ALS 10 year anniversary

March 10th the Oregon and Southwest Washington chapter of the ALS Association celebrated a wonderful 10 year anniversary. The annual Gala, an evening with dinner, silent and live auctions was very uplifting. With almost 800 people in attendance the evening was not only fun but also raised over $400,000. This chapter started with 2 people with the desire to make life better for everyone dealing with ALS. A video shown at the Gala tells the story much better than I could. Please look at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUC82jBJsag&feature=youtu.be

On the family side, from the pictures you can see that both Todd and Kari joined us for the evening, along with their respective spouses.  In addition, we also had two couples from our church as guests.  One lady had a brother that died several years ago from ALS, so the evening was especially meaningful for her.

Our kids, grandchildren, and friends are a constant inspiration for both of us.  We feel so blessed to have such good and caring friends, and a family that just cannot do enough to help both of us on this journey.  Without all of them, and the ALS Association, it would be a very lonely and difficult path.  Thank you all for reading the blog and keeping up to date with us, we appreciate all of you.

Random thoughts

It has been a while since I have written anything so these are things that pop into my head and show the strange way my mind works.

Last Tuesday I had spent most of the morning on my computer when the battery showed it was low. I had been pluged in a lot of the time but the charging light was not on. After checking all connections (I do sometimes forget that I am pluged in) Yuki and I decided to call the communication specialist at the ALS association. About the time she had instructed us on removing the back and what to look for on the battery, Dave came home. To make a long story short between that call and one to DynaVox, it was determined that the charger was the problem.

While trying to remain calm my mind was racing to the difficulty I would have without my computer. Once again the ALS association came to the rescue. The loan closet had an extra charger and battery. And that afternoon was the monthly support group so getting them was easy for both of us.

The previous Friday we attended the second annual auction for the boys school. It is so nice to see the growing parent involvement, and the money raised for the music program. The bad part is with fewer kids qualifing for the free lunch program, the less federal money the school gets.

Thursday and Friday were beautiful warm days with the temperature almost hittng 70. After planting pea pods, caregiver Cindy and I decided to put the window sill vegetables in the garden too. It rained on Saturday, Sunday and Monday as expected. What we didn't expect was the snow on Monday night. We will have to wait and see if anything survives. At least the skiers are happy.

Want to know the best thing about not being able to talk? I no longer have foot in mouth disease. There are many situations where I would have said something but didn't or couldn't. Most of the time things are done the way I wanted. Gee, do you think I might learn to be patient?

Oh what a beautiful morning

As the song from Oklahoma says: "Oh what a beautiful morning, Oh what a beautiful day". This morning we woke to about an inch of snow. That is enough to quiet everything, and made the world look like it had been covered with a layer of frosting. Even the bare tree branches and the laurel hedge looked like they were dusted with powdered sugar. This snow was perfect, beautiful to look at, but not enough to interfere with our plans. Of course it would be nice to have about a foot so the boys could sled down the driveway. The skiers are all excited about fresh snow at almost any level.

The earliest Rhododendron, a pink one, is blooming outside our bedroom window and peaked through the snow to say good morning. I asked our landscaper to give us something to look at all year, and as everything has matured it is better every year. Camellias front and back are just about finished, and now the rhoddies will each take their turn. Some of the bulbs are peaking out, and the azaleas are showing a bit of green. Now is the time when this California girl gets excited about a change of seasons. It is never old to me. I do have to admit that when I look at a bush without foliage, my first reaction is I have killed it. Each year as the plants green out I can then relax.