31st Anniversary

Kirk took me to Le Vie en Rose French restaurant in Brea for our 31st Anniversary! It was a leisurely and delicious dinner. For dessert (my 3rd dessert so far this year) I had a fruit custard in graham cracker and chocolate crust. Kirk had a chocolate souffle that was really yummy! He held my hand & told me how much he appreciated me. :-) What a lovely evening!
Here is the picture we took with the camera on a timer before we left.

Purim Finger Puppets

The characters from left to right:
King Xeres, Queen Vashti with her mirror, Mordecai, Bad Haman and Queen Esther.

Aren't these a scream? The women's Bible study that I am in, is studying the book of Esther with the Beth Moore workbook and DVD's. It is an excellent study! I'm learning a lot of new things about the story.
Well, on Tuesday, I went with some of our 8th grade students to visit the Museum of Tolerance in LA. It's much like the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. Because it's a Jewish museum, they had a lovely display about Purim (since it began on Tuesday). I couldn't resist buying these finger puppets.
The Jews celebrate the Feast of Purim every spring to commemorate God's deliverance of the Jews through Queen Esther. On the card the puppets came on, is a brief synopsis of each character. For Queen Vashti, they say that she refused to go before King Xeres because she had grown a tail and had pimples! I've sure never seen that part in the Bible story! :-)
I will save these in my "Grandma Box" for future story telling opportunities.

Mom's 81st Birthday Gathering

The party was at Robin & David's.
Then we all went over to Philip & Abby's to see their new lamp.
Philip proudly displaying his bonsai that he created at the Huntington Library & Gardens with Mina and Terry Taylor

Luke & Philip by Philip's new Craftsman style lamp that he & Abby got for a bargain!

Enjoying the birthday cake and tea

Mom made her own cake (carrot cake with ginger & apricots) because she had more time than Robin did. Robin & David had
Anders for 3 days, so Robin made the delicious lemon sauce and creamy topping. Yum!

3 of the grandkids (before Luke arrived)

The Long Process of Getting a Cochlear Implant

In September, '08 I started the process of finding out if I am a cochlear implant candidate. I began with tests from a local audiologist and then waited for 2 months for a correct referral
(the first one was to an eye clinic!).
On January 19, Mina Taylor, Abigail, Luanne and I went on an outing to Los Angeles. Here I am standing next to a 30" ear model inside the House Ear Clinic. I met my doctor and began the preliminary tests and paperwork. Because I have an HMO for insurance, there are multiple "hoops to jump through."
After the appointment ( Luanne went in with me :-)) we went to Olvera Street for a yummy Mexican food lunch. This lady is making our tortillas by hand. Mina & Luanne each bought a dozen tamales to take home.

Here we are having our delicious lunch.

We went around for a tour and stopped at the Bradley Building. It was built in the late 1800's and has beautiful architecture.

Today, February 23, Luanne and I went again. This time I went through a 90 minute series of hearing tests. I HATE those!!! I always cry, but this time I ended up sobbing my way through them. :-( It's so incredibly frustrating to know I'm not hearing the words I'm supposed to repeat. But the good news is: my hearing is so lousy,
I am now a cochlear implant candidate!
Kirk & I will go back in 2 days for a 2-hour consultation about the surgery and talk to the doctor again. I'm hoping to have the "skull base surgery" in June after school gets out. I'll keep you posted.

Valentine's Day

We've gotten a beautiful snowfall this week that has blanketed the mountains we see from our family room & kitchen. It's perfect for President's Weekend skiing!

Heather received a dozen pink roses from Jeff (Himes) before they spent the day together at Knott's Berry Farm.

Here are Bob & Esther Flores by "their " boat.

Kirk & I went out to breakfast with Esther & Bob Flores to "Schooner or Later" in Los Alamitos Bay in Long Beach. It was a beautiful morning! We got a table in the sun and ordered delicious omelettes. We then walked around and looked at yachts--fun. Then we came home and Kirk became re-plumbing Heather's shower. :-( The part that came is the wrong one, so Kirk won't be able to finish the job until Monday night. He rigged up valves in the attic that allow him to turn off only the water in her bathroom, and not the entire house. :-)

Grandpas's late 85th Birthday party

Daddy and his three girls!