Fri. 2nd--I was hoping to leave early in the day for our weekend in Snyder--which would be a whole week for the kiddos. They were invited to stay because Kevin and Chris were planning on attending JJ's baptism the next weekend and they would just bring the kids home then. Unfortunately, the burb wasn't ready until 11:30. Which meant I couldn't run any errands before our trip. So our noon departure time got pushed back until 3pm. Jared was going to leave after work and drive Karole up in her van because she, too, was planning to stay for the week.
It's about a 5 1/2 hour drive to Snyder, northwest of College Station. We were approaching Cisco around 7pm. We talked about stopping in Abilene for dinner, but that was still another hour away, so we found a Denny's in Cisco. I've never been out to eat with all 5 of my kids, by.my.self. Things can often take a downward spiral pretty quick with just one grumpy child and the siblings who can't let things go. *sigh* And I was a little worried how this would play out. But I was pleasantly surprised. We actually enjoyed dinner together and everyone behaved themselves and treated each other kindly. It was a definite tender mercy for me.
JJ couldn't decide between the spaghetti or the mac and cheese. So he got both. Since he doesn't make a habit of eating food, I was not about to argue with him ordering two different dinners. Even if they were both pasta. (He's a kid after my own kid heart--I ate plain spaghetti for a week while visiting with my grandparents when I was about his age. :)
Ayzlynn and Olivia were doing splits in the living room, so Jake decided to jump in, too. I'm actually impressed! Pretty sure he got a lot farther than I could...even at the girls' ages. I was never that flexible.
Kevin and Chris took the adults to their favorite lunch spot. It's a food truck parked inside a warehouse. I had eaten breakfast before I realized we were going out to lunch, so I passed on eating, but it looked and smelled delicious. I had a few bites of Jared's plate. Apparently, once they run out of something, it's gone for the day. We missed out on the ribs. But the other meats didn't disappoint.
On Sunday, we attended the small Snyder Branch (a little more than a twig :), which utilizes a very nice space that used to be a medical building.
After Sacrament meeting, I spied Cooper talking to a girl annnnnddd tried to covertly get a picture of the conversation.
He thought I was trying to get a picture of him and Karole.
We left Kevin and Christina's around 2pm after a large Sunday lunch. It felt weird leaving Karcyn, Calvin and JJ behind. This was the first time they've done this special cousin visit sans parents. I hoped my in-laws would still be speaking to me when it was all said and done.
*While doing genealogy work recently, Jake and Cooper found an ancestor, Loraine Kelley, in the Hough line, who died of tuberculosis when she was 16--the same age Cooper is now. I did the proxy baptism for her when we went to the temple in July. Before we left Kevin's house, the boys brought up the fact that Loraine is buried not too far off the beaten path between Snyder and College Station. So after saying goodbye to the three littles, we left for home in search of the cemetery and grave in Santa Anna, Texas (right smack dab in the middle of the state).
I forget the population of Santa Anna, but it wasn't very many. These were pictures of downtown.
We could have done without the stickers, though! I had flip flops on, so it was a pretty treacherous trek through the cemetery as we tried looking for her grave. These were the stickers on Jake's shoes as he's sporting his viking socks from Iceland. :)
Fittingly, Jake and Cooper found Loraine's resting place before Jared and I did (in the middle of the picture, just under the trees). Not only that, we found that her mom, dad and brother were buried with her as well. I don't know what happened, but they all died within nine years of each other. We were happy to learn Loraine's mom's real name, her dad's real death date and location.
Loraine's headstone is marbled in such a way, coupled with one hundred years of time, that it was really hard to make out the carved information, but because we knew her birth and death dates, we could verify them. We noticed, however that there was an inscription at the bottom and try as we might, we could not make it out.
"I will be waiting for you over younder with God."
Mon. 5th--This was the day of the LOOOOONNNG awaited appointment in Austin, TX with a sleep specialist and hopefully we'd leave with some medication for Jake. We left College Station at 8am to make it there by 10am. And we were cutting it a bit close. We couldn't find the stinking place. We had to make a couple of turn arounds and I finally just called them for help. Even the directions they gave us were sketchy at best. But...somehow, we made it. And they were cool about our being a few minutes delayed. They knew we were coming from College Station and it was our first time.
We were led into a conference room that reminded me a bit of the rooms at our bank where you sit in front of a large desk while the banker sets everything up for you. I guess I was expecting a more clinical room. We saw Shane first. She is a board certified clinical nurse specialist. We gave her the quick run down of when symptoms started and how he's been and that it was suggested before he left Hungary to get a sleep study done. We had the results from those tests to give the office. Apparently they like the studies to be done in their own facilities, but blessedly, they didn't make us redo it and confirmed that he does have narcolepsy without cataplexy (sudden, brief loss of voluntary muscle tone). We were very transparent about the fact that we wanted to get Jake back out on his mission (to Hungary, if at all possible) before his mission time is up in July 2020. Then we discussed meds. From the research we had been doing, some of the meds they prescribe are no joke. They are highly addictive, one is the date-rape drug. Ahhhh!! Not what we want him to be on. Fortunately, because he doesn't have cataplexy, those crazy meds wouldn't be needed. Shane said he could do Modafinil (the generic of Provigil). Shane and Jared explained it as a non-stimulant stimulant. It was definitely nice having Jared there to help guide us through that. Though I would have felt comfortable going about this with just Shane. She was very personable and kind. They would prescribe it in 200 mg. but she counseled Jake to cut it in half and just start with 100 mg. and see how he did on that and if Jake got to the midday point and felt a little more tired than usual, he could certainly take the other half. We left the mission medical forms that would need to be completed eventually so they'd have an idea of what was being required. And Shane left so Dr. Gowda could come visit with us. Dr. Gowda is a cool guy. Pretty chill. He first asked Jake about the acute onset of his symptoms at the beginning of May. "So you were in Hungary?" "Yes." "Did you get sick?" "Nope." "Did you have an accident with a head injury?" "Nope." "Hmm." "The only thing I can think of [as a catalyst] is that I received the European H1N1 flu vaccine in November" (as is required for all the missionaries). Dr. Gowda snapped is fingers, pointed at Jake and said, "That's it!" While it can't be proven, Dr. Gowda was 99.9% positive that the flu vaccine was the trigger that set this all in motion. Doctors believe more and more that narcolepsy is an autoimmune disease and as with Celiac Disease with Karcyn, something had to awaken it. It can be a prolonged illness, head injury, or in Jake's case, a mandatory flu vaccine. CRAZY!!!! November to May is 6 months and that's how long a flu vaccine stays in your system to be effective. Only this vaccine just did more than it should have. That left us reeling a bit. But it is what it is. Jake needed the vaccine and we trust in the Lord's timing with all this.
Dr. Gowda said we also need to get Jake's nighttime sleep on track because that will obviously help him regulate daytime wakefulness while taking the Modafinil. So he prescribed Baclofen--a very inexpensive, non-narcotic mild muscle relaxer. Jake could take up to 30 mg. at night about 30 minutes before bedtime. But Dr. Gowda suggested trying 10 mg. first to see how that works. He also trained Jake a little on sleep habits. Dr. Gowda said that it's okay for Jake to take a nap during the day. If he has the opportunity to, he shouldn't feel bad about that at all. Secondly, the bed is for SLEEPING ONLY! He can't read, write, study, play games, talk to others, etc. on his bed (or any bed). This will help train his brain that the bed is for sleeping only and will help him get to sleep sooner. But if Jake goes to bed and can't fall asleep within 20 minutes, then he needs to 1) get out of bed, 2) go somewhere else, 3) read or do something for 20-30 minutes and then come back and try sleeping again. Jake is already good about going to bed and getting up at the same time every night and morning to be on the missionary schedule. It was all fascinating to hear--that the brain could associate sleep or not sleep depending on what you do in the bed. Dr. Gowda said that good sleep habits are for everyone, not just those with narcolepsy. I spend a lot of time on my bed, but as soon as my head hits the pillow, I'm out cold. So no problems for me! (Which spurred Jared into getting me a large bottle of women's daily vitamins one Christmas years ago for my stocking. Haha!)
We learned that there are no driving restrictions for Jake now that he's been diagnosed with narcolepsy. And our last question was, "About how long does it take to find the right dosing and to consider Jake stabilized?" It's hard to tell, of course, but Dr. Gowda said that their suggested meds/doses could be the silver bullet and provide the immediate solution. If not, it would be in one month increments. He wanted to see Jake again after taking the meds for four weeks, Sept. 6th, so we could evaluate and go from there. Ultimately, Dr. Gowda didn't see any reason why Jake couldn't go back on a teaching mission, even back in Hungary.
*These are pictures my sister-in-law, Christina, sent while our kids were staying with them.
Karcyn and her new insect pet she named "Leafy."
Wed. 7th--Considering I only had two kids to manage, it was a pretty crazy day. First, we had a 9am appointment to get Jake fingerprinted for the College Station School District so he could become a paraprofessional sub. Then from there, we went to the post office for a 10:15am appointment to get Cooper's passport submitted. While we sat there, waiting, the guy who would be helping us, came out to apologize for the delay, then noticed our application was in blue ink and said it needed to be in black. Dang. Fortunately, he supplied us with a new application and a black pen and his delay allowed us to fill it out completely before it was our turn. Technically, Cooper needs a passport if he goes to Canada in June with Jared as a celebration for completing his Eagle Project. However...as time ticks away, it's becoming more and more apparent that this trip, for Cooper, will not happen. Jared, however, will still go. But Cooper may need a passport anyway for his mission.
Later that day, Jake was teaching piano lessons at 4:15 for an hour and then we decided to meet Jared at the Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Wednesday ended up being the only night that week we could go out to dinner, ironically. Though it was a bit of a strange feeling not having the other three kids around, we were having a really good time with just the two older boys.
*The best part of this day was doing everything we needed to do, driving around in the car and Jake was awake the entire time! He said he didn't feel tired--felt great. The half pill that he was told to try was working! Wow! It was fast! We were cautiously optimistic yet couldn't help but get excited at the prospect of what this could mean. It was like we got our Jake back, overnight! He was alert had energy and wasn't sluggish.
*After dinner, the guys went home and I went to the church. I had an appointment to meet with the new Stake YW's president and hand off my keys, show her where supplies were, and answer her questions. My successor is Amanda Frost. She is the same person who succeeded me when I was released as Relief Society president in the CS3 ward. So it's kind of a joke now with Amanda that she's just following me around. And Amanda is so gracious about it. She says that I do all the hard work and trail blazing and clear this nice path for her to come in and serve. Haha! I told her that I was happy if she found any of that "fruit" along the way.
THEN--after my meeting with Amanda, Jake and Jared came to the church, because we had an appointment with President Sharp at 9:15pm! He was getting ready to go on a trip and wanted an update on Jake. We just had Jake's appointment in Austin a couple days before so we had a lot to tell him. President Sharp took down all the information about the meds, dosing and what the doctor shared with us about narcolepsy and that while it's an incurable sleep disorder, it's very manageable with meds. President Sharp was happy to hear our update and said he'd put a call in to the mission department before he leaves on his trip to find out the next steps.
Thurs. 8th--Christina, sent these pictures of the Hough cousins at the Snyder rodeo! They had a blast! From foreground to back: Korbin, JJ, Olivia, Ayzlynn and Karcyn.
Calvin, Uncle Kevin and Garrett. Apparently Calvin and JJ got to participate in the calf scramble where about 20 kids chased a calf around an arena. Calvin came REALLY close to nabbing it! Haha! Wish I could have seen it. :)
Sat. 10th--Jared and Kevin and the kids had plans to go fishing. I had some other things I needed to tend to that morning, and felt I should stay back. At 9:58am, I got a notification on my phone. It was from our previous YW's president. She was announcing that my friend Jaa'lah was getting baptized at 11am that day!! Within the hour!! WHAT?? I was stunned. She must have gotten married! I needed to tell Karole. I know she'd want to be there too. And I was SO grateful I chose to stay behind and not go to the lake with the rest of the group.
I didn't have time to shower, but quickly got ready before swinging by to pick up Karole. Even though it was last minute, I was so happy that Karole could come, too. As we pulled into the church parking lot, there was a car backing out that we were waiting for so we could occupy a space near it. As it turned toward us, we could see the driver and we realized that it was Jaa'lah! We rolled our windows down as we got near each other. She said she was so happy I made it and apologized for her last minute message (that she sent 20 minutes previously). I told her we were so excited to be there and then, confused that she was driving away from the church, I asked her where she and her new husband of less than 12 hours, who was also being baptized, were going? It was almost 11am and they needed to be inside. She said they forgot to bring towels and were going to run to Walmart to get some. A "run" to Walmart was going to take 20 minutes, at least. I told her, "Nonsense. You stay here. WE'LL got get them for you. YOU go inside and get ready." So that's what Karole and I did...drove to Walmart, bought two fluffy soft, bright, white bath towels and took them back to the church and placed them in the dressing rooms for Kerry and Jaa'lah. It was such an honor to be there for her baptism. She is on fire and I can't wait to see where her new faith will take her!
As I was driving home, I passed Jared and Kevin on the street before our neighborhood. They were headed to Chick-fil-A to get lunch. When they got back, I learned that before they left the lake, JJ was complaining of being tired. Which, considering the fun week he had, wasn't a surprise. A few minutes later, when they were looking for JJ, he was on the ground. Eyes closed. Not faking it. They think he passed out from the heat/dehydration. They got him roused and then he said he was going to be sick. They got him turned away from Christina's new vehicle and he threw up. Wasn't too much. But as soon as they got him home, they got him in a cool shower and made him drink some Powerade. By the time I arrived home, he was looking much better. That was kind of weird. We've been out in the sun fishing before for a couple hours and he's never responded like that. None of my kids have. But maybe it was because he was really exhausted and it created a bit of a perfect storm. Fortunately, it was smooth sailing with everyone after that.
The cousins enjoyed spending time together. We played games, we watched games, we watched movies and played ping-pong.
The Relief Society room was packed. We were so touched by all the friends and neighbors who came to support us and JJ on his special day and especially our Hough family! It was such a joy for me to witness all of JJ's older siblings participating in this momentous occasion. Three years ago, we lamented that Calvin's baptism would be the last one with all of our family members present. We never dreamed that Jake would be with us, but we wouldn't trade having him there for the world!!!
Jake played the piano for all the songs and musical number, including interlude. JJ picked out the opening and closing songs all by himself. I guess Calvin sometimes sings part of "Be Still, My Soul" at night and JJ really likes it. So that's what he wanted for the opening song. It's not a traditional song to sing at a baptism, but hey--it's JJ's baptism. "Families Can Be Together Forever" is another one of his favorites and very fitting. I love the quote from Elder Bednar who said, "As we stand in the waters of baptism, we look to the temple." Karcyn used her skills learned from making Personal Progress goals and lead the music as the chorister. Calvin gave an incredible and heartfelt talk on baptism and the Holy Ghost and delivered it like a pro! And Karcyn and Calvin joined their three youngest cousins and sang a sweet special musical number together. Because they hold the proper priesthood authority, JJ wanted Cooper to baptize him and Jake to perform the confirmation afterwards. It was a mommy dream come true in every way!!!
The "thank you" treat we gave to those who attended the baptism.
Our whole JARED HOUGH family!! This was a historic day for us!! Our last family baptism and everyone was there and all of JJ's siblings participated in the program.
Mon. 12th--Tuesday, August 13th, would mark two years since Doc passed away. Last year we saw the Winnie the Pooh movie with Karole as a fun tribute to him. He loved the movies. This year, JJ had back-to-school night at his new school on the 13th, so we fudged a little and went to see "Toy Story 4" on Monday night instead. We weren't able to get seats together, so Jake and Cooper sat on one end of a row. Jared, Karole and Calvin were together at the other end and Karcyn and JJ sat with me behind them. It worked!
The finished product! I'll let you know when they go on sale! ;) We've got to work on inventory first.
Thurs. 15th--I have no pictures of my kids' first day of school in grades 2, 6, 8 and 11 because as I was starting to wake up around 5am and rolled over, I was hit with major vertigo. I've only had it once and that was back in 2012 several days after my first cruise. It is a horrible feeling. I had to lay down on my bed and not move or talk and closing my eyes didn't help, but it was all I could do. Fortunately, it passed fairly quickly. This time, since I was in the early stages of waking up, I wasn't even sure if the wacky motion was real or if was dreaming or groggy. Around 5:15, I got up and went to the kitchen to get started on the morning routine of writing notes for the kids' lunches and unloading the dishwasher. I had gotten a few dishes onto the counter when I started feeling sick. I went into my bathroom to throw up but ended up just dry heaving. Man. Did I have a bug? Is that what was making me spin? I felt mildly better and went back to unloading the dishwasher. About 10 minutes passed when I started feeling sick again. So I went back into the bathroom and just stood at the counter by the sink. Jared walked in and saw me there and asked if I was okay. I told him I had a bit of vertigo and had already thrown up. And then I proceeded to go into the bathroom and threw up again. Jared had me take a Zofran that we had on hand and, having been trained in the ways of the Ear, Nose and Throat doctors over the past year and a half, said he knew of something we could do to try and fix it. There's a maneuver you can do.
He had me sit on the bed and told me to look a certain direction and then told me he was going to quickly push me back and I needed to keep my eyes open once I was on my back. As soon as I got to a certain angle, the vertigo began. Bleh. I kept my eyes open though and I laid there for a few seconds. He helped me back to a sitting position and then I promptly slipped off the bed and went back to the bathroom for the third time. I tried to come out to the living room, so I could at least see the kids. I sat kind of rigid in the rocking chair so I wouldn't move and just watched everyone fluttering around me. This vertigo was interesting in that it didn't strike while I was upright and walking. Only when I was halfway into a laying down position. So sitting up was okay though I still felt icky.
I was grateful the kids had their bedtime and morning routines already down so there wasn't much reminding, though this was not how I imagined the first day of school would be. After Cooper left for seminary at 6:20, I told Jared I needed to lay on the bed. I was getting sleepy. The Zofran was kicking in. I kissed my family goodbye and before getting in bed, I went to the bathroom and threw up for the fourth time in an hour.
I propped up four pillows behind me and eased ever so carefully into them so I could rest my neck but not be horizontal. Jared had said he'd have his mom come and take me to his office later that morning. I slept another three hours until 9:30 when I heard Karole come in. I was actually feeling a lot better after that. I told her I wanted to at least shower before I went to the office so she hung out with Jake. I made it through the shower alright but I moved very slowly and didn't tilt my head back or make any sudden movements with my neck. In fact, I wouldn't even turn it.
At the office, Jared had Marshall Snow, the new doc in the Greens Prairie ward, take a look at me. I explained what had happened since 5:15 that morning. And he said he'd like to try the Epley maneuver that Jared had started at home. When he laid me down quickly, I kept my eyes open as best I could. The room was spinning. But what he and Jared saw, however, were my eyes...spinning! Like I was possessed. Marshall said it was one of the strongest responses he's ever seen--in his 13 years of medicine and residency--definitely in the top 10. Awesome. Apparently, there are crystals floating around in my inner ear tube and by repositioning me and my head and using gravity, those crystals will float back into place. I was most worried about throwing up and had my puke bag just in case. I was repositioned two more times. The second time the spinning wasn't quite as bad when I went back down. And I don't recall that I felt anything during the third position. And that was that. Time to wait and see. I was so grateful Karole was there to drive me to the office and back. I would not have been comfortable doing that alone and Jake isn't on our car insurance.
When I got home, I took it easy the rest of the day, though I was feeling better. Jared had his first presidency meeting at 5:30pm at President Foster's office on one of the A&M campuses which wasn't all the way into Caldwell so that was nice. I was afraid to sleep laying down though. So I slept propped up. That was hard in the bed, so I moved to the couch in the living room where I could kind of wedge myself down. Not the most restful way to sleep, but it's better than sitting straight up because I was not laying down.
*President Sharp was back from his trip and reached out to me on Wednesday night to see if we could chat about what he learned from Salt Lake. We were doing father's blessings and it didn't work out. He tried calling Thursday morning, but sadly I was at the ENT office not feeling well. I told Jared he was trying to get a hold of us so he and President Sharp were able to connect. Jared called later to tell me what he learned. First of all, the lady President Sharp spoke with said in all her years (not sure how long that is exactly) she had never heard of a missionary with narcolepsy. But as long as they could get a very personalized and detailed letter from Jake's doctor about his prognosis and abilities/restrictions, that would help. Basically the more info they have, the better. Jake had already been doing research to find out if you could get his meds in Hungary and where and how much, etc. The second thing she told us was a shock--Jake's mission time has been halted. Paused. The second he came home, his time was put on hold. So if he goes back out on a teaching mission, he will have 14 months left to serve. Not 9 or 10 months like we thought all along. I'm not sure where we even got the idea that Jake's time as a missionary was ticking away (maybe when he came home...President Sharp was under the same assumption). She told President Sharp that the prophet signed his mission call deemed at 24 months of missionary service. Not even the apostles can change that time frame. So that was the real clincher because it would push Jake's return date into November or December of 2020--cutting into his first semester at college. Which threw us for a loop, Jake more than anyone of course. Jake had already told us he was seriously considering changing his major from engineering to medicine in light of all that has happened to him. He's fascinated with the body now. Although, doctors are engineers in way. :) It took Jake a good day or so of very thoughtful meditation and prayer to work through this news. The question was, does he agree to go back on a teaching mission for another 14 months no matter where that is. Or does he opt for a service mission here at home which can be customized to his needs and possibly keep him on the schedule he expected. Jared and I were really hoping Jake would be all-in with an opportunity to serve a teaching mission even if it was for 14 months. He has so much to offer as a missionary and trainer. When he came to us for counsel, I told Jake that school will always be there. Yes, it's a bummer to feel behind and to miss a semester at college with his "triplet" cousins--they had big plans--but he can make up that semester of classes in several ways and it won't change his relationship with his cousins. Furthermore, if he really is planning on doing medicine, he'll be in school for a very long time so, he has nothing to worry about there! Fulfilling the rest of those 14 months would be his one and only shot to serve a full time mission as a young man. If he gets that second chance, we sure hope he takes it. It didn't take long for Jake to realize that he did want to teach and finish his mission. No matter where that might be. And then he went full bore ahead in learning as much as he could about the med availability and accessibility in Budapest.
Sat. 17th--I felt better on Friday and Saturday morning, too, but Jared said we needed to do the maneuver again. Noo! I was not thrilled about that, but complied. When he quickly laid me back the first time, nothing happened. And then I totally felt it coming on. It began, but it wasn't nearly as strong as before. After he finished the maneuver, I was feeling nauseous again, so I laid propped in bed most the day. Which meant Jared ran around all creation instead. He had to get supplies for Jake at Walmart, he had to run Calvin to an activity at 9am. Then he had to take Jake to Copy Corner and when he got back there wasn't a ton of time before he was running off to get Calvin from his activity. Karcyn babysat a small pit bull for a friend from 12:45 to 3:15. And it was Karole's birthday. We were going to take her out to eat that night. Jared suggested we delay dinner because of how I was feeling, but I told him I was fine to go out. I just moved slowly. We went to Fuddrucker's at Karole's request. I had never been there, so I was a new experience. I got a hot dog and it was actually really tasty. Especially since I hadn't eaten anything all day.
Sun. 18th--Even though seminary had already been going since the first day of school, Cooper had Seminary Kick-Off at the Stake Center. We were surprised to learn that BYU is no longer asking applicants for the number of clubs and activities they are/were involved in. Instead, they want a personal letter from a seminary teacher. I've always believed in not overscheduling our children and this bold move from BYU validates that. Jake was invited to join National Honors Society in high school, but he turned it down because he didn't feel like he had the time to do it--which was at the risk of not getting into BYU. But Jake did get accepted to BYU. In fact, Jake wasn't involved in very many extra curricular activities. But he is strong in his faith and in fulfilling his priesthood duties. I think this new change with a focus on seminary is really important and sends an equally important message.
*Though I had mixed feelings about starting school on a Thursday, I decided that doing that was a nice way to dip our toes in the water and get a feel for the new year without having to commit a full week to it! I'm converted!!
Tues. 20th--I went back to Jared's office for a vertigo check. They did the maneuver on me and I was all clear! No spinning eyes or room! I got a hearing test done while I was there. I have caught myself, numerous times over the past couple years, straining to hear what people are saying, asking them to repeat themselves, turning up the TV louder, or better yet, just having the closed captioning on. Which drives Jared crazy. I've sincerely wondered about hearing loss. So imagine my surprise (especially Jared's) when the audiologist declared I have excellent hearing. Man. That's crazy. I guess everyone is just mumbling nowadays? Or am I so distracted I miss everything the first time? Who knows.
To celebrate my being free and clear from Vertigo, Karole and I went to IHOP for breakfast. And Jake started washing our windows to get himself back in the swing of that money-making opportunity. For which I was truly grateful! Our windows have needed cleaning for years. And he made them sparkle!!!
Thurs. 22nd--The week before, Jared had the thought that maybe Jake could spend a day or two with the local missionaries, serving and working with them, so he could take his newly medicated body on a trial run. Once he started the meds a couple weeks before, he had immediate results. Feeling normal (or as close to it as possible) again. Jared reached out to President Sharp about the idea and who then reached out to President Peterson--president of the Houston Texas Mission. He loved the idea and said Jake could spend three days with the missionaries if he wanted to (from sun up to sun down). So that's what Jake did on the 22nd and 23rd. He actually went out with the missionaries serving in the River Bend ward (with our old CS1 bishopric)--Elders Butterfield and Orvis. They spent a lot of time up on A&M campus, out in the brutal August summer heat, and he did great! He was tired at the end of a hard day's work, but he wasn't nodding off or collapsing. It was normal fatigue for the circumstances. Yay!!
*Karcyn was planning watch my friend's little boys around 7:30 so she and her husband could go out on a quick date and grab some ice cream. Except that I got a call from Ashley around 3:45 asking if I could come over sooner. She had just tripped over something in the yard and was pretty sure she had broken her ankle. I was on my way out to pick up my kids from school but told her I'd head over there right after. At 4pm, she texted that her husband had just made it home and they were going to the ER. I asked her which one and after I got my kids picked up, I drove to the ER. I found her husband trying to keep their 3 year old entertained and out of trouble in the waiting room. I asked if taking the boys would help and he said yes. So we went out to the car to switch over car seats and came back home with two extra little boys. Ashley didn't take too long at the ER. They were back at our house around 6:30, but then they stayed and we chatted for another 90 minutes or so. I asked her husband if he took her out to get ice cream before they came to pick up the boys. Not much of a date, but it's something!!
Fri. 23rd--After getting the burb's dent fixed, I learned that you are advised not to take vehicles with recent paint work through an automated car wash for 90 days. But all this driving back and forth to Caldwell makes your car pretty dirty. So I found a "do it yourself" car wash up in Bryan and proceeded to wash my burb. I didn't have anything to dry it off, but I could fix the water spots on the windows later. When I got in the car and sat down, I was horrified to see that the pink soap stained my capris!!! I looked like I had pink cow legs. Ahhhh!!! There was no warning or anything. I never dreamed soap would stain. I was so bummed. But I threw them in the washer with my Branch Basics non-toxic soap and voila! They are as good as new. I suspect that perhaps the pink would have come out anyway. But you never know.
"My new favorite tie. You are AWESOME. We are checking out meds and other possibilities! Love you my brother!" Now Jake and Pres. H will always share Hungary and H ties. :)
*On this same day, I was teaching Karcyn how to tie a bow in the back of her dress, when all of a sudden, JJ came from out of nowhere. Thinking we needed actual help, he confidently said, "Let me do this," while gently shoving me out of the way as he took over. And I have to say, he ties dress bows better than I do!
Tues. 27th--Jake and Karole were actually asked by our stake presidency to attend a special meeting with a team from FamilySearch. This was a coordination meeting with mostly stake leaders, FamilySearch representatives, missionaries and other leaders from the Houston area. They were introducing an initiative to work with local communities to gain access to historical and family records in the state of Texas and they will be beginning within our stake, in Grimes County, where the Navasota Branch is. I'm not entirely sure why they wanted Jake and Karole there. They were the only non-leader attendees at this intimate meeting. But it was really cool the things they learned and what is coming down the pipeline. It sounds like it'll be very similar to what my parents are doing in Iceland. Missionaries (and couples) will digitize records for the county with the agreement that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is allowed a copy of those records. Which is a pretty big deal. If you want records from Texas, you have to go through the actual county to receive them.
An unexpected but very pleasant surprise, was when Jake ran into the former Houston Temple President, President Haines, who was serving at the temple when Jake was endowed and set apart to be a temple worker over a year ago. President Haines has followed Jake's journey in Hungary and sent a very touching letter to me before Jake came home. He was a former mission president and spoke of Jake's pure soul. He knew that if Jake only served 10 months, that was the mission the Lord wanted for him.
Apparently there was a lot of gunk trapped in Jake's sinuses and the bones were blocking his airways more than normal. Nevertheless, it went well.
Fri. 30th--JJ very intently drawing after school. He says he can't draw but he is really good at it.
Later that afternoon, Jared and I were headed out on some errands. A few minutes before we left, I got a notification from the local news saying a train had collided with an 18 wheeler at our street crossing! So we had to drive to the next crossing to get to where we were going. These are the pictures I took as we passed.
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