Two More Great Links

I found 2 more links to Team Hoyt that tell a little bit more about this wonderful father/son team...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D52rJd9GX10&mode=related&search=

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AcsQ-NUPJQ&mode=related&search=

Enjoy!

A Tribute Gma Hanna & Team Hoyt

A couple of weekends ago, M’s Gma H passed away after months of hospice in a nursing home in Kerrville, Texas. We were able to make a trip up there in June to see her, which was a huge blessing to us! She was thrilled to see all of us, but especially her son KW (M’s dad) and M, who spoke German to her, held her hand, and got her caught up to date about our family life in recent years and especially about his recent career change. At times during our visit, Gma H would sort of lose touch with the conversation and at one point even said, “Well, I don’t understand what you are saying. I don’t even know who you are!” It was difficult to see her this way, but she was lucid for the majority of the time and we were grateful to get to spend the time with her. (She was already in hospice care by this time, and we had a pretty good idea that this would be the last time we would ever see her.) During the last month of her life, Gma H went downhill quite significantly, refusing in the final week to eat or take her medication and did not even recognize her own daughter, who came to see her every day.

When she died, we drove up to Austin with M's parents to the funeral. The kids came with us and we gave them some serious warnings about keeping still and behaving during the ceremony. However, it was Dee and I that had a bit of a “dangerous” moment during the hymn singing. She was following along with me in the hymnal, when I mispronounced a word, which caused her to inadvertently laugh. I couldn’t resist a giggle, but that set her off again and I realized that we might not be able to rein it in before the singing stopped. I silently communicated to Dee that we had to sober up, and quick, and then used every ounce of my will to force myself to stop laughing. You ever have that happen to you? You’re in a situation where it is entirely inappropriate to laugh, and yet nearly impossible to stop laughing. (My big sis, B2, can testify with me on that – remember when we were in St. Paul’s cathedral in London and we got the giggles? It is a bad situation, very bad.) Anyway, within the next four lines of the hymn, we mercifully achieved solemnity once again, phew! M jokes that our marriage was in jeopardy there for a minute or two!

Anyway, after a sermon that included a nice synopsis of Grandma’s life (although it contained several inaccuracies), the pastor said, “We will now have a special music presentation.” From the back of the church, the slightly quavery voice of an older man started singing an a-cappella version of the popular Christian song, “I Can Only Imagine”. Near the end of the song, curiosity finally got the better of me and I turned my head around so I could see who was singing. It was Uncle R, M’s dad’s brother. Oh.

But I still didn’t get the real impact until he finished singing and said that Gma H always loved listening to inspirational songs on her CD player. On the day she died, she was listening to this song and when it was over she peacefully passed away. Oh! I wished I’d have known that before I heard the song, because it would have had more of an impact. Nevertheless, it was still pretty touching.

The day after Gma H’s funeral, we watched a video in church (see link below) – it is this totally inspiring story of a father/son marathon team. The son (Rick) has cerebral palsy and came home from school one day saying he wanted to run in a 5-mile race. Obviously, since the Rick was confined to a wheelchair, he by himself could not run the race, so his dad (who was not a runner) decided to run it, pushing his son’s wheelchair the entire way. That day, Rick said, “When we are competing, I just don’t feel handicapped”. Since then, they have together run over 900 races, including the Boston Marathon, triathlons and Iron Man competitions.

The neat thing was, the song they used in the background of the video was the same one R sang at Gma H’s funeral the previous day. As mentioned earlier, when I heard it sung that day, I thought it was nice, but didn’t know until the end who was singing it or its special significance. The emotions I didn’t experience at the funeral sure came to the fore at church – I was in tears along with everyone around me.

Enjoy…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryCTIigaloQ&mode=related&search=

For more information about the inspiring Team Hoyt, go to www.teamhoyt.com

Passion Flower

We ate chinese food tonight - stuffed ourselves on the buffet at Bei Jing - yum yummy! We were so full, and the weather was so nice, we decided to talk a family walk with the dog once we got home. I loved strolling hand in hand alternately with M and the kids, the dog weaving around our legs, and enjoying that "familiar south wind" we used to love blowing in from the fields at M's parent's farm.

As we walked, we admired the crape myrtle trees (see pic below), proudly displaying their sumptuous clusters of flowers. We also came across several bunches of passion flowers, which I'd never seen before (see pic at left). Another wonderful opportunity to thank God for His amazing creations!

He's the Man!

Finally, I've added a picture of my gorgeous husband, sitting on our back porch in his work scrubs (or "jammies" as I call them). He is a recent graduate from nursing school, having taken a one year accelerated program resulting in a bachelor's of science in nursing and becoming an R.N. He has started his internship with the local hospital (6 miles away, hooray) in the ER and dreads the day that he will have to treat someone he knows personally. (OK, "dreads" is too strong a word, but it is eventually inevitable and he doesn't look forward to it!)

M is a fantastic, involved father - he will take on the bulk of the job of homeschooling our 5th grader this year. He loves playing the guitar, playing with the kids, running, and being creative. He is committed to Jesus and he's the best friend that I have in the world. We've been married for almost 14 years - amazing man!

Moo Moo

This is a picture from a couple of years ago of really dear friends of ours, the Moos, who have recently added adorable Baby Moo to their family!

Another Week Gone By

In some ways, the past week seems to have flown by, yet during the week, parts of it crawled by. Work was stressful, but I feel like I'm making headway, learning from my (many) mistakes and starting to get a real understanding about how everything fits together to run the office. Keeping organized and rolling with the many curve balls that get thrown my way seem to be the biggest challenges.

Tonight, MM and I had a really nice date, using my last remaining GCs for Perry's, home of the best steakhouse in the Woodlands (and, up until the middle of August, my place of employment for the past two years.) We ate delicious wedge salads, chateaubriand, and warm chocolate cake - complemented by some yummy chocolate dipped strawberries. We were waited on by "Eowyn", a good friend, and had a great time being pampered.

The second part of the evening was spent with good friends Dr. B and K, with whom we originally planned to go the movies. Feeling a desire to be more relational, we decided instead to play a game and have coffee, which was much more fun. They introduced us to a great card game called Fluxx, which is a bit complex, but definitely entertaining...since the rules change at the drop of a hat, it is impossible to predict the outcome or even to try to strategize. More importantly, it was wonderful just to hang out and chat with them as they are dear people who really love the Lord and are so edifying to be around.

For the record, when the idea of scrapping our movies plans was first brought up, I was disappointed because I was looking forward to just vegging and being entertained...just to be able to escape for a bit, I suppose. In the end, it was so much more satisfying to choose the more interactive, rich friendship-building time. I tend to be an isolationist, but am always grateful when God nudges me in the direction of building community instead!

Early tomorrow morning, we head out to Walburg for M's Grandma H's funeral. It will be very sad, I'm sure, and I just pray that God will bless the relationships of all the family members gathered there....that the day will truly be about Grandma H's life and not about the conflicts between the siblings. Perhaps more on that later.