November 2011

November 2011 brought colder weather and some cold rainy days.  November was quieter then preceding months - for one thing Carl stopped going to work.  Despite the wheelchair for mobility, Carl's energy has continued to decline, and not working is one way to conserve his remaining energy. 

Carl and some of his co-workers

So some of Carl's coworkers came and visited Carl.  They told me that the music around the office has changed somewhat without Carl helping with the selections.  Not for the better, Carl is guessing.

Carl's nephew came into town with his first child - Carl's first great-niece Emily.  Carl's experience with 4 children had little Emily smiling in his arms. 

Carl, his sister, Emily and Emily's family

A highlight of November was going to our Church's "Great Getaway" retreat weekend in Green Lake Wisconsin from November 11 to November 13, 2011.  Crossroad Presbyterian Church has had an annual retreat in November for many years, and our family has enjoyed going.  (I think our family has gone at least four times.)  The retreat is just people from our church (and the speakers), and so the participants can end up getting to know each other very well.  For this weekend the sun came out and the weather was great.  Carl and I were really hoping we could go as a family, and we surprised many people when we did.  Carl was really tired after that weekend, of course.  

Dinner with adults at the Church retreat

Our Family at the Church Retreat

Thanksgiving Day was a laid back day with the family and wonderful food.  The children's Thanksgiving break was 6 days long, starting on Tuesday and going through Sunday.  We watched a lot of TV and it was kind of noisy at the house. 

Thanksgiving Dinner at our house

In spite of Carl's cancer, we feel we have so much to be thankful for.  But I guess I'll leave that for another post.  I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. 

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October 2011 update

October 2011 seems to have come and gone very quickly.  One of the highlights in October for our family was seeing Anthony Grisa, our sophomore, in the play play "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" put on by Homestead High School. Carl and the family went to all three performances. 

Carl and the kids (and my sister Roseann) at the show

In the play "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" Anthony was a monster in the witches army.  Anthony has never survived the fall plays he has been in.  Anthony "died" in this play (once), and as a Freshman last year in 2010, Anthony "died" three times in the Homestead play "The Odyssey".   

Other October highlights were the Boys Scout chili cook-off (October 11, 2011), a dinner for a friend from Italy at my brother's house, (October 16, 2011), and Miranda's Cross Country Banquet (October 17, 2011), and eating out with friends. 

Our family of six at Francesca's dinner

Carl's started working on a rocket kit at home, his most ambitious rocket kit to date. (Carl has had a lifelong hobby of making rockets and launching them.)  The kit Carl is working on now is for show only, he doesn't plan on launching it.

Carl working on his Saturn 5 Rocket Kit

Carl went to work at Arrandell many days in October, and had a Pet Scan and MRI's, but no Chemotherapy.  The oncologist decided that the chemotherapy was only making Carl sick.  Carl started using a wheel chair in October, and we learned just how surprisingly unsuited our house was for a wheelchair.  For example, the smallest size wheel chair doesn't really fit trough the standard sized door into our bathroom, and turning in the hall is very difficult. 


Next post - November... 
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