doing his practicum and JayLynn had driven up to be with him again this weekend. Zach is home now after their series win and he was excited. Max’s Jacqui is going to the Sydney, Australia Temple on June 12th for her endowments. Our province announced some new opening plans today and it looks like our Temple will be open for endowments in mid June so hopefully Max and Sarah can then get their endowments and Ross and Sarah be sealed. Liza is looking at an Iron Man race in Idaho if the borders are open the end of June. Trevor and Tammie are leaving for a Maui break the end of this week. Zach will stay with Trey. Rissa and Cindy have both planted their vegetable gardens. Busy family.

We may have had a little set back this week but we will keep marching forward and hopefully get ahead.