HAPPY EASTER

(Boy am I behind.  I intended to post this Sunday night.  I actually wrote it on my PDA while out of the house, but just now got a chance to post it)

Happy Easter everybody. Christos Anesti! Alestos Anesti!


Yesterday we went to the McCormicks' for Easter Brunch. Everybody was there except Boushette and Big E. It was very nice, except we couldn't technically eat anything because it is also Orthoox Easter (Pascha).

We went to church last night, starting at 10:00pm. Service went until 2:00am. We went to Baskin Robbins afterward for ice cream and then had a lovely steak dinner with mashed potatoes and sauted mushrooms.

Today we're at Yaya and Papou's house for Pascha dinner.

Papa 1942 - 2010

We lost Papa last night at about 7:30.  Several members of the family were with him in Rochelle as he passed quietly in his sleep.  The rest of us were enroute. 

We will have a memorial service the week after Easter.

He is and will be greatly missed.

Visitation will be held on Friday April 9th from 3:00 to 6:45 p.m. at Unger-Horner Funeral Home, 400 N. 6th Street Rochelle, IL with a celebration of Life at 7:00 P.M. and Memorial Mass will be held at St Patrick Church on Saturday April 10, 2010 at 10:30 a.m. Memorials may go to donors choice.

Papa Report

Went to visit my Dad again this weekend.

The week before last he came home from the hospital. He had had to go in because he was very weak, not eating and not having BMs. After a few days he decided that he wanted to go home and Ginger said that we would do whatever it takes to make sure he could be at home and get the physical therapy he needed.

So that week he went home and we boys started rotating visits to help out. My first visit was last Saturday to Sunday.

They put a hospital bed in the front room with the big TV and accessories for it.

His spirits were up when he got home, but as the days go on and he's slow to regain strength, his drive is up and down. He's still not able to get out of bed by himself, and on days when he is strong enough he can walk around to his chair using a walker.

I'm here with Star this weekend. Gardenia had to stay home because Orchid is having a sleepover and Tulip didn't want to leave Mommy, so she stayed home too.

Lent Lent Lent

I just got a comment on my post about Lent from 2 years ago (wow). So I'm prompted to post, because I really should.

For the second year now Star is going whole hog, so to speak, about lent. She is doing the strict Orthodox Fast. She, Gardenia and my other daughters are Greek Orthodox and they started Lent on Monday (Clean Monday). Greek Easter (Pascha) and Catholic (regular) Easter are on the same day this year (not usual). That's good and bad. Lent is aligned, so there isn't a problem there, but since they are on the same day we run into the same problem everyone has on Christmas, when to go where and see whom.

We haven't even begun to talk about that yet because my Dad is really very sick right now. He's extremely weak and we're (the boys) are going to be taking turns going out to Rochelle and helping out.

So there's what we're doing for Lent. I'm not buying into the whole silly fasting thing anyway. Star just does it to say that she did it and to hold it over our heads.

First Update of 2010

I haven't been updating here as often as I'd like and I'll get to that later.

We had a nice Christmas at home. We went to church Christmas Eve and then to Opa for Greek food.

Little Tulip couldn't get to sleep and was crying that Santa wouldn't come because she was too excited to sleep. I think she cried herself to sleep.

In the morning we got our Santa presents, our presents and then we went to Yaya and Papou's house.

My Dad has been hit really hard by the new chemo and this is why I hesitated to post. He didn't manage to get around to anyone on Christmas Eve or Christmas day (the tradition is to go by his sister's on Eve and my Mom's brother's on Christmas day). He wasn't' happy about that at all.

Gardenia was off the week between the holidays. Star and Orchid went to Papa's house for the four days. Some of their cousins were there too. I think my Dad was doing pretty well at the beginning of the week, but after all the excitement he was beat by the time we got there on New Year's Eve.

He came out to sit in his chair on New Year's eve, but he spent the day in bed on New Year's day. We all spent a lot of time in there with him, but it's been very hard and frustrating for him.

Two old family friends came and cooked breakfast on New Year's morning, then they ended up spending the whole day with us. My Dad has really touched a lot of people's lives in a very positive way. I'm very proud.

Concert Last Night

Last night we went to the school concert. Young Tulip does bell ringing now and she was really fun to watch. Orchid, who is in 8th grade was unable to make the concert because she had a cold yesterday. We all felt really bad about that since the 8th grade usually does some special things. She was actually featured in the program as a soloist, but her understudy did very well.

Another Visit with Papa Pansy

Orchid, Tulip and I went to Papa Pansy's house again yesterday. We left as soon as the Bears game ended and had dinner there. Marigold and Apple Blossom bought a ham and we had a lovely meal.

Papa looks really run down and beat up. I very much hope that he can work with his doctors to settle into a regimen he can be much more comfortable with.

Star stayed home because she has finals this week and she if fighting hard to keep her straight A average. She has an 89% going into two of her four class finals and she needs mid-nineties to bring the grades up the the 90's overall.

Gardenia had Christmas shopping to do and she's shopping for curtains, rugs, etc etc etc for the new first floor.