Week in Review::September 2014

A friend of mine passed away on Tuesday. She was a homeschool mama of 5 who homeschooled through chronic illness. She was very well educated (but not at all pretentious), kind, fun, funny, and a bit blunt. We connected a little more when we discovered "hey, you have a blog!". Tricia would have become a blogger of considerable force, but things like taking care of her kids, taking care of herself (no easy task), and being a wife took priority.

I have to admit that the first thing I wanted to do when I heard of Tricia's passing was to crawl into bed, pull the covers up, and not get up for a very long time. But, one thing Tricia did was keep on going. Through so much. She complained only in the sense that she was frustrated, she wanted to do more. To be more for her family.

I have to honor that. So, I got up (I let myself have one morning to wallow for just a few hours) and I got going.

I love this post that Tricia wrote. It is very honest. -
http://adobecreekacademy.blogspot.com/2014/03/new-year-here-i-am.html

Her blog home page is here-
http://adobecreekacademy.blogspot.com/

After my first inclination to crawl in to bed, I came to the very strong conviction that the better way to honor my friend's memory was to be the best mom that I can be today and be thankful that I am blessed with the good health to do so.

In that light, I am sharing our week of school and family activities.


Monday- 

School year kick-off field trip at the sports center.


Paul and his cousin, Christian. Competitive much?


Each age group had their own circuit. My grandson went on his first homeschool field trip! He was with the 5/6 year olds.  


Geometry class- I know, it looks like dot art, but really. 

My daughter, who is an engineer turned math teacher/tutor extraordinaire, has 4 children of her own. So, two of them played in my backyard while she taught her brothers (and a few others) some math skills. 


 I love listening to their conversation and their words of wisdom. Did you know that if an animal eats cotton candy, it can turn in to a different animal. I am pretty sure that is true! :) 

Tuesday:

No pictures to go with this first one, but this is the day that James had his theater fun class and found out he is going to play the Tin Man in the production of Wizard of Oz. He is so excited!

We also celebrated Mark's 14th birthday! 


The actual day is Thursday, but we had Tuesday free. 

Dad even had some time to take Mark to his favorite RC car shop during the day and helped Mark purchase a new RC car. 


The birthday boy with James and dad. 


That's us! 


Among other birthday wishes that were granted- a new hat. 


And frozen yogurt for dessert. 

Wednesday: 

No pictures at all. Noon mass with homeschool friends. Someone let the priest know about our friend, Tricia, passing away so it was nice to hear her and her family mentioned in the intentions. It was good to be together at mass. 

After, the boys and I had lunch and took Mark to buy a few new shirts (much needed!), his birthday gift from me. 

Thursday: 

If you can believe it, another birthday wish for Mark (on his actual birthday). Time with his cousins. 


I actually forgot to reschedule watching our little guy this day, so we took him with us. I love to see Paul as "uncle Paul".  


Fortunately, mommy got off work early and was able to spend a little time with us and bring him home (a full day at the beach might have been a bit much for him- although, he was a trooper). 


Mark being goofy with some of his cousins. 

Friday- 

The official start of our Friday co op classes. We are up and running on Spanish class and art. We are trying to incorporate a little science in there too, but are not quite in full swing. 




Our 2 cutest art students. 


I just thought this was funny- our tortoise looking out from his hide. It looks like he is trying on a giant shell. 


Dad stepped in to help with math. Yeah, that might just stick. Apparently, they speak the same math language. I clearly don't speak it! 


One more for the birthday boy. Even though we have sung happy birthday to Mark a few times, his sister thought he could use a little more special attention. She made him one of his favorites, Rice Crispy Treats. His nephews helped blow out the candles. 


He got her to sleep. 


Grandma said, "my turn now!". :) 

I am unsure how to process the loss of Tricia. My head is swimming. Every time I wake up, I have to retell myself that this real, as unreal as it seems.

Please pray for her family and
 in honor of Tricia, hug your own just a bit closer. 

Comments

  1. PhyllisSeptember 20, 2014 at 6:44 AM

    I am so sorry to hear about your friend. I went over to her blog and read some. Grief is a difficult process. Your weeks always look so lovely, with so much family time with all your extended family. I love it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. PattySeptember 20, 2014 at 8:43 PM

    I heard about this through Grace. I'm so terribly sorry for the loss of your friend. I have prayed for and will continue to pray for her family as well as the repose of her soul.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousSeptember 25, 2014 at 12:46 PM

    Hello Laurie. I am so sorry for you and especially for the family of Tricia. I found out about Tricia by an e-mail from our priest, Canon Olivier Meney, who will be presiding over a Requiem Mass for her on Friday, tomorrow at 12pm.(Pacific Time) at Five Wounds Portuguese National Church in San Jose. I hope to attend and offer my prayers.

    ReplyDelete
  4. PhyllisSeptember 27, 2014 at 8:20 AM

    How are you doing with your grief? I am always here if you would like to talk.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousSeptember 27, 2014 at 9:14 PM

    Dear Laurie,
    I was able to go to the Mass with my daughter and pray for God's Mercy and Love to give strength and courage for the family to live a life of love as she did for them. Her struggles with life make my problems so small, and I wish I had the chance to know Tricia. Canon Meney received this e-mail from her husband, Bill, and I thought I might pass it along.

    Canon Meney: "Thanks for all of you who came to the requiem Mass for Tricia and helped with the ceremony and the reception. It was great support. Bill sent hte following message:

    "I too want to thank this group so much. I will not explicitly name who helped, as the list was many, and each contributed from their heart in the way that they could.

    For nearly the last two weeks since Tricia left us, I have prayed “thank goodness we are Catholic, that the community is here, and that the children and I have a strong faith foundation”.

    It would be so easy to clam up and hide, and cry: and that may indeed happen soon: but through the grace of God, and his servants on earth: my children and I have made it hour by hour, and day by day.

    Please continue the prayers; and the special intentions of helping me discern the best path for my family in the coming days, months, and years.

    It would have been a much rougher (if that is even possible) eleven days without the love and support from Regina Pacis.

    Charles, Tricia’s father, sent me a note of thanks for the beautiful final arrangements. He has had some health issues, that causes him to stop breathing if he cries: so he was unable to attend this week: but his wife (and Tricia’s Mom) Irma was deeply thankful: here is a copy of his thoughts:

    Bill
    Thank you very much for the magnificent ceremony you organized for my Daughter.
    Irma, Erick, et. al. were totally impressed by the the Church. The ceremony was very traditional mostly in Latin.The reception sumptuous.
    With all you went thru to be able to organize yesterday and today affairs is incredible. You have my sincere appreciation and admiration.
    Later we may have a relaxed time for me to justify my absence from these ceremonies. However briefly I can not physically and emotionally withstand them. I can not cry and I tense so much my respiration stops
    Give my love to the children
    Charles

    Of course, the thanks goes to the Catholic Church, Regina Pacis, and others that helped me with this -

    Words can not express my thanks,

    Bill"

    ReplyDelete
  6. JenMarch 11, 2015 at 4:02 PM

    This is very sweet- I need to try & blog again =/

    ReplyDelete

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