moving on closure

I received a copy of the report on the accident that dad was involved in from the Kansas Highway Patrol but it was pretty much consistent with what we had been told. They did a reconstruction but we won't get a copy of that report for awhile. I got copies of pictures of the truck after the accident and the truck he collided with. It is such a bitter sweet feeling to view them because God so very obviously protected his trucking partner but chose to take daddy. He and his partner were very good friends and we consider his family good friends to ours. His wife sent me the pictures and we hope to stay in close contact. Buddy (his partner) and his wife celebrated 24 years of marriage the day before dad's funeral. Buddy and Nancy's pastor used the accident in a sermon, Nancy said, in reference to the miracle of Buddy's survival. He was uninjured. Mark and I have discussed the appropriateness of putting the pictures on the blog and we decided against it. If friends and family want to view them, they can e-mail me and I will send them. Mark and I went to Kansas City to lunch with Ailene and Ike yesterday and then back in St. Joseph, we did some shopping and saw a movie. It was good to get away for the day.

Christmas Day 2007

Christmas day was spent in Chillicothe at my sister and her husband's. The top picture is of my sister and my niece Delaney and I and the second of Delaney in her Christmas dress and then the third is of my nephew Colton. Upon return from Chillicothe, we had dinner at Mark's mom and Ike's with Mark's brother and his wife. Delaney is three months old and is a momma's girl.

Daddy's poem

In Loving memory of James Duncan McLaughlin

May 22, 1943-Noveber 21, 2007

May the road rise to meet you,

may the wind be always at your back,

may the sun shine warm upon your face,

the rains fall soft upon your fields and, until

we meet again, may God hold you in the

palm of His hand.

Now that my everyone has opened this gift, I can post this picture of an Irish Blessing that hung on the bedroom wall of dads room "for as long as my sister can remember." She took pictures of it and had it remade as close to the original as possible and all of us have a beautiful copy that is such a blessing. McLaughlin is an Irish name. One picture is of the poem on his wall and the other is from the last set of pictures taken of him. It was at our house with his belated birthday gift and Lacey (the poodle he had gotten for me as a birthday gift three years ago). This was taken about ten days prior to the accident.

snowbound but warm

We woke up and thought perhaps we were going to miss the snow but it began and my sister-in-law measured 8 inches this afternoon. All of my siblings on dads side are safe in Cheryvale, Kansas and are together. Mark and I usually had Christmas here with dad becuse of the difficulty of us driving that far. I have talked with them a couple of times today and they are getting snow too. Two of my sisters had drives from a long ways yesterday (New Mexico and Tenessee). I wrapped some of Marks' presents and did some laundry. Looks like we will miss church on Christmas Sunday. At least we have heat and lights. We bought a new Michal English CD yesterday and we listened to it today while Mark put some ornaments on the tree that still were not on.

I'm trying..

It is so painful to loose a parent and especially the day before Thanksgiving. They found Christmas cards he had already bought and not addressed yet and I had already bought his Christmas present. I want to feel better but the pain is deep.

Trying to get closure

We have been waiting on copies of dads accident investigation report and the autopsy. Neither has been given to us. The company he drove for has disputed the Kansas Highway Patrol report and they are keeping all the info. I wrote the KHP today and requested the report and I know my sister and brother have sought information from the company. Please pray for us as we seek closure in this way. Things are busy and I like it that way. Enjoyed a salad supper and Bible study with the Tues. morning group and Mark and I had Mexican at Palmas tonight.

Home at last!!

Were home!!!! Lights restored this afternoon. Went to dinner then to buy groceries. Unpacked and started laundry (first of many loads). Basically all cold food has to be trashed but soooo glad to be home. Our cockatiels survived and all the dogs are well.

still no power

We are staying with my sister-in-law. Go home to let the dogs out. They are covered and o.k. but I miss them. Want to go home. We do have our own bed and room. We are comfortable but I want to go home anyway. Considering a generator??? More snow on the way. Prayfully waiting. I need to do laundry.

The storm did happen

We lost electricity Monday night/early Tuesday morning. The basement has water standing and of course, no sump pump working. Our friends that still have electricity in the north end of town came and picked us and the two poodles up and we spent the late afternoon/night with them. The poodles were very fussy last night and they say they did not hear them but we did. We were on an air mattress and I had difficulty getting up and down but at least we were warm and fed. We had little sleep but probably are not the only ones. We are still at our friends but when they are off work, we will probably go home, lights or not. Paul was to go over today and look at the basement situation. Mark took yesterday and today off to deal with this. No promise on when the lights will be back on but we are trying to be patient. With our dogs, it complicates things in a time like this but we are so happy we have them. The sheltie stayed home with her food/water inside. They have shelters set up but we just want to be home. Mark's mom and Ike have stayed home all along and are doing fine. We are trying to keep the poodles awake so they will sleep tonight. So for now, we join the multitudes in wantng some normacly back but realizing it could be much worse.

Preparing for the ice storm

It looks like we are going to get hit with a major ice storm. We have friends in the southern part of the state that are already dealing with this since the weekend. One of the couples has a premature baby with medical equipment but they are (or at least were) fine. Mark covered both cars in heavy plastic, scheduled a vacation day for tomorrow and drew some water. We have the standard blankets, flashlights and etc. so we will see what happens. Not much going on here with the exception of the preparations.

Winter weather

Mark had a vacation day planned for the purpose of traveling a short way to visit his brother. Thank-God he did not have to go in and we did not make the trip. It snowed and got pretty slick and we had the privilege of staying home all day and can stay in tonight. It has stopped now and Mark has shoveled. On Monday, Mom came over and she and Mark and I had dinner at Waffle House and mom and I attended the Christmas Tea at CCC. On Tuesday I attended Bible Study and went to lunch with the ladies. Yesterday, I tried to catch up on work here and wrote thank-you notes. Dad's cell phone is still activated and I still call his voice mail to hear his voice while I still can. I do pretty good in the day time but evenings are still rough. I guess because I am more tired and less busy at night. I have had some good conversations with my siblings and my brother is busy getting daddy's house cleaned out and taking care of things. Please pray for James. My sister Michelle is going ahead with her wedding plans on Saturday in a private ceremony at their Lutheran church in Tennessee. Dusty doesn't seem to mind the snow. Ornery lil puppy!