Thoughts to help the healing process

Maintain a positive attitude:
the power of positive thinking has been scientifically proven
by the National Institutes of Health
to lower levels of inflammation!














Take time to play---it is the secret of youth
and a great distraction from pain.













A growing body of research suggests laughing,
no matter what causes it,
can boost your immune system,
ease muscle tension and generally make you feel better.














We need 4 hugs a day for survival,
We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance,
We need 12 hugs a day for growth.
quote from Virginia Satir

Alan has surgery

Ok, it's only a 40 minute proceedure. Recovery is expected to last about 30-45 minutes.

I'm mildly terrified.

Miranda said, "It's not reallly surgery."

I said, "Anytime they put your dad to sleep and cut into his body, it's surgery!!"

Pray for us.

Patti

Kite flying at Rockaway beach

Dad helping Brent with his kite. It flew beautifully until it got caught on a chimmney and remained stuck on a roof!!

Bryce's wouldn't fly for anything until Phil figured out I'd assembled it incorrectly....changed the cross piece and it was up in seconds!

Lunar eclipse

Lunar eclipse from this week

Star-gazing

The boys and I got the telescope out last night and did some star-gazing. The boys insisted that the night was so clear and the moon was only a quarter...

It was so amazing to look up at the sky and see a smattering of stars and then look thru the scope and see a burst of stars everywhere. We kept looking at this one star right overhead...it was so orange, we kept thinking it must be Mars. We came in and checked the star chart on the internet and sure enough, it was!

A few nice moments with nature....now I feel so small!

Mama, Why Didn't You Tell Me?

Bryce asked me tonight on the phone, "Mama, why didn't you tell me about my brother or sister, Christy or Christopher?" He was seriously reprimanding me for keeping him in the dark. He said he wished he had his sister or brother now. I explained that it made me sad to talk about the baby we lost and that it had happened a long time before he was born.

He is sure thinking.

Bryce and Patti, Aug 2002

Bryce comforting Patti

The story of Bryce from this weekend reminded me of a series of photos of him from October 2007 when Patti opened up her quilt that everyone had helped on of Mt Hood and the Hood River Valley. Everyone had written a dedication/memory/or birthday greeting for the back of the quilt and Grandma had written a story about the time she had fainted in the kitchen and Patti was sleeping in the basement, heard the crash, leaped out of the bed, ran up the flight of stairs, and landed flat out on the kitchen floor (fainted). They woke up laying on the kitchen floor staring eye to eye. Anyway, as Patti started reading the dedication from Grandma, she started crying. Note how Bryce comes in to comfort her and throughout the entire time, he kept two hands on her shoulder and arm to comfort her. (I have 4 total photos of him doing this, but won't clog the blog with all of them---here are the best ones.)

And then the last photo is of the Hoffer family on the Mt Hood Quilt.

love,
Aunt Bev

We dropped Sarah off at her sleep-over and then the rest of us went to Chinese dinner at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant (with fabulous food!)

Bryce was laughing when we got there because he managed to hide and jump out at his dad and scare Alan (this is a feat of unspeakable skill!!) He was also excited to serve soup to us all from a large bowl.

However, after a few minutes of eating, I looked across at Bryce to see him looking near tears. I asked him what was wrong. He said, "Do you think it was very hard for my parents to give me up?" He also asked, "Do you know anything about them?" Alan and I were both crying and hugging him....reassuring him that we loved him and that it must have been VERY hard to give up a child.

You can imagine our fears...thank you all for your relationship with Bryce; it is clear he will need you all as he grows.

Patti

Swim-a-thon results!

So, the kids swam in the swim-a-thon last night.

Bryce swam 3800 yards in two hours!

Brent swam 4000 yards.

Sarah swam 5000 (all you are allowed to swim) in 1 hour and 56 minutes! She was the ever-ready bunny....swim, swim, swim, flip turn, swim, swim, swim, flip turn, swim, swim, swim, flip turn....

Miranda broke her goal (last year swam it just under 2 hours)....this year, she swam 5000 yards in 1 hour, 43 minutes...that's 200 lengths of the pool!

Mom and Dad were EXHAUSTED watching all this exercise!

Patti

Sarah choked, Mama cried

Ok, I thought by this morning I would be over it and could type without weeping, but I was wrong...

Sarah choked last night on a large piece of orange. I think she was trying to suck the juice out of it and ended up sucking it into her throat. She came to me with her hands to her throat, crying, and couldn't speak or breath. Thank God for Red Cross training...I whipped her around to the toilet, gave her the Heimlich maneuver and out popped the orange.

We had a weepy, huggy moment...actually a very long string of moments.

Patti

Color coordination

Here is a less serious photo of Miranda. (October 2007)

Ok, so I tried again

Ok, so I tried again and this time the photo is lighter and it's vertical. Oh, and I like how BOTH these ladies photographed. I like Miranda's sweet shape of her face and her serious face (very Eyore) and Mom's smile. (Very Bartholdi).

Looking forward to time at Heathergate in December!

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The Christmas Gift List for 2008

Ok, so give me a break....It took forEVER to download (upload?) to blogger.com so you'll just have to be satisfied with it being sideways!



Christmas Gift Giving Drawing





Here are the names that Grandma wrote down when we drew names at Oceanside for who would give to whom next year at Heathergate.





Bev gives to Jan and Brent


Mom gives to Alan and Sarah


Alan gives to Bev


Patti gives to Don


Don gives to Grandma and Bryce


Jan gives to Patti and Miranda


Sarah gives to grandma


Miranda gives to Bev


Bryce gives to Jan


Brent gives to Don

Miranda in the kitchen

I ran across a couple of photos this morning where Miranda had charge of the kitchen with a couple of her famous recipes: the fruit smoothie (which apparently required considerable help to keep it in the container!) and the cherry dessert. (old photos from Rockaway trip)

YMMMMMM....just thinking about it.

love,

Aunt Bev

Mr. Darcey is disrupting their marriage!!!

So, I get this call on my cell phone tonight from Alan who is talking a mile a minute and ranting and raving how all they watch at the Hoffer household is Sense and Sensiblity.(Or as my friend, Bob Carson, says "Sense and Snorability".) Alan says they watch it ALL the time and "We can't even watch the NEWS anymore." On and on he went. Apparently, according to Alan, Patti loves Mr. Darcey more than she loves HIM.

Except, Alan....I loaned Miranda the DVD Pride and Prejudice. I only mention this because obviously you have not watched the move enough times yet if you don't even know the name of the movie!

However, if you really WANT to watch Sense and Sensibility I can loan that to you also. I have 2 different versions for you to choose from. :) It's a wonderful movie also. I can also loan you the book. :)

Well, remember it's just fiction (although awfully good fiction). And apparently Patti just really likes watching the ending.

Typical? Saturday Schedule

SATURDAY SCHEDULE

We all go into Seattle.

10am Patti's card class (North Seattle)

10:30 Alan drops off Brent at Sue Gaub's house (Lynnwood)

Sue will take Brent to his cookie making activity

11a Alan drops off vacuum cleaner at repair shop (downtown Seattle)

1p Alan has tax appointment in Maple Valley

Patti is done with class and has to find ride to a friend's house

2:30p Alan picks up Patti in Shoreline

3:00 We pick up Brent and his friend from making cookies in Mountlake Terrace

3:30 drop off Brent's friend at Sue's house

4p We drop off Sarah for her pool party in Lake Forest Park

8p We collapse and swear our kids' social calendar MUST slow down!

The Kids say Happy Birthday to Don

Happy Birthday, Uncle Don!!

Bible Quiz winners!

CONGRATULATIONS, GIRLS!!

Miranda and Sarah competed on two different teams representing Kingston Christian Church AWANA. Sarah was on Book 1 team and Miranda was on Book 3 team.

Sarah's team came in FIRST place!!! You can not imagine the volume of memorizing these kids completed. Stacks of 3x5 cards of memory verses, definitions, facts, etc. It was humbling! (And I was amazed at how much I had learned listening to the girls practice!!)


Miranda's team also came in FIRST place and Miranda won a purple ribbon for answering three questions correctly (called "quizzing out"). This was her only year to compete at this level and she was very excited.

Don's Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DON!!!!

"Birthdays are nature's way of telling us to eat more cake!"

Enjoy, sweetie!

President's Day

Brent: "Mom! In 10 days we'll KNOW who is going to be President!"

Mom: "How is that?"

Brent: "Well...it's going to be President's day!!"