I will be back

I'm still here. Its just been busy/awful/insane lately. Let me update you briefly on what all has gone on since I last wrote:

Bruce's father has been diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, so he is really sick. Bruce has spent a lot of time with him, and I have been to see him whenever I could beyond work. Its not always possible for both of us to be absent from work, and the bottom line is that its HIS father and he is not going to be happy unless he can be there to make sure things are being done properly. Dad needs a lot of care right now...round the clock care. The family has all pitched in and pulled together to try and do the best for him that we can. He is home now, and much happier. And we will continue to make sure he is taken care of. We have interviewed care givers and feel confident that we have found some good help. And that is a wonderful thing right now.

Stephen and Hannia have left Indiana and moved back home. They are staying with us temporarily, and honestly? It has been a God-send. My spirits are lifted just being able to see them, and they have been so much help while Bruce has needed to be with his Dad. Its funny, in a sad kind of way....they moved their furniture into our garage until they can get moved into an apartment (most likely in Durham). Bruce had said, "Oh yeah, the stuff will be just fine there....unless we have a hurricane or something". Well, yeah....1 week later Irene shows up. But their stuff stayed nice and dry, thanks to all the weather-proofing Stephen did.

We got a pretty good hit by Irene here. We lost electricity for over 24 hours (some people here in this county went 5 days without it.). We had roof damage and damage to the barn out back. We are grateful it wasn't worse. Stephen was a HUGE help in getting ready for the storm AND in the clean up afterwards. He had all the limbs and branches cleaned up by the time we got home from Danville, and believe me, that was a really nice thing to come home to.

Erica is still moving to York, most likely around December 1. She is busy writing her dissertation but has managed to visit with us and her Grandfather a couple of times over the past 2 weeks. It has been so nice to see her. I feel like I need to soak up all the time together that I can before she moves "across the pond". We need to get busy trying to get her ready, but there is still time this fall. Things are so much more expensive over there in the UK that I want her to go stocked up with essential clothing, household items like sheets and towels, etc....and rain gear. Apparently she is going to need really good rain gear, too. LOL.

So thats the gist of it. Busy, busy and not much leisure time. But it is what it is and we will be ok. I may not be updating the blog as much as I would like over the next little while. I will do the best that I can but not making any promises. Besides, I keep hearing we have yet another hurricane on track to potentially hit us again. Katia...? Much too close to the name "Katrina", and I am not especially happy about it.