Christmas Eve

We enjoyed our Christmas Eve.  We started with going to an overflowing church with Mom and then the three of us went to the Outback for a nice steak dinner.  We have always loved their salads, too.  Then, we drove to the Ethel M Chocolate Factory to see the lighted cactus gardens.  It's grown since we were here the last time.  It's quite a sight.

 It's pretty hard to capture it all with my phone camera.

We came back to Mom's and Skyped with Tana and family and opened gifts from each other together.  We started doing that a few years ago when we couldn't be together for Christmas.

We are topping off the night with Mom's pumpkin pie and a Hallmark movie.  Missing Dad and other family members, but an enjoyable day.

So, Mom in with her knitting and me with my blog and Craig's drooping eyes, mean putting Christmas Eve and ourselves to bed.

Merry Christmas to all and

To all a good-night.

Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!!

God Incarnate, Emmanuel

This will be my Christmas Card and letter for 2013.  Since we don't really have an address and the price of stamps has gotten so steep, I don't expect anyone to send us a card, either.  I would love to hear from you in an email or with a Facebook message to let us know how you are doing and what has been going on in your lives!!!

This is a very special Season and I often feel that we just need to take time to reflect on what happened over 2,000 years ago.  It was a simple birth of a child, yet so complex in all of it's meaning.  A fulfillment of Biblical Prophecy in every way and yet so overlooked and misunderstood.  God becoming man........ I believe it, but I certainly don't understand it!!!  How could our creator love us so much that He would become man and dwell among us just to let us know that He is with us??!!!!  A babe in a manger, yet King of Kings and Lord of Lords!!  It's the wonderful wonder of it all!!!

If you have been reading my blog, you know that this year has been full of many things.  We moved back into the home in Aurora, Colorado that we had been renting out for 6 years in Sept of 2012.  We sold that home in April of 2013 after being on the market for just 2 days.  We closed on the home the same day that Craig retired from the field of Short Sales working with our daughter, Tana. We didn't really have a plan of where to go and we wanted to be able to visit friends and family and then spend time with my parents in Las Vegas.  So, we we bought a 32' motor home.  We named it the Whale realizing that we would probably go places that we really hadn't planned on.  And we had a wonderful time traveling almost 8.000 miles until Mom called and said that she was to the point of needing help with Dad.  They have lived in Las Vegas for nearly 30 years.  We found an affordable RV Park called, Duck Creek, on Boulder Highway and we have been here since Sept.  Dad had been on Hospice for two years, but was having more problems with the cancer that was spreading through his body.  He passed away on Nov 21st.  We made plans for a Memorial Service in our home town of Crown Point, Indiana and my two brother, three children and 6 of the 8 grand kids and many of Mom's family were together for a week.  It's nearly been a month, but it's going to be a very hard transition for Mom.  She is doing OK, and is learning new ways to fill her days after 67 years of caring for her husband.

Everyone is asking us, "When are you leaving Las Vegas".  We are praying and trying to hear some direction.  We may travel farther south to some weather that will stay above freezing for the month of Jan. and Feb.  Then, we aren't sure.  We still would love to live on a good fishing/swimming/skiing lake, but we are also very content living in the Whale and going wherever we need to be.

For about 15 years, Dad and Mom have been attending the Dennis Bono Show on Thursdays and we have often gone with them on several occasions.  Because Dad had trouble going, we had not attended for a month.  We went today for their Christmas Show.  It was a great show.  Not sure you will recognize any of these folks.

The center three people are, Rich Little, Deana Martin (Dean's daughter) and Clint Holmes.  Rich Little did, "The Night Before Christmas" doing his own version with impersonating about 8 people.  It was really good.  The best part of this Thursday show is the price = free. 

Our 3 children, their spouses and 8 grandchildren are all doing well.  Todd and Jeff are in Indiana and Tana in Colorado.

We are using our daughter's address in Colorado and she has been showing us (on Skype) the cards that you have sent to us at the address and she will be sending them on to us.  Thanks for thinking of us and sorry that I didn't get my normal cards out this year.  If you don't see this on Facebook, I may include the link in an email.  But hopefully, one way or another, you will know that we care about you, think about you  and pray for you and hope to see you all sometime in this next year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

and a 

Very Blessed and Wonderful NEW YEAR,

Craig and Kathy

Memorial Service in Indiana

Craig and I flew with Mom from Las Vegas to Chicago and then rented a car to our son's home, Jeff, in Crown Point, Indiana on Dec 3rd for Dad's Memorial Service. The ladies of the  Presbyterian Church helped me through this planning and I want to say, thank you to Barbara Taylor Sales, Penny Luchene, Irene Doty and Collete for everything!!! It was a cold day, but no snow and the sun was shinning on Sat. We were supported by so many friends and family and it was great comfort to us all

Jeff and Rachel and their kids made room for all of us in their home and my Aunt Rosie did the same in her home for my mom and two brothers and Bob's wife. Bob and Pam drove down from northern Minnesota. Dave flew in from Phoenix and they lost his luggage. It arrived at 5:30am the next morning.

This was the first time in many years that Dave, Kathy, Bob and Mom have been together.

Craig officiated the service.

Calvin made sure I got plenty of hugs,

Dave made it back to AZ last night. Bob and Pam are on their way  driving back to MN today. Tana and the 2 kids she brought with her just missed their first stand by flight and we are praying they can get on the next. Craig, Mom and I had to Midway tomorrow for our trip back to Vegas. It's even cold and freezing down there at night.

Mom plans to stay in her Vegas home, so we will stay with her until the first of the year and then we will see what we do then. If it stays cold in Vegas, we may have to head down to AZ. The whale is not heated underneath to take cold weather.

Thanks again to you all for your love, prayers, flowers and care toward us all!

Update

I've been trying to write something here for a couple of days.  I thought I would let you know that we are all OK here.  Mom's friends from England invited their Las Vegas "gang" over for Thanksgiving yesterday.  It was quite a spread.

We are wearing paper hats.  We "pulled crackers", which is an English traditions.

What is the best way to open a cracker? Crackers are usually shared between two individuals, one pulling on each end. The traditional way to pull a cracker is crossing your arms and pulling a whole circle of crackers around the table. Everyone holds their cracker in their right hand and pulls their neighbors cracker with the free left hand.

Today, virtually every household in the UK has at least one box of party crackers to pull at meal times, parties, and family gatherings over the holiday season.

Thanks Bernie and Carol for a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We will be flying back to Indiana with Mom from Dec 3 - 10th.  Both of my brothers will be coming in on Friday with the Memorial on Sat. the 7th.  We'll then come back to the Whale and Las Vegas and stay with Mom through Christmas and the New Year.  We are praying about plans for us after that.

We won't be going out for Black Friday, today.  Be safe.

A Tribute to my father, Robert Hoshaw

Thank you all for your kind words and prayers at the loss of our father, Robert Hoshaw.

Click here to go to a Memorial Website

Memorial Page

June 17, 1926 - November 21, 2013

Robert Clyde Hoshaw, was born on June 17, 1926 in his parent’s home in Crown Point, Indiana.  They all moved to a farm on the east side of town when he was young.  He worked hard farming and milking cows all through his school years.  Bob suffered through spinal meningitis as a young boy and was unable to walk at one time. He lost his father when he was 11 and took over farm responsibilities.  

He was a member of the Crown Point High School Band and also sang in the Presbyterian Choir.
Bob married Marcella Hoffman in 1946 and together they raised three children: Bob, Kathy and Dave as he worked as an auto mechanic in Crown Point and in 1969 purchased the Phillips 66 Gas Station on Joliet Street, near the Crown Point High School.  Bob hired family and friends and gave first jobs to many during his time as the Station Owner.
Bob and Marc loved to play cards, dance and eat with friends and family.  He was known for his joke telling and people would often stop at the gas station to share a tale or two.  He was sure to vacation every year at his favorite fishing lakes in Minnesota.  These times created wonderful family memories.
Their son, Bob, was severely wounded in the Viet Nam war in 1968.  They made several trips to visit him during his two years at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, CO.
Bob and Marcella moved to Las Vegas 1984 for the warm weather and to be close to his sister, Georgia Petrovich.  They enjoyed their years of retirement there with good friends and family.  Bob donated many hours to the grounds committee keeping the SPA where they lived in top shape.
He was diagnosed with cancer and had surgery in Oct of 2000 and was able to enjoy relative good health until 2010 when the cancer began to spread and his battle began.  Bob was 87 at his passing.
Marcella is his loyal wife and caregiver for 67 years of marriage and she stood by her man through his final years and days. 
Please see the Obituary for more info about family and Memorial Service information. 
Robert was loved by so many and he will be greatly missed.

There will be a Memorial Service at the Crown Point Presbyterian Church on December 7th at 11 am.

Death

Nov. 21, 2013    9 pm

Death.  It's not a very comforting word, is it?  Dying isn't either.  We have watched my father go through 13 years with cancer.  For 10 of those he was able to function and enjoy life, but nearly two years ago the pain of bone cancer began to drag him down and forced going to a pain patch that he has worn since in ever increasing doses.

My 88 year old mother has been married to dad for 67 year.  She has been his caregiver since he went on Hospice care in Dec of 2011.  She has been pretty stressed and has lost weight, but has been an example of "in sickness and in health", with her steadfast care of her hubby.  The Hospice nurse validated her yesterday by saying that dad could not have had any better care than what she has given him.

Mom is trying to get some sleep and I am sitting up listening to dad over a baby monitor.  We tried to wake him for a drink tonight without any success.  The nurse told us today that we are talking about days left in his life.  At the moment, I'm wondering if it will be more than hours.  My younger brother is on his way up from Phoenix and should be here by early morning.

2:15 am

Dad passed in his sleep Nov. 21, 2013 at 10:45 pm.
I won't post this until we have had time to notify family a little later this morning.  We plan to have a service for him back in our home town of Crown Point, Indiana the first part of Dec.  Maybe on Sat. the 7th or the 14th.

Thanks to all of you who have prayed and supported our family and mom during this time.

By Poopsie, we love you.

Higher Than A Kite

I thought it was past time for a blog post. We are still just taking one day at a time here.  Dad's health continues to slowly decline. He is still able to get out of bed and spend a few minutes sitting in his chair a few times a day. He still eats but it's not much at one time.  Hospice is now coming in twice a week and that is helping mom. We spend time with them on most days.

We have had a minor issue with our kitchen sink.  The washers on the handles keep wearing out.  So, today we went to an RV parts store and bought a new one and Craig installed it.  The hard part was getting under the sink to change it out.  RV faucets are unique and not the same as a household faucet.




We picked up pizza to eat with Dad and Mom tonight and on our way home we saw what we first thought was a parasailor.

Once we got closer, I was able to video.  I can't seem to get it to upload here tonight.  So, I'll try to put it on Facebook.

Hope that all is well in your part of the world.  Please leave a comment with how you're doing.

Blessings.

Make My Day

Do you know this couple?  Neither did we until we went to a buffet for breakfast this morning.

JoDana and Dave

Yesterday we went to a movie and got 2 - buy one get one free coupons for a buffet at Sams Town.  We didn't have to be anywhere early this morning, so we decided to use the coupon.  I thought it was too bad that we didn't have another couple to take with us to enjoy both of our coupons.

As we were getting into the line to go into the buffet there was dance music playing and I "bopped" a bit walking in.  We got behind a couple and she said, "It would make my day to see you two jitterbug".  We were a bit reluctant, but thought .... no one knows us here, so why not.  Our short dance lead to a fun conversation with this couple from Idaho who were here for a car show.  We invited them to share in our 2 for 1 coupons and then to sit with us.  We had a wonderful chat and learned about each other's families and then shared names and Facebook info so we could connect.  I found her on Facebook and then noticed that she had a friend named, Sam T. and we had a mutual friend named, Khela D.  Wow, what a small world.

To make the whole chance meeting even more fun, we learned that they too are believers in Jesus and now we know that our "chance" meeting wasn't chance at all.  We had breakfast together, but will also spend eternity together.

Thanks, Lord for the circumstances that You put together so we could enjoy fellowship in You!!!

Chuck and Pudge, if you see this, we are continuing to pray for a quick recovery from the hip replacement.  Looking forward to hearing more good reports!!

Jim and Lynne, if you see this, she is from Gillette, WY and he seems to know your family.

Whale Tinting

We have tinted patio doors in our homes before, but this is the first try at tinting the RV windows.

I just basically stayed out of the way unless I was needed and Craig did a great job!!  No harm, no foul.

It wan't easy, but the key is a very sharp cutting blade.  We gave it a couple of days in between and then went on to do others.  We still have the kitchen window and some crank out window parts of the bedroom to do.

There are still a few smaller windows to do, but we are glad to have this much done.  Now that we have the heat of the sun rays blocked out, we went out today to buy a heating blanket for the bed.  It actually got into the upper 30's outside last night.  the days are still getting warm (70's) so we really don't mind it.

Was Daylight Saved?

I have been lax in my bog posting.  There's been a lot going on and at the same time, not that much to report on.  Last weekend Tana and her family came through on their way to Disneyland and this past Friday, they came back through just for the night.  We swam in the pool and warmed up in the hot tub, had dinner together, they slept in their hotel room, we ate breakfast together and they were on their way back to Denver.  They arrived safe, but tired on Saturday night back home.

This is Craig, Kyra, Cooper and me watching the 

Broncos game last weekend.

We have a nice cactus just outside our window and a Mocking Bird has been eating it's fruit all week.

Dad continues to battle the phlebitis that was caused by the IV they tried to get into him for his second cataract surgery.  It was already puffy but now its just is very painful and swollen.

This is dad's "good" arm.  He bruises easily and his skin is very dry and flaky.

This is his arm on Phlebitis.  The Hospice doctor has us treating him with antibiotics, warm compresses and elevation.  This is what it looked like today after a week of treatment.  It really bothers him and has added to his already bad mood.  If anyone knows of a better way to treat this, I would be glad for the advice.

Dad has become pretty weak this week.  Not sure if it's just this added problem or if he has just taken another turn downward. He was too weak and felt too poorly on Tuesday to make it to his one week cataract surgery checkup.  They have rescheduled us to go on Tuesday.  Also, on Tuesday, the Hospice nurse comes by and is bringing along another nurse that will hopefully be coming on a regular basis to help dad more with his personal needs and give mom some help.  Dad has turned down most offers for help up to this point, but it's way past time that we begin to let the nurses do whatever they can.

Craig and I, like everyone else, will be spending most of the week getting used to the Daylight Savings time change.  Can't say that I much like it, but no one asked me if it was OK.

Craig's brother, Chuck will be having a hip replaced on Monday at 3pm.  We would appreciate any prayers for him.  Craig's other brother, Jim, is waiting for results of a biopsy.

Keep looking for that daylight that was saved!

Colorado Family Visit

Our daughter, Tana and her family Barry, Carter, Kyra, Collin and Cooper pulled in from their overnight drive from Denver at 4:30am.

They were all tired when they got here, so they all found a place to sleep in our RV.

After some short naps, we all went over to see my parents, Tana's grand-parents and her kids great-grand parents.  We had a really nice visit.

Barry, Tana, Carter, Kyra, Collin and Cooper with Dad and Mom

The Family ready for the water show at the Bellagio.

Fall in the Bellagio Atrium

Kyra wanted to go to the M&M factory and we stopped to get some floats. 

There's a 4 story M&M Store

To end the day... In&Out Burgers

Eye Yigh Yigh

Today was a full day.  We were at mom's by 8 am and two of dad's Hospice nurses were there to try to catheterize dad since he has been having trouble emptying his bladder completely.  One nurse tried last week and couldn't get it to work and the two of them ran into troubles today.  They had to meet with the doctor to see how to proceed from here.

We took him to his afternoon one day after cataract surgery appointment at 2:30.  Yesterday he completely wore out after the second eye surgery and we could barely get him back into the house from the car.  He made it in today, but was not in the best of moods by the time we got back home.

We picked up a pair of clear classes for him to wear at home to protect his eye.  He really doesn't do the plastic patch very well that he is supposed to wear.  He wasn't at all happy, but he managed a smile.  I'm sure he feels like a human pin cushion.

We had to wrap is hand with gauze to help soak up the clear fluid that has been coming out of the hole that was made by the IV they put in yesterday.  His skin is thin and he bruises very easily and so his arm looks pretty bruised, too.

The hospice nurse called back late in the day to say that his doctor wants him to go to a urologist to have them try to catheterize him.  So, he had a pretty rough day and he doesn't want to go through anything else, but if he doesn't, he will end up in emergency once he can't go at all.  He doesn't want anyone to know any of this, but we really need prayer and wisdom with how to proceed.  It's so hard to watch him suffer through all of this.

He started with prostate cancer in 2000 and had surgery, but it's just been one thing after another through the past 13 years.  Mom is worn out from being his caregiver and Craig and I are just trying to do what we can to help.

I decided to just post it like it is so family and friends have a better idea of what is going on with his health.  You don't have to mention to him how much you know or how you know, please.

The two cataract surgeries have been a success.  We'll have to wait until the second eye clears up, but he was only seeing "orange" out of his right eye and today he had 20/70 vision.  The eye doctor says it's still swollen and will hopefully improve as time goes by.  The swelling in the eye could be from the pain patches he is wearing or from the steroids he takes, but hopefully, he can see TV again.  Knowing him, he will be wanting to drive.  Yikes.

Tomorrow is another day and we are just taking them one at a time.

Backyard BBQ

We mowed the backyard and built a BBQ pit and cooked out tonight........... well, sort of.  No grass to mow, it's a portable BBQ grill and table from the back of our Honda CRV made for tail-gating.

It was a wonderful meal on a perfect weather night and then a full moon to top it off.

What About You?

Enjoying God

I am a friend of Christ

"Right at the beginning of human history, when man first related to God, their relationship was so simple.  There were not a lot of religious rituals and paraphernalia.  Enoch just WALKED WITH GOD (see Genesis 5:22,24).  As we go on further in the Bible, we meet the great father of the faith, Abraham, with his most honorable title, which was 'friend of God' (James 2:23). He and God simply enjoyed one another's company.

I sometimes long to get away from all the theology and all the religious formalities and just have a relationship of being God's friend -- walking with Him and enjoying His company.  I really believe God loves to be enjoyed by His people.

Sometimes, we get so preoccupied with methodology and theology and doctrine that we lose sight of God in the midst of it all.  We get into the middle of the forest, where all we can see are trees.  We no longer can see the whole picture.  Then, we have to back out of the forest, take a fresh look around, and consider adjusting our priorities.

Thank You, Jesus, that You have redeemed me.  I proclaim my desire to walk with God and enjoy His company, for I am a friend of Christ.  Amen."

by Derek Prince taken from his book, "Declare God's Word".

Bass Pro Shop Day

 We actually slept in a bit this morning.  Then, we took in a breakfast buffet.  What a delight to eat things you know you shouldn't be, but really enjoying it all.  We didn't eat again until evening.  Tomorrow, we probably wouldn't need to eat at all.

We went to Bass Pro Shop and enjoyed looking at all of the exhibits and fun outdoor equipment.  It gave us both the fishing urge.  We may go back tomorrow to see the RV show they had going.

Indoor Waterfall

Lions and Tiger and Bears.. oh my

Mouse Warriors... I guess????

We drove past McCarron Airport and from there the Las Vegas Strip is right out in the open.

Elvis has left Las Vegas

The Las Vegas Strip.  You can make out New York New York in the middle of the picture.

The Luxor is the Pyramid building.

The Madalay Bay

We had supper with my folks and mom had baked some pumpkin bread that was wonderful.  It's been cool at night and in the 70's during the day.

I also had a long and wonderful chat with a good family friend today.  Thanks Donna for the ear and we will continue to pray for you all and for your mom!!

We have been in Duck Creek RV Park now for four weeks.  It almost feels like home.

Blessings!