Tough Times Bring Family Closer

We received the news that our Paul had received orders to go overseas on May 25th. Not the news we wanted to hear, most especially during these tough times. They are tough times for the world, as we all pray for peace. They are tough times for this family as we all pray for healing from our recent loss.

Paul is one of those precious gifts in our lives. When your children marry, you never know what you are going to get. You are suddenly stuck with a new family member........or blessed, as we were when Cat married Paul.

Everybody in the Chin family loves Paul. We quickly learned that his quick smile can lift any moment. His calm, gentle nature made him the perfect partner for Cat. No matter how upset she gets, the smile appears along with his gentle humor. His wit keeps us laughing. His strength sustained us recently, when times got tough, as he quietly helped hold us together. Paul can be counted on, no matter what.

We look forward to visits here or there. We know we are going to have fun. We also know, that we became instant family. He just fits in. As Catie once said, "I want a Dad like Paul. He works hard every day, he is fun and he is always nice to Auntie Cat and Tate." What more could you say about a good man?

So now it is our turn. We will be strong. We will smile when we say goodbye and then we will help Cat and Tate to move temporarily to Michigan and take good care of them. We will make it as much fun as we can. We will write to him until he is sick of our letters, make him read our blogs and send him jokes to make him laugh and wait his return.

We hate to see him go. We feel confident he will be safe. We will just plain miss him.

Grandkid Day!

Morning came a bit too early after a night of celebration and fun last night at St. Peter. I kept seeing people appearing from all corners of the house.....Mike O, Callie, Ron Weasley (aka..Kyle) and Justin and his new dog Jack. I think my kids recruited people to come and witness their mother's hangover. (deep sigh)

However, I was determined to enjoy a day of Grandkids. Joe and I headed out to Bunker Hill to pick up Cam and Nick and returned to find Daniel and Alexis had also arrived. Mike O completed the crowd and he and Joey headed across the street for the BIG day of carnival fun.

Daniel was a little on the small side for the rides, but enjoyed the Merry GO Round, over and over. Nick decided that Alexis was his personal favorite cousin and took delight in taking care of her, carrying her on his back to the carnival.

The kids returned with prizes from the games and stories to tell of the rides and long lines. A gourmet meal of chicken tenders, tator tots and applesauce was enjoyed by the little crowd, topped off with a pile of strawberries, watermelon, pears and apples. Daniel threw in a peanut butter sandwich. So far, so good!

A great day from start to.......about 10pm, when Catie took a ride on her "Heelies", pulled by Alexis and Cameron and ended up falling. We have just returned from the Emergency Room where she was "splinted" and returned to us. Bad sprain, no break...Thank God!

Laura's Not the Only One Singing!

We went to hear Laura sing. A little (a lot?) bit of Merlot and when I reviewed the pics this morning, I remembered that I really did get up and join in. Thanks be to God, it was in a group, because

I cannot sing!

Laura brought the house down as usual. She sang all our favorites, although there is never enough time to sing them all. We could listen to her all night. Fr. Ben did a great job singing "Danny Boy" and Catie joined in the Hokey Pokey.

Today we return to take Alexis, Daniel, Nick, Cameron and Catie. I can't imagine how we could have more fun, unless we had Tate with us too. We are sure to have a fun afternoon. More pics to come!

BULLETIN! Laura Sings In Eaton Rapids!

For those who have traveled great distances, as far as Lansing or Springport, to hear the great Laura Chin sing, we have great news! Our very own Laura will appear tomorrow night, LIVE at St. Peter's Festival in the outdoor pavillion.

The Kareoke is ON!

Kay Bumstead, who recently admired Laura's talent, invited her to sing on Friday and Laura has even bypassed her opportunity to hear Michael Smith in concert in order to perform. We are ready for fun on Friday night!

***For those worried about the weather, rest assured that Fr. Ben and Marty have in under control. They were seen praying away the rain this afternoon.

Making Catie Smile

Today was the first day of the St. Peter annual Festival. The carnival rolled into town on Sunday night and by today, Catie was beside herself with excitement. The rides were running! We had already planned to spend Saturday taking Catie, Alexis, Nick and Cam for an all afternoon visit, but it was too much to ask her to go over and just have dinner.

"PLEASE, Grandma! I don't care if I get wet! Just ONE ride!" Of course, we eventually gave in. She had cleaned her room and done the dishes trying to make sure she had earned an extra pass. The rain didn't matter (to Catie) although Joe and I were freezing as we stood in the puddles, watching her thoroughly enjoy herself.

She found friends from school and hit the Pirate Ship first and continued to return to it over and over. It was her favorite ride. The Ferris Wheel got a try, the Tilt-a-Whirl was good for 2 or 3 rides and she was sampling a few others in between.

Andy felt sorry for us as we stood freezing and dripping and finally agreed to "watch" Catie for us. It was pretty funny when he would approach a ride and all the little girls on the ride began calling out his name. He was definitely too cool to respond, but did a great job keeping an eye on Catie and her little friends.

The pictures show it all. Look for more over the weekend as we take Alexis, Cameron and Nick on Saturday. Mike, Andy and Joe have volunteered to help and I am sure we will need a crew to keep track of all the little ones.

Although we enjoyed the carnival food, Mexican Fiesta, complete with Mexican dancers, the live band and the company of good and old friends, the best part of the night was seeing Catie smile.

Getting Back on Track

This morning was I began with the goal of getting back on track. Amazing how many things you can let go when you go through a time like this. Overwhelming might be a better word. However, as Cat says "Ya need a project, Mom!"

Let's see, start with finances. Eeeeeeeeewwww! Yep, wrote the check for the house payment out of the wrong account. Thank God for small towns. The lady at the bank said, "Don't worry, we wouldn't bounce your check. Just get a deposit in when you can." That is only something you would get in Smalltown USA. Pay the lights, gas, water and phone...gotta have 'em. Oh, yeah, check on the cars and the cable. Now we are set. TV on, cooking with gas and the house is still ours. I can do this.

Off to the Dr for the 100th time recently for one more disability form. I hate that. I wanna go to work! That is another story. For now, I am home and although not liking it, I had to get the forms and fax 'em in. Then..........I get to go to ANOTHER Dr. this afternoon! When taking Andy for his post-op visit, I am conferring with his shoulder Doc to see if he can help me. I am determined to get better.

Joe and Mike are going to take Laundry Mountain to the laundry-mat and conquer it. That will be a tremendous relief as I can smell it. I can hardly wait for the bill, but anything is better than the stench of dirty laundry.

Calls were made to ERHS and Lansing Community College to excuse the multitude of absences recently. Michael is lucky everyone loves him or he wouldn't be walking to Pomp and Circumstance soon.

Joey and I set a game plan to improve the home situation, which will make me feel better. I am so glad he is here.

A Relaxing Weekend

We headed to Petoskey this weekend to pick up Joey, with Alexis and Catie. Had forgotten just how much fun two giggling girls can be. What was even more fun was eavesdropping on their conversations as we rode north. My favorite of the day went like this:

Alexis: Catie, WHO is driving this car?

Catie: Papa?

Alexis: YES! And that would mean YOU are NOT the boss of ME!

We cracked up laughing as they worked out their little issues over "sharing" and which movie they would watch next. (The movie thing is the greatest invention in the world. Didn't have that when WE were parents of little ones.)

We finally reached Petoskey and after picking up Joey, headed downtown to check out the shops, off to the beach and finally to dinner. Ok, MY favorite part was the shops and the kids definitely preferred the beach. They learned how to skip rocks across the lake from Joey, Catie and Alexis gathered shells and Petoskey stones and Alexis' personal favorite....bird feathers! Joey tried to gross her out telling her that they came from "bird butts" but she giggled and said "I don't care!"

The girls ended the day by swimming in the hotel pool, or I should say WE thought they ended the day. NOT! At 10pm when the pool closed they got into bed with a movie to drift off to, but according to Joey they watched more than one. He took the girls and gave Joe and I a much needed break.

At 6:30 am Alexis announced "It's morning!" and even Catie was groaning. Joey and Catie tried to keep her quiet with cartoons, but she got everyone going. We headed back to the pool area where we enjoyed breakfast and the girls and Joey had a morning swim. Alexis checked out the breakfast bar and after choosing a blueberry muffin, waffle and orange juice, said "There is no protein on this breakfast!"

After checking out, we stopped to see the Ernst family and then back on the road to Eaton Rapids. A lunch stop at the best buffet in Michigan (Coyles in Houghton Lake) completed our day and the girls loved the "make your own sundae" bar. We did convince them to eat some REAL food before we let them hit the ice cream. Alexis grinned at me and said "Thank you, JUNKFOOD GRANDMA!"

Joey Saying

I am sorting Karen's computer and found files labeled by each of her children and siblings names. This was found and simply titled "Joey saying". With it was also this pic.

Joey Is Home!

Through the miracle of friendship, Joey is home. Karen's dear friend Erika and her family found a way to help Joe return to Michigan. What a wonderful way to comfort our family in this tough time.

Joe certainly didn't want to be far from home and family, but Michigan's economy has forced many to seek work wherever they could find it. After hearing about Joe's sadness at leaving to return to Kansas, they went into action. A week later, he had a place to live, a promise of a job and he was back in Michigan.

Erika and Karen had gone their separate ways after high school, losing touch. A week before her death, Karen called me just giggling with excitement. "Mom, you will never guess who found me? ERIKA!" She was so excited about their plans to get together, wanting Erika to meet her children and asked me if I would like to join her, Erika and Ann, Erika's Mom for lunch. Karen then ran on for at least 30 minutes, remembering all the good times she and Erika had shared. She was SO excited.

Erika and Karen never got to have that lunch. Instead, Erika and her family reached out to Joe. Thanks to the Ernst family, Alexis will see her Daddy this weekend, Catie can't wait to see Uncle Joe and as for Joe and I.....we want to hold all our children close right now, more than anything.

God works in mysterious ways, using all his angels here on earth...wonder if he got a nudge from Karen this week?

The Survey says......

You Are a Believer

You definitely believe in God - and you're very unwavering in your religious beliefs. In fact, religion and spirituality are definitely big parts of your life. Religion shapes how you view right and wrong, as well as the decisions you make. It's hard for you to imagine how your life would be without your beliefs.

Ok, Karen started this little survey on her blog, then Laura took it and posted her results. I couldn't resist. Here are my results.....Gee, not much surprise, huh?

Amazing the things you will do online when you are sitting here trying to occupy your mind, huh?

Happy Birthday to ME

My family was not going to allow me to forget my birthday, in spite of my efforts. I began the day with birthday wishes from Cat and then had lunch with Joe and Carol. Carol then took me shopping for a bit and I returned home, ready for the couch.

SURPRISE! All at once, Joe, Mike, Andy, Laura, Alexis, Daniel and Catie burst in the door with presents, cards and a birthday cake. The kids know "Junkfood Grandma" and were delighted to share their presents of candy and cookies. Catie presented me with a coupon for a "free footrub".

Andy remembered the fuzzy pink robe that I had seen at the mall, Mike had a knitting pattern book and Joe had made a visit to my favorite store, Threadbear and purchased more knitting supplies. Bubble Bath and lotion completed the relaxation birthday.

THEN CAME THE CAKE! My favorite Sanders version of yellow cake with buttercream icing. Catie insisted on filling the cake with candles (as many as she could find) and she and Alexis worked hard on it. Mike helped them light the bonfire and the girls and I blew it out. Daniel just waited patiently and then dug in. He used sign language to keep saying "PLEASE" which meant he wanted MORE.

Alexis sang Happy Birthday in Chinese for us, one at a time, because she wanted to whisper it in our ears, too shy to sing out loud. I have the best family in the whole world!

Never Too Old to Learn

You know what "they" say about making assumptions....

Unfortunately, I did it again. I assumed that all Metal Bands were bad people like Chad. Karen tried to tell me, but I wouldn't listen.

That is not the first time we have had this problem. Back in high school when Karen was a cheerleader, I had negative opinions about that too. It took me a long time to see she was right. It WAS a sport. It DID have value. I just told her that I was wrong within the past month. She thanked me for admitting it.

I had ranted and raved about tatoos for years. Karen got a new one every time she was mad at me. Then Justin drew his tribute to Karen. He gave it to me and then had it put on his arm to remember her always.

.

Justin had sat with us as she lay dying for 3 days. Joey had put his rosary in her hands and they prayed with her. Justin wanted to remember the moment. He did it his way.

I cried. It was beautiful.
Never too old to learn

The outpouring of love and kindness from Karen's world of music has been tremendous. It has been real and it has been sincere. They mourned her in their myspace world on the internet. Then they went into action. Shown here is one of a number of benefit concerts being held in honor of Karen with proceeds to her children. I am learning that I misjudged once again.

I just received an invitation from one of the bands that said "Karen always took good care of us and now it's our turn." You can bet I will be at Planet Rock on April 29th.

Faith

A sick man said
"Doctor, I am afraid to die.

Tell me what lies on the other side."
Very quietly, the doctor said,
"I don't know."
"You don't know? You, a Christian man,
do not know what is on the other side?"
The doctor was holding the handle of the door;
on the other side came a sound of scratching and whining,
and as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room
and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.
Turning to the patient, the doctor said,
"Did you notice my dog?
He's never been in this room before.
He didn't know what was inside.
He knew nothing except that his master was here,
and when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.
I know little of what is on the other side of death,
but I do know one thing...
I know my Master is there and that is enough."

My father always told me that faith was a gift he would give me. He told me that it was the ability to believe something in my heart which could not be proven. He gave me that gift by always saying what he knew to be true, never saying "I believe...." just explaining life and it's occurrences as if he wanted me to just understand what was true.

Since he was a Catholic man, who once considered the priesthood, it wasn't hard for him at all. He had faith. He shared it. With confidence, he seemed to understand everything in life. What made him magic was the fact that he spent every minute of his life just explaining it all to me.

Everything was a lesson. I rarely knew that I was learning anything. I was just being with my Dad. He taught us everything. He did no task by himself. As we moaned and groaned, he taught us to paint a room, bake a pie, fix a car, solve a problem, make a decision, speak in public, sell Girl Scout Cookies or Boy Scout Fertilizer. First we were his Assistants, but we graduated eventually to running the projects. He also taught us constantly how God expected us to work at being good and kind to others above all else. As he taught, he explained so many things in terms of faith.

When my baby brother died, as I sang Rock a Bye Baby to him, my grieving father told me that a wonderful thing had happened. Even though we would miss little A.J we now had our own Guardian Angel in heaven. He would forever watch over me. He bought me a book about Guardian Angels and taught me a special prayer that I said every night.

From that day forward we just talked about our Guardian Angel. Every time I had a "near miss" like the time I rode my bike in front a car and survived, he would gave toward heaven and saying, "Thanks AJ for watching out for Monie." "Thank you Lord, for the Guardian Angel."

Last night Catie told me she couldn't say her prayers because every time she said the word "Mom" it made her cry. I dug out that old prayer and taught it to her. I told her about her own special Guardian Angel. It is my turn to teach the Faith to my children and grandchildren.

When he had to punish me, he told me that it "broke his heart to punish me, but God gave me a job to do as a parent" and then he explained he must teach me the "right way to live". When he missed church and I asked if God was mad, he just said, "God loves me no matter what. He knows I make mistakes."

We spent many hours, he and I, just talking about anything and everything, but he lived his faith. It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized how he gave me the gift.

That faith has sustained me through my entire life. In the joy of shouting out thanks to the Lord and in sorrow when I could barely pray. I've made many mistakes, but God loved me anyway. I have had the ability to believe in love, mercy and goodness and to believe in the joy of the future. To believe that Karen is in heaven.

I have the beautiful gift of faith. Thanks, Dad.

Just Can't Blog

Every morning I always got up, checked my email and then hit the blogs. Cat, Karen, Joey, Laura, Jim. It was so much fun to see what everyone had to share. Pictures, poetry, daily thoughts and silly stuff.

I have gotten up every day this week and gone to the blogs. Joey is giving it his best try, Cat and Laura have posted messages saying they just can't blog right now. Jim is trying to keep us going.

It was too much fun for so long that I know we will begin again......someday.

For now, I am quiet. Just can't do it without sadness. I will try again soon. I promise.

Karen

We gathered this week to mourn the loss of our beloved Karen.

Mikey called her BeBe, we all called Karen Jeanne the Jelly Bean, Beaner Butt and my Dad named her Kaye-Kaye like his sister or just Jeanner Beaner.

We will miss so very much about her, from her wild, loud laughter to her gentle touch. Next week will be hard when we wait for her phone calls, just like the other day when Cat realized that we were all together and she was missing. We really needed her to come in a cuss, so we could all yell at her to watch her language. It always brought a good family laugh. You knew when Karen was in the house.

Karen, Karen, Karen.

When she was little, she couldn't sleep without her stuffed dog, Poochie. It became so ratty and nasty that she would throw it at Cathy, just to make Cathy scream. 25 years later, Cat found a brand new Poochie and sent it to her. As she opened the package, she called Cat in anticipation of thanking her for whatever gift was inside. I snapped this picture of her delight. Today, when sorting her things I found the original Poochie. Catie now has them both on her bed to remember her Mom.

There are no words to express the sadness inside. Anyone who has lost a child, a sibling or someone very close to them knows. However, we are so blessed with family and friends who have given of their love this week. As always, they dropped their own lives, traveled great distances and came to comfort and mourn with us.

Hugs, food, flowers, love.

They fed our bodies and our souls.

My aunts mothered me, my cousins held me and cried with me

Friends just kept coming

We felt so loved and comforted and are deeply grateful.

Laura tended to Karen as a loving sister for 4 days, then took care of all of us.

Joey gave a beautiful eulogy and then loving buried his sister.

Cathy held her sister, mothered Catie and took care of us all.

Andy, Mike, Joey, Uncle Jim and Steve carried her with love.

Paul cleaned and carried, worked and worked, just helping and helping

Debbie held me, washed my dishes, clothes and floors

Dave and Maryann created a beautiful photo show that captured Karen. It helped everyone and most especially her children to cope. We got to see that Karen smile over and over.

The whole family has teased me about learning to knit. I love the colors, so I have made ONE single sock of every color yarn....get bored and start a new one. I recently convinced Karen to stop at the yarn shop with me. She told the owner "I am NOT the crafty daughter, she lives in St. Louis.....I am the wild one." He laughed and convinced her to pick out HER sock yarn, so she would like the socks she would definitely get. Of course, she picked out something wild and last weekend, she was delighted to see me finishing the second sock. She asked me to photograph the finished pair, so she could put them on her blog. She said "I can't wait! I am going to make Cathy and Joey crazy. I can't wait to write the article and say....See! HA! HA! Mom loves ME the most, cuz you all have ONE sock and I have the only finished pair!"

As Fr. Ben said, "Karen lived with passion". May she rest in peace.