Friday, January 30, 2009

Mission Prep

Michael called Tuesday night to inform us that he had his interview with the bishop and his paper work has begun. This is a little bit time consuming in that he will have to fill out the info and have dental and physical exams, but the process has begun and we are excited for him. It will be a while, but we will let you know when he completes the paper work and sends it in. We are so proud of him.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Link To The Photos Of The Cabin Transformation.

Let's try this. A new slide show of the cabin is added above. If that has issues in the future or if you wish to view them in a different size or format then click on the link below.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ElaineHebdon/Cabin?feat=directlink

The blog for This Old House was too time consuming and there were other internet issues making it too much of a hassle for me. It will remain for awhile, but may not be updated very often. There is just too much to do and too little time for blogging right now.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

This Old House

We have had a few technical difficulties with our slide shows of the cabin remodeling project, so we are creating a new blog just for that. To view our progress just click on the link in our Family BlogList titled This Old House and it will take you there. Have a nice visit! Thanks for stopping by! (Remember, the blog site is currently under construction too, so please be patient with us.)

Monday, January 26, 2009

A Busy Week!

The first full week after Terry's chemo treatments is now complete. It was a better week than the week after his first set of treatments in December, so we are grateful for that.

He's been truckin' right along trying to get the cabin in better shape. The kitchen floor is safe now. No rotten wood to fall through. The windows are all in, except for the bathroom window (that window is a bit tricky and we haven't decided what we are doing there yet). We do still need to put trim around them all, but they look really nice.
We had a big day planned for Saturday. We were going to take out all the carpet and pad and burn it, but snow was falling and we could not do so. The snow didn't stop the window project though. Terry and Thomas kept right on working.
We still have a lot to do, but we see progress all around us now.

BrittanyJo had two games this week. They lost their first game by 6 points and then won their second game by 17 points. They are learning a lot, and will continue to improve.

Anthony has been playing basketball too, and enjoying it. We are also trying to work on his scouting because he only has a few months left to earn his Webelos badge and many activity badges.

Of course, Connor has been playing basketball too. He has been playing with the JV and C squads this, his Freshman year. His experience with basketball last year was much more enjoyable than this year seems to be, but that happens sometimes.

Chase has chosen no winter sport, but did participate in the high school play in December and he really does enjoy band. Someone asked him what sport he played and his response, with a smile, was, "the trumpet".

I, Elaine, had to give the Gospel Doctrine lesson Sunday. I always feel so inadequate, but at the same time, grateful to learn as I study for it. This lesson was about the events leading up to Joseph Smith finding the Gold Plates and then receiving and translating them, and the blessings that come from reading and studying the Book of Mormon. I have grown to love that book and recognize it's goodness. There is no greater book! It truly blesses our lives. Here is a bit of info I just read in the Ensign - In 2003, Book magazine named the Book of Mormon one of the "20 Books That Changed America.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

UPDATE!

FIVE DAYS OF CHEMO TREATMENTS BEHIND US!
We can't say that it was the best set of treatments he's had, but day one and day five of this week went pretty good over-all. Just a lot of waiting the other three days, but nothing too terrible with the treatments themselves. He did have a simple reaction to one of the pre-meds they gave him Thursday, so they decided to use a different kind the next day. His reaction to this med was very simple compared to his reaction to Rituxan a few months ago. This time he just had some numbness in his mouth and a bit of a "flush" feeling. Nothing drastic to send us to the emergency room. (I think if he ever needs to be sent to the emergency room again we will let them know that we are driving there ourselves. He'd be much more comfortable riding a wheelchair down to the car and getting into the car with a bit of help instead of being "thrown" up and down and all over the place. That sure was an experience we'll not soon forget.)
Here is my take on the way he feels - better than last time. But my take may not be correct. After the last treatment, I wrote about how he was feeling pretty good, only to find that he began to feel worse and had a not so good at all week after his treatments. I felt bad every time I got onto our blog and saw that I had written about how good he was feeling and he wasn't really feeling very good at all then. I hope that doesn't happen this time. He does plan on going with the youth to the temple for baptisms today, so he is doing better than last time, but I'm still not sure how good that really is. SO, I asked him how he is feeling and here is his response after a moment of thinking about it - "I'm okay!" That is a common response one might hear from him. It's true - he is usually okay, but sometimes he really could be feeling better :)

THOMAS AND DANA ARE HERE!
We are so excited for this. They need a place to stay, so for now they are with us, but, we have a plan. See the next paragraph for more info on that.

HOME ON THE MEND!
We own a little cabin style home on the other side of our field here on the south east of us. We have had renters in it for several years so it needs some repairs. (Boy, does it ever!) We have taken a look and made a mental list of what needs done, and realize that we are going to be knee deep in remodeling for the next however long it takes. We will be gutting and repairing and installing new features everywhere in that house, and washing down the walls. It really won't be the same place once we are done.
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The front view of the house.
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View from our family room door, across the fields, to their house.
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View from their back door to our house across the fields.
These photos just show the outside front view and the view from one home to the other. Check out the slide show labeled THIS OLD HOUSE, found on the right column of our blog for more photos and updates (as they are available) on how that work is progressing.

Monday, January 5, 2009

RECAP...

NOT! I thought about doing a recap of the year, but figured that anyone that would want to see that could just look thru the old posts. My next thought was at least to say how much we enjoyed our most recent holidays, but I think I already said that too.
We did enjoy having Brandon and Megan here for Christmas, and we all enjoyed visiting with Skyler on Christmas day.
We have received a call from one of our missionary sons for 7 of the last 8 Christmas days. It is always a special addition to our holiday. If I have it figured right the next 8 out of 10 years will bring us more of those special calls. There is such a satisfying feeling of peace and joy to have a son on a mission serving the Lord and doing His will. The Gospel brings us blessings beyond measure and it's great to know that others lives will be blessed in similar ways because of the love and service and testifying that our sons do in these other parts of the world.
So far we've had sons in Guatemala, San Diego Calif., Brazil, and presently in Argentina. And, Terry served in Spain. Michael is up next, after enjoying another semester at BYU-Provo.
Life is good! :) And, sometimes even great! ;)
No recap of the year, but I will add a copy of our 2008 newsletter just for fun. It's the easiest way to recap a year, though not the most complete.