It's about that time of the year when soccer schedules fill our Saturday calendar and make trips out to the lake difficult.
So we went out for one last hurrah....
And Stephen's wedding ring fell into the lake....bummer!
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Teatime
Well, that tea party never got to happen. And for months they've been asking me to get the tea set from grandpa to have the tea party.
Well, on September 23rd, the 4 month mark of her death, we had a tea party. We felt her with us, she was here in spirit.
Sky Ranch--5th Grade Camp with Kaitlyn
I am one lucky mom! I got to spend 3 days with this girl at sky ranch outdoor education camp.
It was a wonderful time. The kids stayed up really late each night. There were 16 girls with 3 adults in our cabin and only 4 showers. We walked A LOT all day long. We would have a brief lesson and walk half a mile, have another brief lesson, and walk some more. Our "class time" really took most of our day with blocks of free time in the afternoon. The kids had the opportunity to put principles of math and science into practice, and learn about nature, all while having lots of fun!
One of my favorite things was to see Katilyn get out of her comfort zone on so many things. She hung on a trapeze and dropped into the pool, went down water slides, rode a zip-line, and rode a horse. She was a also good friend to a new girl in school, Tala, potentially jeopardizing the other friends she wanted to bunk with. But it all worked out.
Bike Rider
He would just make a loop down our street to the corner, cross the street, come down the other side to the Glasers and cross again. Round and around. Then he could go the whole street. Then we started venturing out. Many mornings a week he'd ride and I'd run behind him. It was SO good for both of us.
Jump starting my exercise routine again helped me to break through some of my grief, and lose some of the weight I'd put on with emotionally eating.
Matthew was really proud of himself too. He's amazing.
Funny story. On a morning like the one pictured above he was riding his bike up to the time we left for preschool. I told him to put up his helmet while I grabbed his backpack.I drove him all the way to school, took him into the school and when I came out to get back in the van, this is what I saw.....
Silly boy, he thought he was so clever with his version of "away".
BIG TIME
I have a new nickname around my house. It's "BIG TIME". You see I've been "promoted" for lack of a better term.
Sometime in late July there was a swirl of phone calls and a bit of confusion about whether they'd happened but I was asked to assume a new position at church. For the past 4 years I've served as the Director of Public Affairs for my stake in Allen. Some changes at the Dallas regional level left an opening that I was ask to fill.
I was very very resistant to this change. Change is hard for me. I was really excited to embark on things at the Stake level in the fall with Matthew in school 3 days a week--I was finally going to have some good solid time to do my calling well without the hassle of arranging childcare.
I'd just lost my mom and at the time was still grieving a lot. I was still having days where it was hard for me to function. How in the world was I going to do this?
The way the "call" came I knew it was coming before it officially came so I spent a lot of time on my knees, fasted and prayed, even went to the temple and felt nothing. So initially I said I needed more time. But then I had a heartfelt conversation with my Stake President. He told me that 2 years ago he warned his presidency to have my replacement ready because I would replace Amy Fennegan when she was released. He pointed out that I was the best qualified person in the region to fill the role. And he promised me that my mom would help me.
With my new assignment came new biz cards, and a trip to Phoenix for training with the other "Big Time" folks from the North America South West area of the church.
One of my favorite things that happened in my training was meeting the guys behind the new movie, "Meet the Mormons". We met Gail Halverson, "The Candy Bomber" and he was so fun!
And this is my new BFF in the PA world, Jan Chappell is in Houston and works with my sweet Mother-in-law.
I promise I was the baby in the room, and humbled by many of them being former mission presidents and Stake Presidents. But I'm used to that.
Monday, January 5, 2015
Dad, fingers and the DA
Random happenings I wanted to record....
My dad now comes on Sunday evenings to have dinner with us. We often play games, or he reads or tells my kids one of his famous "Lone Ranger Stories" that he's made up. It's awesome!
Matthew got his finger smashed in the door at church one Sunday. It was awesome. It was his middle finger. Jon Foulger thought it was funny and took this picture for all posterity to remember the unfortunate event....
And finally the D.A. The case against the man who killed my mom is moving forward. He's been charged with manslaughter. They could have charged him with vehicular or intoxicated manslaughter but the punishment is the same, and manslaughter is easier to prove and convict on, the other types puts more burden on the DA to prove. The maximum punishment is 20 years in jail.
Mathew Thomas Wise's tox screen (blood toxicology test) still hasn't come back, but will later not show any sign of an illegal substance. Mr. Wise admitted to smoking "K2" a legal form of synthetic marijuana to the paramedics at the scene. K2 doesn't show up in a tox screen, and it's only legal because it is too hard to regulate. If it was banned, a slightly different chemical compound would hit the market under a different name, and the circle goes round and round. Hind sight, we are so glad we just stuck with manslaughter as the intoxication-manslaughter would have been really hard to prove with a "clean" tox screen.
The case has been assigned to the Collin County DA's office and we met with Randy Goodwin and his deputy Robin Laughn. Our initial meeting was really special. Dad, Pearl and I met with them. We went over all the facts of the case and the timeline of how things would likely go. We were very concerned about how low of a bail he got, only $25,000. And the rule of thumb was that you only need to post 10% of it to bond out. We were VERY VERY concerned someone would bail him out and he'd disappear. Dad pressured Randy really hard to ask for the bail to be increased. But without a good reason, a judge wouldn't raise it.
The one thing that was really special was, towards the end of our meeting, my dad shared with him that while we want justice for mom, we believe that Mathew will get what's coming to him on the other side, that God will be the perfect judge. Dad started sharing a bit of what our faith believes in that we knew that Mom was fine and happy and had likely forgiven him already. Randy asked what church we went to. And when dad answered, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", Randy said, "I go to that church too." Immediately we felt mom there. We all did. We all got teary-eyed (even Randy) and he promised us that he would do his very best work. We knew that mom was having influence on the events of things and probably had a hand in this case being given to Randy. If nothing else there was an immediate peace that Randy understood our family on a new and deeper level. We had a shared value system and it would influence the way he handled the case.
As things went forward he kept us very involved in every aspect of this case. He's a District Attorney, paid for by our tax dollars, he was prosecuting Mathew Wise because he broke the law, but in every way we felt as though he was working for us, that our opinions mattered. He didn't move forward on things unless he had our family's blessing. It was such a tender mercy.
As far as perusing things civilly against Mathew and Pamela Ripperda (his boss, who gave him access to her car, in spite of a suspended license), we've decided not to move forward. The money awarded to dad as a result of her death are tricky. Mom was Pearl's legal guardian and a judge could award a chunk of it to her (which wouldn't be good), and lawyers take a cut of anything. We were advised that there weren't many assets held by either of them that we could get. Dad also had a very strong impression from Mom that we shouldn't hire an attorney. We'd found one, interviewed him, and were ready to sign with him at the time of the family reunion in June, but just in time, some settlement monies came in that were much more than we expected and dad felt such peace about taking it and just leaving the civil charges alone.
My dad now comes on Sunday evenings to have dinner with us. We often play games, or he reads or tells my kids one of his famous "Lone Ranger Stories" that he's made up. It's awesome!
Matthew got his finger smashed in the door at church one Sunday. It was awesome. It was his middle finger. Jon Foulger thought it was funny and took this picture for all posterity to remember the unfortunate event....
And finally the D.A. The case against the man who killed my mom is moving forward. He's been charged with manslaughter. They could have charged him with vehicular or intoxicated manslaughter but the punishment is the same, and manslaughter is easier to prove and convict on, the other types puts more burden on the DA to prove. The maximum punishment is 20 years in jail.
Mathew Thomas Wise's tox screen (blood toxicology test) still hasn't come back, but will later not show any sign of an illegal substance. Mr. Wise admitted to smoking "K2" a legal form of synthetic marijuana to the paramedics at the scene. K2 doesn't show up in a tox screen, and it's only legal because it is too hard to regulate. If it was banned, a slightly different chemical compound would hit the market under a different name, and the circle goes round and round. Hind sight, we are so glad we just stuck with manslaughter as the intoxication-manslaughter would have been really hard to prove with a "clean" tox screen.
The case has been assigned to the Collin County DA's office and we met with Randy Goodwin and his deputy Robin Laughn. Our initial meeting was really special. Dad, Pearl and I met with them. We went over all the facts of the case and the timeline of how things would likely go. We were very concerned about how low of a bail he got, only $25,000. And the rule of thumb was that you only need to post 10% of it to bond out. We were VERY VERY concerned someone would bail him out and he'd disappear. Dad pressured Randy really hard to ask for the bail to be increased. But without a good reason, a judge wouldn't raise it.
The one thing that was really special was, towards the end of our meeting, my dad shared with him that while we want justice for mom, we believe that Mathew will get what's coming to him on the other side, that God will be the perfect judge. Dad started sharing a bit of what our faith believes in that we knew that Mom was fine and happy and had likely forgiven him already. Randy asked what church we went to. And when dad answered, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", Randy said, "I go to that church too." Immediately we felt mom there. We all did. We all got teary-eyed (even Randy) and he promised us that he would do his very best work. We knew that mom was having influence on the events of things and probably had a hand in this case being given to Randy. If nothing else there was an immediate peace that Randy understood our family on a new and deeper level. We had a shared value system and it would influence the way he handled the case.
As things went forward he kept us very involved in every aspect of this case. He's a District Attorney, paid for by our tax dollars, he was prosecuting Mathew Wise because he broke the law, but in every way we felt as though he was working for us, that our opinions mattered. He didn't move forward on things unless he had our family's blessing. It was such a tender mercy.
As far as perusing things civilly against Mathew and Pamela Ripperda (his boss, who gave him access to her car, in spite of a suspended license), we've decided not to move forward. The money awarded to dad as a result of her death are tricky. Mom was Pearl's legal guardian and a judge could award a chunk of it to her (which wouldn't be good), and lawyers take a cut of anything. We were advised that there weren't many assets held by either of them that we could get. Dad also had a very strong impression from Mom that we shouldn't hire an attorney. We'd found one, interviewed him, and were ready to sign with him at the time of the family reunion in June, but just in time, some settlement monies came in that were much more than we expected and dad felt such peace about taking it and just leaving the civil charges alone.
First Day of School 2014-2015
First Day of School for the 2014-2015 School Year!
Poor Sam was running a fever the night before and couldn't get to school until the 3rd day!
But here he is once he got there, AND a lovely teacher snapped me this photo of him and his teacher (Ms. Dianne Tran) since I wasn't allowed to walk him back to his room....
The girls DID make it to school on the first day though....This girl, my Kaitlyn, is growing up so fast!
And here is Lindsey ready for 1st grade with Ms. Serrano!
Make it a great year guys!
Then a few days later, Matthew started official preschool. Last year we did a co-op thing with some friends that was fun. This year I enrolled him in legitimate preschool. His teacher is Ms. Jessica (Williams) and he only has 5 kids in his class (4 boys and one sweet girl--who Matthew has become quite fond of!). And now I get 3 days a week with big chunks of time to be productive! Happy day!
Friday, January 2, 2015
Bye bye Summer!
My children wait with great anticipation for the letters that come about a week before schools starts (Tuesday usually), informing them of who their teachers will be. Then we make our posters for the back to school parade which happens on Thursday morning. Each of the teachers pile into grade level appropriate cars, the office staff in a school bus, and the parade is lead by Principal Johnna Walker in a police car. It lasts about 5 minutes but it is SO FUN for our children, they LOVE it!
This year at school Kaitlyn will have Clint Gebhardt as her 5th grade teacher, Sam will have Dianne Tran as his 3rd grade teacher, Lindsey will have Monica Serrano as her first grade teacher, and Matthew will officially attend preschool. His sign appropriately reads, "Hey Marion, I'll catch you next year, this year I'm in preschool!"
We rode our bikes to Bradford Trace Park in our neighborhood to meet up with lots of our friends and eat a potluck breakfast before the parade gets to us. This year was just as fun as always.
Then that evening is the official "Meet the Teacher" which is quite the ordeal with 3 children, I can't even imagine what it will be next year!
Another "end of year" event was pedicures for me and the girls. This has significance. On Kaitlyn's birthday back in April, Grandma Lewis came and got her and took her to our local shop for a pedicure. It made her feel so special. When mom died, she still had the polish on her toes and she didn't want to take it off. So she kept it on all summer. But the last little bit was about to get trimmed off her big toe.
So on August 23rd, as a 3 month anniversary of mom's passing, AND to celebrate the end of summer and hopes for a good school year, the 3 of us girls went and got our toes done. I'm sure mom was so happy we did this!
This year at school Kaitlyn will have Clint Gebhardt as her 5th grade teacher, Sam will have Dianne Tran as his 3rd grade teacher, Lindsey will have Monica Serrano as her first grade teacher, and Matthew will officially attend preschool. His sign appropriately reads, "Hey Marion, I'll catch you next year, this year I'm in preschool!"
We rode our bikes to Bradford Trace Park in our neighborhood to meet up with lots of our friends and eat a potluck breakfast before the parade gets to us. This year was just as fun as always.
Then that evening is the official "Meet the Teacher" which is quite the ordeal with 3 children, I can't even imagine what it will be next year!
So on August 23rd, as a 3 month anniversary of mom's passing, AND to celebrate the end of summer and hopes for a good school year, the 3 of us girls went and got our toes done. I'm sure mom was so happy we did this!
Boating at Lake Texoma
Summertime is supposed to be fun of fun on the lake. If you ask Stephen, he would tell you we didn't make it out near enough, but we did go out as often as we had willing kids and the time.
One of the times that was most fun was when the McKneely clan came for a weekend. We rented the two cabins at Texins Boat Club for the crew and had a lovely time.
We went up the day before everyone got there and made sure our kids got their turns in. Lindsey turned out to be a natural born water skier. It helps that she's fearless and so light, she pops right up on those skis! 
And we always enjoy tubing and just swimming in the lake. When cousins arrived there wasn't enough room on the boat for everyone so we time spent on the beach in the sand when not on the boat. The weekend was a total success and there are requests to do it again next summer!
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