We are here!

Day one is complete.
Our first day at SCCA included registration, blood draws, and history and physical exams for both Terry and Dennis.
We took the shuttle to the SCCA from the Pete Gross House and decided that we are so glad to be where that is available.
We are now moved in to our apartment, which we are happy with. It does seem small to me, but it is going to be great. The kitchen is tiny and needs more cupboard space for me since I plan on cooking here, but I will survive it and am so grateful to even have it. We had a car full, but we did leave some things home :) We will bring them next trip :). We get to go home this weekend and return again Monday morning. Dennis didn't know that he would have to carry in so many things. We never did include that in his "job description". We did get to use some luggage carts to help us, but it sure made it easier to have his help.
The family room and dining room is all one room and has plenty of space for my "habits" ;) &/or crafts, which will include scrap booking and sewing and exercising and addressing graduation announcements and blogging and even watching movies;).
Lucky us - we have a yard without dirt or weeds. It's just cement and railing, but it's a place to be outside and it is all ours. No grass or plants, but also no having to share with the neighbors, and it's going to be great. Does that sound anti-social? I guess that maybe I am. Sorry!
Our view? It is so impressive - NOT! We have a tooooo (many) story building on one side of us that we cannot see over the top of, but can see right into several of the offices in that building, so maybe it will be entertaining. On the other side of us we see the top of a building with all of it's cooling units and ?things? and the back of the bill board or whatever it is.
Tomorrow is planned out for us, but I won't include that info until tomorrow. Our first appointment is at 10:00 am and our last one is at 2:30 (and might take about an hour, so we could be done at about 3:30).
We did hear one bit of good news today - Terry might not have to have the chemo treatments that were originally planned - but as soon as I say that they will change their minds again and tell us that he does. This is just helping us to remember that things can change from one day to the next. They even warned us of that today.
Thanks again to all of our family and friends who have been so kind and thoughtful of us. We do feel of your love and we are praying for you too! Thank you so much! We love you!
Our address is:
525 Minor Avenue North
Apartment 214
Seattle, WA 98109

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday to Lamont! (1977-1988)
I don't suppose that he celebrates his birthday in heaven, but we send our love none-the-less!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday to Gregory!
We love you!

Happy Birthday to Brandon!
We love you!

Did you know?
Gregory and Brandon were born two years apart, each on their due date. WoW!

GOOD NEWS!

Our apartment is available, so we have a place to stay.
We will stay at the Pete Gross house located at 525 Minor Ave. North, Apt. #214 in Seattle.
The count down shows us at exactly one week away from our arrival date.

TENNIS & MR SR 2010

First thing this morning Chase had a tennis match or two. He plays doubles, and this day was with two different teammates. They won the second match. It is fun to watch him play. This was the first one of the season, so there's more to come.
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This evening he participated in Mr. Sr. and did a great job. (Luckily he was not judged on how good the photos that his mother takes are.) He did however, win "Best Sport" and the "Spirit Award". Good show, I say! We enjoyed the evening, but our personal favorite was Chase!
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His talent was a song titled "If my nose was running money". We saw it a few months ago on the internet and knew that was what he wanted to do for his talent.

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He used his Grandma Hebdon's guitar, for a prop. I think she got that guitar when she graduated from High School.

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Here he is with his "escortee" for the poise and self expression portion of the evening. Isn't she sweet!

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Big day! He had a lot of fun with this event.

I purchased a video of the evening, so when I get it maybe I can play it for you. :)

Good News first - then the Bad News!

Good News:
Terry's CAT scan Friday and visit with Dr. Smith Monday told us that his lungs look good, no longer a concern, so we will continue as scheduled. We learned something else though.

Bad News:
Our count down, for the 3 to 4 months we will be in Seattle begins the day of the transplant, not the day we arrive for testing. So we will be over there longer than what we had originally thought.

We had a "conference call" with Samantha from SCCA last week and learned that his transplant will probably take place on April 21st, so our count down will begin from that day. How did we miss that one? They have talked to us about counting the days before the transplant as -1, -2, etc. and the days after the transplant as 1, 2, etc. But we didn't ever connect the dots to think that it meant that we don't count the days before the transplant as part of our time there.

I'm sure we will keep learning that what we thought we knew isn't really the way it is at all. Oh well! They are probably trying to keep us alert and preparing us to just roll with the punches. We are going to do our best.

Just like old times!
Not really old times :0 ;)
We were finally able to go visit LeeAnn and Brian and their family. We had that familiar feeling, even though we were traveling a different direction than we used to, that we have missed for many years now. They used to live in Chewelah and Valley, where we were able to visit on special occasions a few times a year. Then they moved to Texas for several years and we never got to travel that direction. They missed us so much that they have moved back to our area, living in Wenatchee. Okay, maybe they didn't move to Wenatchee because they missed us, but we are so happy that they are closer and that it is a direction we can travel often.
Our children are older and wiser?, and include some extra children and grandchildren, and it was interesting to sense that difference, but we all love being together.
This was a visit that we wanted to do before our trip to Seattle. Alas, we have got it done. But now we just want more! Isn't that the way it is!

Medical Madness
During Priesthood class yesterday the men asked Terry to explain what would be taking place with this trip to Seattle. He told them something like this:
"Elaine has been called on a medical mission and I am to be her companion."
I thought that was really clever. I guess we will be serving in the Seattle, Washington area for approximately 3 or 4 months and then we will be transferred to the Royal City, Washington area.
This mission prep has begun. We are trying to make ourselves ready. It seems to be going well for now.

What next?

Have you seen The Truman Show? This story, as I remember it, is about a man who grew up in a controlled environment, an artificial world where others told him what to do, directed his every move, and did all they could to keep the outside or real world from him. Through the years his life was televised for the real world to see, and he was unaware of this big "set" he lived in. Eventually he learned that there could be more to the world than where he was, and at the end of the movie he finds and opens a door to the real world. I was so happy that he finally knew what was going on and that he had the common sense and courage to escape this awful scene. Yet at that moment I wondered, "What next? How will he survive in an unfamiliar way of life? Where will he go and who will help him? This really was the only way of life he knew and he needed someone to help him. Would his friend find him in time?"

This movie shocked me, and it quickly became one of my least favorite movies as it left me with such an awful feeling. I let these feelings consume me for days, and I'm sure I had nightmares many nights after watching it. Eventually I let go of my dislike and forgot the movie.

But, it has resurfaced. Just yesterday I woke up with this movie on my mind and that feeling of being trapped in a world with little control of what happens to you each day. I wondered what brought that to mind again after letting go of it for so long.

I wonder if it was the fear or anxiety of what was taking place in my life. As I thought about it I realized that there are some similarities. We are going to be in a world, so to speak, where our every move will be directed by others and we will not be allowed to leave it for a time. There are a lot of unknowns, and a lot of limitations. Our lives will not really be our own because of the strictly written rules we will have to follow and even the scenes will be created in the different acts while we are there. Our environment will be very controlled, and not much will seem familiar. We will be keeping a portion of our lives available for all to see. Not televised, but online blogging can be quite open to the public. Then one day, the directors will tell us we can step out of that world and enter back into the real world. What then? We hope it is better than we left it, but we are aware of the complications that can arise.

There are some big differences between the Truman Show and our show. We are aware of the two worlds and we are volunteering for the chance to live in this different world for a time, even though we know there will be some strange and difficult times within it.

I remember how my older kids that watched this movie with us, thought I was silly for letting it affect me so, but it was just so wrong and even evil. Even with these feelings resurfacing, I know that this opportunity for us is not wrong. It is more right than ever before. We are anxious to step into this new world and then one day step back out of it, hopefully feeling better than when we left it. At some point and time it will turn out better than we think.

Maybe we are living in an artificial world right now. That artificial world being the one where cancer lives too. Either way, we will be returning to the real world thru this re-birthing event called transplant.

Let me be clear on one thing before I end - I do not recommend The Truman Show for anyone to see. I do, however, invite those who are interested to stay tuned to our show or blog, for future scenes of our world as we live it. It may not be the best entertainment, but it will be informative.

The star of our show will be the Lord. He will also be the director. He is the writer and producer. He is The Way, The Truth, and The Life! He is the one we look to for peace. He will be here daily to guide us and comfort us, of that I am sure. We hope that you will see Him too.