Henry Miles Polinder

Lynette holding Henry Miles Polinger born 12/27/2011
weighing in at 8 lbs. 10 oz and 20.5 " long

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Merry Christmas 2011

December 2011 holds many memories.  Sunday morning, Christmas Day, I told Wil that I miss all 3 of our parents.  I said that I'd like to hug all three of them just one more time, and I promiseI'd send them all 3 back.  I miss them, but I don't wish them back, to the life that they had here on earth back.

On Christmas, 2010, we were still caring for Wil's mother in our home. We had my Mom and Dad along with Carol and Norm join us on Christmas Day. Little did I know that would be my last Christmas with my Dad. We were quite certain, that is was our last with his mother.

The plan was to have Matt, Monica, Brennan, Sawyer, Jeremiah and my mother here for Christmas lunch and the day.  I was talking to my Aunt Liz,(whose husband passed away in July) after church and discovered she was going to be alone all day.  I felt badly and wanted to invite her to join us, but wasn't sure what my family would say.  Dumb thing to question, because they immediately told me to invite her.  It took some convincing, but she came and we were so glad she joined us. Mom was pleasantly surprised when she came and found Liz at our place.  Liz was really missing her husband, Jerry and Mom was missing Dad.  Mom brought along, "Yoder's Delight", like she said she would, but also brought along, Custard pie-in honor of Dad.  It was his favorite.   We enjoyed their company a lot.  After lunch, they looked at Isaiah's Kenya pictures on our TV, before they both left to go home.  Liz needed to get ready for her family on Monday and Mom wanted to rest before she went to Norm and Carol's family for yet another party. 

After gifts were exchanged and the children were playing, Matt, Monica, Wil and I were exhausted. Several previously late nights led up to the exhaustion.

We have had a lot of losses in the last 1 1/2 years.  Wil's father(Alvin)- June 24th, 2010, his mother(Barbara)-Dec. 31, 2010, Uncle Jerry-July 2,2011,  my Dad(Henry) Dec. 9, 2011 then Uncle, Mahlon-Dec. 14th. Along with the death of the 3 parents and Uncles, there were also several cousins.
Another huge loss was, our church family, as we once had it. The Sunday morninig after Dad died, the tears flowed as it dawned on me that I didn't have an established church family in which to share my loss with. What I discovered is, that your church family isn't an establishment, but rather, Christian friends. 

In spite of all the losses, there are good things happening.  Among the top things right now, is our excitement in the waiting to welcome little Henry Polinger to this world.  After months of his mommy(my neice, Lynette) being on bedrest to prevent premature labor, he has developed a love for the womb.  His Grandma, Carol(my sister) left for Thailand, the day after Dad's funeral(Dec. 13) to be there, when Lynette and Rusty had their baby.  She was return Dec. 23rd.  She extended that return to Dec. 31st.  As of today, the little guy is still content in the womb.

Isaiah, our oldest grandson(14) is a Freshman and enjoys his school and church friends and his X-box. He keeps track of our every other Tuesday night that we go to ElZorito for supper and finds good excuses to go more often. He just recently went to Kenya, Africa with his Yoder Grandparents and has many great memories from that trip.

Brennan(7) is in the 2nd grade with 2 front teeth missing.  He is the grandchild that seems to notice peoples moods and has a tender heart.  He surprises me with his real stubborn streaks at times.  His parents probably see that more then I do. He enjoys playing scoccer, riding bike, star wars, ND football, well...just about any activity.

Sawyer(4) is simply a delight to have around. I told his parents, that life would be boring without Sawyer.  They need to be reminded of that at times.  Everyone loves to hear him talk and he is so full of love.  He is also full of drama, and dislikes almost all foods except for snack type foods.  He does like our yogurt and granola and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Meal time can be unpleasant if he is forced to eat. He LOVES to play the wii at our place.

Jeremiah(3) is our non-stop talker right now. We we all be shocked if if doesn't end up being involved in music somehow as an adult.  He is constantly breaking out in song and he sings at the top of his lungs, when no one is around.  He enjoys having a song book in his one hand and a mike in the other.  I think that comes from the many times he saw his Papaw lead singing.  He talks very clear, but he goes from one conversation to the next, simply to not loose your attention.  This cuddly little guy will also inform you when he is about to poop and when it's time for you to change his diaper.

So as you see, although we have had our losses, we have much to be thankful for.  These 4 grandson's all live in our back yard most of the time.  Isaiah goes home to AZ in the Summer, Spring break and Christmas.

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Goodbye Dad

Memories that came to my mind the morning, after Dad died:

It's amazing how soon you can go back in years, when you go down memory lane. I thought about

when Dad would tell us that if we get the dishes done in x amount of minutes, he would take us to the dairy queen. It was normally an amount of time that wasn’t realistic, but we did beat the clock at times.

I can still see him at the bottom of the stairs, making sure he gave us all good night kisses as we went to bed before turning off the light.

I have many memories of having my head pressed to the cold air register upstairs that was just above their Living Room. Back when Dad was a pastor there would often be company there, past my bedtime. It was a good place to try and hear what the subject of conversation was downstairs. Dad also knew that we children could hear through that register, so there was many a time that he would give Mom real loud smooches for our entertainment.

These past weeks, when Dad was so appreciative for what we were doing for him and as he expressed his love for us, it brought back so many good childhood memories.

This past week, the little things that Dad tried to do when he could no longer express himself, were very special. The little jerks of the head and movement of his mouth to tease me, as if to bite me or just simply to scare me. At time, he would just lean forward and give you a kiss. Many times in this past week us children and Mom felt like we were on Holy Ground, as Dad was having encounters with the Heavenly. It was Obvious when he was seeing and experiencing things that we couldn’t see. We may not have seen, but what we experienced was emotional.

More reflections onhttp://carolmil.blogspot.com/

Picture of us girls with our Hero

Carol-Dad-Kathy-Ann

Not too much longer

A short post for those of you wondering about Dad.  It appears he is in the last stage of his life here on earth.  At this point, we wouldn't be surprised if it's a matter of hours or days.  We are aware that it could go on longer, but the Nurse did say that he might get his wish soon.

He Leadeth me

Post that I wrote yesterday that failed to post.

On Sunday, I got a great massage right off the street. As I was lying face down, listening to the traffic noise, being a bit uncomfortable about the lack of privacy and wondering how this will be, all of a sudden I realized that the music was all Hymns. The 1st song was, He Leadeth Me.

I may or may not, confess at the end of the week, just how many massages I will have had.

So far each day we have taken the bus into town.


We walk, look at our map and walk some more. I would Not want to be driving on these streets. It's crazy.

This morning, we went into town around 8:00, for breakfast, walk part of the Malecon, rest on the beach briefly then came back to our place. We ate left overs for lunch.

Tonight, Wil had Seafood soup and I had Shrimp Al Pastor taco's.

Views from our room






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone Kathy Beachy

Mexico

Great Mango Margarita's!



Great food!



Great place to stay!



Thursday night, the 11th, my Dad had a rough night and I had some apprehensions about this trip. Hospice made some changes on Friday and Dad gave us his blessings to go.

We drove to Chicago Friday evening and our flight left early Saturday morning. We arrived in Puerto Vallarta in the afternoon, only to Discover that you can't use an INterra Card in Mexico. They let us use our credit card to pay for our taxi. It started us out on a bad foot but fortunately we had some cash along and were able to exchange that. We have a great restaurant right where we stay, so we can charge that all to our card.

Melissa told us what # to call for American Express and so today, we got more cash.

Our room the 1st 2 nights was a bit of a disappointment but ok. We couldn't keep our deck doors open because it went right out to the pool where there were screaming children. Today, they moved us to the 7th floor, where our view is breath taking. I actually got tears as I sat on the couch and took in the view.

Today and yesterday we took the bus to Old town and downtown and walked until we could almost no longer walk. You could get massages on almost every street. I have already enjoyed two of them!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone Kathy Beachy

Henry update on 11/3

Different people told me they keep checking my blog for updates on my Dad. I took off work a few hours so Mom could go to Sylvia Yoder's, funeral. So as I sit here and Dad's sleeping, I'm trying to decide how I can best tell you how Dad is.

A couple weeks ago, he was weak enough that I didn't feel good about leaving on Nov. 12th for our week long vacation to Mexico that we planned in March. Wil, kindly cancelled that vacation. Now this past week, he seems to be somewhat stronger and you might say more irritable at times. Norm and Carol also have plans to be gone that week, but their schedule isn't as easy to change as ours. However, It's much easier for me to take off work when they are off, but, if we would both be gone, Ann would be Mom's only night relief. Of course, then you also factor in the fact, that it's hard to enjoy a vacation when you always wonder how Dad is doing.

My sister, Ann had an interesting experience with Dad, during the early hours last Sunday morning. She sensed Dad was dying and also sensed our sister, Ruthie in the room. When Dad woke up, he said, "I thought I was dying". She told him, that she thought too that he was.

Us girls have been taking turns spending the night with Dad to give mom a break.

I didn't get this posted yesterday. I ended up spending the night with Dad and was up every 1-2 hrs. except for one 3 hr. stretch.

Tonight we are looking to see if we could possibly go to Mexico after all. I still have mixed feelings about it.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone Kathy Beachy

Interrupted Nights

It used to be, that when I slept on my parents sofa, it was because I was ill. It was a time when mom would grease my chest with Vicks and then put a warm towel on me. Sometimes I was there with a bowl on the floor beside me, in case I got sick. Even though I felt cared for while there, I'd often dream that I was floating towards the door or that someone was chasing me.

These are the things that I think about, when I lay on my parents sofa, yet again. This time because my Dad is ill and someone needs to be there to help him, 4-6 times during the night. As I lay awake, waiting to go back to sleep, till I am assured that he is sleeping again, I remember the good old days.

The days when my Dad was a healthy and full time working man, plus being a pastor. In spite of all that, he still found time to play with us. I was always very proud of my Dad.

It's really hard to see my Dad become weak, frail and discouraged. Right now yet, he has his good moments. However, there are more, not so good moments. It's all a part of his journey. Just like some runners, he is struggling with the last part of his race.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone Kathy Beachy

Hospice

I had so many mixed feelings today.  This morning Mom called to say that Dad had a bad night and was in a lot of pain.  They wanted Wil to stop in and see if he should go to the Hospital for Morphine.  I quickly called Monica to say that I couldn't watch the boys and headed for Mom and Dad.  Wil still had to finish getting ready for work.  I gave Dad pain medication as soon as I got there.  Carol and Wil both got there before his pain subsided.  I made several calls to Home Health and the Cancer Center Nurse.  They talked about Dad in their morning conference and agreed that it is time to put Dad in the Hospice Program.  I went into Goshen to get Morphine and while I was waiting for for it, I got a call from the Hospice Nurse.  It was decided to give the other  pain med every 4 hours before we give the strong medication that I just picked up.  This new one, would probably have him sleeping most of the time.  Today he did ok with taking something every 4 hours.

Back to my mixed feelings.  Throughout the day, I was reminded that this is really real, my Dad really isn't going to be here much longer.  10 months ago we admitted Wil's Mom into Hospice, and now here we are at it again with my Dad.  It's a great program and I'm grateful for it.

It's tough to see Dad becoming so frail, and seeing him in so much pain.  It's also hard to see Mom struggle and hearing her wonder what she will do without Dad. 

I pray God, that you will keep Dad from suffering and that you will grant his request and soon take him home, where he can have complete healing.  May this journey peaceful.  As my tears flow, I ask that you place a hedge of protection around him and our family, guard our hearts and give us peace. Amen

My Dad

How much can one man take? It seems when my Dad is almost standing tall, he gets knocked back down. He has had heart and hip problems for quite a while. The Tuesday before Labor Day, we thought we were loosing him. It's tough to see your Father vomiting blood and extremely weak. We called 911 to take him to the Hospital and there we found out that he now has Lymphoma.

Tuesday morning after he came home from his Radiation and a Stress test, his hip popped out. That was the 3rd time in the past year. They tried to pop it back in the ER but it didn't work. The Dr. warned us of the risk in taking Dad to surgery but there was no other option.

Dad seemed rather disappointed that he woke in the recovery room rather then in Heaven. He was told he would probably always need to wear the brace to keep it from coming back out.

We brought him home today noon.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone Kathy Beachy

Lot's of Sylvia-Especially for Grandma!

Check out Portland

 We started our 1st day out by going to the Rose Garden, Powells Bookstore and Nate and Deb's favorite coffee shop. Then we went on up to Mt Tabor Park.  I could easily have spent a full day there!  My favorite spot that day.

In the evening we ended up eating dinner at a restaurant called, Toast.  Great food.

Sunday 9-4 Updated

Sunday we hiked 5 miles in the Nahelem Bay Start Park. We hiked along the beach, all the way around the peninsula. Part of the way, we had to walk in tall grass, which made me a bit grumpy for a while. Soon, we were back on the beach, where we saw seals lounging. Wil was able to get a lot of good pictures with his telephoto lens. We were told that we are not to get close to the seals if we see any. When we got close to the tip of the peninsula, we had to climb up the rocks to get to the beach on the other side.

Oregon

Yesterday, we went to the Rose Garden, then to Nate's favorite coffee shop.






This morning Wil and I walked down the street to The Yolk wagon for breakfast.


Today noon, we loaded Nate and Deb's car and the 5 of us headed for Manzanita, Oregon, by the Coast.








They rented a great house on the Coast where we will spend 3 nights.

Pole Barn

As you can see, our summer has consisted of many projects and boys having fun in the dirt piles. Before long, I hope to re-claim our garage. 

 

If you want to distract Jeremiah, you can always ask if he wants to listen to music videos on your phone.