Christmas at Aunt Bev's house

It was a funny gift giving experience! Everyone got Cuisinart Immersion Blenders! Even Don and Bev unknowingly exchanged them with each other. Don took his back the next day to Carl's Cuisine in downtown Salem and exchanged it for a small frying pan. And before the Hoffers left for the mall (no sales tax in Oregon!) I made them pose in the parking structure, even though Alan said we only had seconds because he REALLY had to go to the bathroom. Brent is getting so tall.

Aunt Margie

Aunt Margie came to the Hoffers to visit for a week. It was a very cold week but she was cozy once Alan bought an electric blanket, otherwise the thermostat would need to be turned up to 90! Patti and she got into the holiday spirit baking cookies. These were the cookies that Bryce made a year or so ago for a church baking competition.

Snow day! No School!!

Tuesday of Thanksgiving Week and a winter storm blew through with snow and cold weather. Sarah came up with the idea of using clothes baskets for a sled and it worked pretty well!

Returning from the land of the dead!

Finally slept in my own bed last night...almost made it without coughing. Still wheezing a lot and still on my antibiotics,steroids, cough medicine...

Bronchitis on top of asthma...ugly mix! But thanks to my early birthday present (my gorgeous afghan from mom), an arsenal of meds, pot for steaming, a grandfather clock to chime me thru the night, etc. I'm finally feeling a little better.

Vics Vapor Rub on feet

Research question: Does rubbing Vics Vabor rub on your feet diminish coughing?

Study size: 1 subject

Control group: None

Results: No

I'm going to sleep in my recliner so I don't keep sliding off my pillows trying to stay upright and so Alan can get some rest!

Seven Layer Dip in the Garbage!

7 layer taco dip for post-swim team workout...tasted terrible! I guess
that's what happens when you season the meat with nutmeg instead of
taco seasoning! Oops!

Mom diagnosed with bronchitis

The doctor: "So, have you noticed any wheezing?"

Me: I exhaled and sounded like badly tuned bagpipes.

The doctor: "I'll take that as a 'yes'!"

An Essay on Turning 53

I turn 53 tomorrow. Not till 10:22pm. Isn’t that a weird number, 53? It’s not stately like “11” or full of curves like “82.” It’s not a milestone, like 50 was, or 21. Nothing really exciting happens at 53, so far as I can tell. My family won’t make me a memorial quilt (like when I was 50) and I won’t get a video of my life in pictures (like when I was 40). I might get some new cookie sheets.

When birthdays are coming and you’ve been sick at home, you do a lot of thinking. “So, Patti, what did you accomplish these fine 53 years?” I imagine God asking. Immediately I think: I should have served more….volunteered more…given more. What have I been doing with my time?

I have my masters’ in nursing and I work as a staff nurse in a cardiac unit. My teaching colleague stopped being free for our monthly lunches shortly after I left teaching. I guess I lost my networking appeal for her. So, I didn’t know she was diagnosed with cancer in the spring and died that fall. I think she was 53. I remember thinking, “that could have been me.” One of my graduate school professors, on being lauded for her doctorate commented: “I worked so hard for this. There were times my kids didn’t know who I was, I was gone so much!”

I haven’t pursued any lofty career goals. I’m not a nursing instructor, a clinical nurse specialist or manager. Do you know what I really love to do? I love to sit in a patient’s room and ask them how they’re doing. I find out what they need and try to make that happen for them. I didn’t need a master’s degree to do that. I just liked learning. So, thank you, God, that I have a great job that I love, pays good money, and allows me lots of flexibility with my family.

I’ve been sick – but last week I took care of a 44 year-old black man with end-stage heart disease, probably from severe, untreated hypertension. (FYI: Check your blood pressure, take your medicine, and try to keep it under 120/80. Put that salt shaker down now!) Anyway, he’s 44. Doesn’t that shock you? It shocks me. Last Sunday, I watched a grown man eat his Red Robin burger with his foot…he had no arms. So, thank you, God, that I enjoy relative good health.

I’ve taken care of lots of elderly people in the last days of their lives. You’d be surprised how many are divorced, alienated from their children, without siblings or friends, no church or pub community, no neighbors. No one. How do you get to be that old and have no one?

So, at 53, I can think of over half a dozen people I could call at 3 am, confident they would come. They aren’t even related to me! I married my best friend almost 20 years ago. I have four incredibly beautiful, loving children. My mom is still my go-to person when I need advice. My sisters and I talk almost every day, even though we live in different states. Alan asks, “Who talks to their sister every day?” I do. So, thank you, God, that I am surrounded by people who amazingly and inexplicably love me.

I’ve been doing an intensive cardiovascular workout these past few years. When I was 25, in a cold November church in a freezing baptistry, Gary Serago baptized me into the life of Jesus Christ. I went from a narrow-minded, self-focused person, to one who began to appreciate that God loved me and called me to love others. I could feel my heart stretching.

I married my best friend when I was 33. The heart stretches more. In April, 1996, I became a mom standing up in the Sea-Tac airport. Alan handed me my 5 ½ mo-old daughter. Alan was grimy and exhausted from a 24 hour international journey with an infant and Miranda was round, soft, tiny, and frizzy-haired with solemn eyes. I fell in love and thought my heart could get no bigger. But with each child…Brent, Sarah, Bryce…your heart makes more room. God willing, next year I hope to travel with Alan and Miranda to Kenya to work in a medical mission for two weeks. So, thank you, God, for exercising my heart and helping it grow.

I’ve stayed with some of my patients in the last moments of their life. You tell them it’s ok to say goodbye. You tell them they are not alone. You hold their hand and tell them you won’t leave them…and I wonder where they will be in a few minutes. So, thank you, God, that I know whom I have believed and I know where I am going.

I have a large wooden sign hanging in my kitchen. It’s my face book profile quote. “Once in a while, in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives you a fairy tale.” I’m no Pollyanna. We’ve had troubles, who doesn’t? I’ve called Alan at work nearly incoherent with stress over some issue. Since our church watched a family lose their 5 year-old angel to cancer, Alan has tended to respond to me with, “Patti, none of our children has cancer.” So, thank you, God, that despite the challenges of our lives, I can step back and say, “We ARE living happily ever after.”
So, Patti, what have you accomplished these fine 53 years?

I’ve learned I can love. I pray I’ll learn more.

Getting excited

Patti loves to hear Miranda excited about anything....she just vibrates with joy!! Today it's trying to beat the school record for the 500 Free and impressing her English teacher with her poetry analysis. I used to get excited about what was in my lunch box!

Group Photo at lincoln City

Grandma's 87th Birthday

To celebrate Grandma's 87th birthday, we all met in Lincoln City, Oregon over Labor Day weekend. We had two cottages that were on a bluff over the beach and had a wonderful view. Grandma spotted whales spouting off shore which Bev verified with binoculars. We had angel food cake with strawberries and in Grandma's cottage there was salmon and crab. Yumm...(not so yummy for the Hoffers though who had spaghetti).

The weather was supposed to be stormy but the storm passed north of Lincoln City so we had wonderful weather also. Grandma said it would probably be the last time she came to the coast. I think she'll go back for lunch sometime, but it was probably the last time to stay overnight.

Awake at 4

Awake at 4, asleep by 10;
And then, tomorrow, start again.

Is my skirt too short?
Are my straps too thin?

Can I buy my lunch?
Where’re my contacts…crunch!

I need 5 bucks!
That teacher sucks 

You just don’t care.
Please braid my hair?

Dad, you need to sign this sheet.
Brent! I think that smell’s your feet!

Brush your teeth and change your slacks.
Oh no, who ate the school lunch snacks?

Can I do swim team, drill team, track?
I guess you’ll want your change all back.

Just five more minutes till the bus!
Dad, wait! You can’t be seen with us!

Take out the trash, mow the lawn.
Stop the whining on and on.

Dad, you can’t….that’s just not fair.
Do you have time to curl my hair?

Uncle! Uncle! No more tickle!
How do you spell “pumpernickel?”

Can you show me how this works?
Please just kiss it where it hurts.

Go to sleep, don’t make me come….
Do NOT call your sister “dumb.”

Turn out the light and shut the door.
Don’t play your DS anymore!

Can I sleep with you tonight?
Were you once a warrior knight?

Hon, you did your best, gave all you had.
One thing is sure, there’s no better dad!

The Stages Parents Go Through

It’s just a stage they’re going through
Isn’t that what we say?
The terrible twos, the silent teen,
And all the stages in between.

I think that more needs to be said,
Of stages parents go through.
I spent such time in helping kids,
I’ve changed more than I knew.

No one needs their pancakes cut,
Or hand held at the street.
No longer do I tie their shoe,
Or change a bed-wet sheet.

We don’t sing about a spider,
Climbing up a spout,
We don’t read ‘I think I can’,
As the little train pulls out.

Instead, I’m shopping with my daughter,
For bras and camisoles,
And Brent says his size 10 shoes
Have holes in both the soles.

Sarah wants her hair in layers,
Just above her shoulder.
Miranda wants an off-cut bob,
To look a little older.

Bryce is making omelets,
Do I want onions chopped in mine?
Brent is vacuuming the hall,
And wiping walls of grime.

Instead of waking early,
To crawl into my bed,
They stay up late and want to talk,
To clear what’s in their head.

They need money for the movies,
For track team and a yearbook,
They need clothes for next week’s concert,
Or the latest fashion look.

The jeans they bought get tight and short,
In less time than we talk,
They grow so fast I think that I
Should invest in Levi stock.

Last year four went to VBS
This year it’s only one.
Now only 2 in AWANA,
This too will soon be done.

It’s just a stage I’m going through,
I pass through with some sorrow,
Who knows what change is coming,
I’m glad God holds tomorrow!

To Alan, on Father's Day

To Alan, in honor of Father's Day:

You say you think you should have been more patient,
Taken time to choose your words with care.
Recalled the sage advice the experts write of
Disciplined with strategy that's fair.

But I know you're a DAD beyond all measure.
Your sacrifice for them is daily seen.
God gave them you - a gift of His own pleasure,
A gift they'll spend their whole life to redeem.

You blame yourself for acting out of anger,
Lamenting that you'll never get it right.
You're sure they see your weakness and your failings,
Despair that all you say is heard as trite.

But I know that you have shown each child a Savior.
You've guided them with compass and a map.
You've given them a chance to make a difference
As they rested in strong arms upon your lap.

You doubt your kids can see the truth of Jesus
Shown clearly in your life each passing day.
You pray they will remember God's own wisdom,
But despair that they might never find the Way.

But I know you are strong and every faithful.
Your heart beats for a lost and hurting world.
My boys see how a real man keeps his promise;
My girls - the flag of ardent love unfurled.

We've been remiss in praising all you do here.
We honor and respect your place as Dad.
You've built our home to weather any crisis.
No words can write the joy. Our hearts are glad.

"I know, my God, that You examine our hearts and rejoice when You find integrity there." I Ch. 29:17a NIV

We love you, honey.

Visiting Amy and Terry McCool

I figured out that I hadn't seen Amy since before I had kids...good grief, WAAAAYYYY to long!

Celebrating Brent and Jan's Birthday at Grandma's

Alan, President of Piranha Swim Team

Interesting, the vast array of tasks the president of the swim team has...including holding siblings of swimmers who form attachments with you!

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.


~ Abraham Lincoln or Rev. William J. H. Boetcker.

Dad working at car wash

Think washing cars is hard work? Try keeping a bunch of kids from elementary school to high school in line and on task!!! Dad's the best at it!

Never too little for daddy's lap

My Tulip Tree

Mother's Day gift from a few years ago.....

My Commute Home,...part 1

Leaving Edmonds for home....Coast guard escort (happens every once in a while!)

My Commute Home - Part 2

Traveling from Edmonds, Wa to Kingston, Wa: Have to do this in a couple entries! The light on the water at 5pm in the spring is so soft, pretty.

View on the way home

This was taken with my cell phone....still a nice view to come home to!

New desk

So, Alan, Bryce and I worked on putting this desk together. I did end up putting a shelf on the right side (it attaches to the tabletop), so my printer is off the main surface. Very nice!

Our 19th Wedding Anniversary!

He's a prime rib and baked potato guy...I'm grilled salmon and sauteed green beans. He's a pick up a little bit every day...I'm a spring cleaner. He sees the bright side...I see the underside. He believes in the future...I'm still trying to figure out the past. He's a lounge by the pool and take a nap...I'm a plot t...he next trip and let's go. He's a still pond...I'm a raging volcano. He's a text message...I'm a thesis. He's common sense...I'm not. He knows how to bite his tongue...I know how to lash with mine. He's the golden retriever...I'm the otter. Nineteen years...more my best friend than ever. I love you, Alan.

Visiting Grandma's!

Look how tall Brent is getting! Amazing. Do you like Sarah's shoes? She stole them from her dad!

Always Kiss Me Goodnight

I love it!

Thanks, Jan!

Lucy and I on a walk!

A few scenes from my walk....get a load of this mushroom! It's a dinner plate!




















The tree in the path was disturbing because if you look straight up, there is a section of tree slightly more slender, suspended horizontal in the branches over the path. A good wind will bring it down, I think. We had a young man die in a recent wind storm while walking in a park with his wife and dog. A tree fell on him. So, I walked cautiously!!

Mom was sick this weekend...can you tell?

I was incapacitated with stomach flu...which Bryce caught the next day and Alan caught the next. Dishes were a low priority!!!

Bev and I putting Mom's couch together

Bev and I worked on putting mom's couch together...when it says "A little assembly required" BEWARE!!