Time Keeps on Passing
Well, time keeps on passing into the future. That line is from a song many years ago (when I was young). I know I can't tell everything that has passed during this time and besides that it would bore anybody who would try to look at it.
When I quit posting, my wife had been beat up and her sister was gone. As it turned out, her sister got on a bus and headed to Las Vegas. We were able to track her through a couple of credit card purchases she had made to the Bus Station and then at Circus, Circus. We talked with the police in Nevada because we had to show where she was in order to cancel an APB (All Points Bulletin) put out looking for her in Salt Lake. They were able to go to Circus, Circus and into her room. One of the officers called me to see if there was anything they needed to do. He said that he was an officer that they call out when there is a mental health issue. He could tell she was agitated, but there was nothing to be done because she was doing no harm. I told him, that all was well as far as we were concerned and to just let her stay there without any intervention. She stayed there for a week. We got the APB cancelled and had Steve call and talk to her on an almost daily schedule.
Melanie stayed in Vegas for about a week. My wife, in the meantime, went to her parents house on multiple occasions to pack up Melanie's things. We also went over as a family to move Rod back upstairs into his old bedroom (the master bedroom) which he had given up when she moved in. He couldn't handle it by himself. Margaret continued to be confused about just about everything that has been going on.
When Melanie came home on the bus, we had Jeff meet her at the bus station. He took her to a hotel (a weekly rent one) where she could stay. She has been told not to come back to her parents home because we can't have that kind of behavior. This has caused her to have ill feelings for my wife as well as Pam and Anne. I guess she can't talk good about them in any way shape or form. My wife (and I) have no desire to see Melanie right now. We still had to deal with the courts that came about because of this major problem.
As far as the courts go, we wanted to get Melanie into a mental health court rather than a criminal court. Dee Anne's family was kind of upset at us for even making sure there was a police record of this (although I still feel it was the right choice). While we were waiting for this all to take place, we finally got a court date. It was for March 30th (the same day we were to take our son to the MTC [Missionary Training Center] in Provo, Utah. My wife called them up with a hardship. The clerk was not very nice to her and told her that this court had nothing to do with religion. He treated her pretty rough through the phone. My dear wife was victimized twice now because of this. He told her that she needed to write a letter to the court and include in that letter the address where Melanie was staying. In other words, they had no idea where she was and had no good reason to set up a court date without having served her. Dee Anne and I decided she should not write the letter. Just let it go. The date came and went and a bit later we got a letter stating that unless we did something the case would be dropped. We decided that this was for the best and just let the case drop. This was a huge relief. Dee Anne only wanted to be to the court to defend her sister (which seems kind of strange when she is the victim). They had her in the wrong court system.
Well, enough said about that. Of course, our life continued to move on. We took our son to the MTC on Wednesday March 30th. We picked up our daughter from school and went to a burger joint for lunch in Provo. We were still a bit early, so we went to the Provo Temple grounds (which are across the street from the MTC) and took a few pictures. It was a cold day. Kind of fitting as we would not be seeing our son for the next two years. My wife was in tears, and it hurt my heart to see this was so. She knows it is something that needs to take place and that it is good for our son, but it doesn't make it any easier knowing this. We gave him the final hugs at the MTC and left, feeling a bit empty. It has been hard on my tender wife to have Travis not at home (or in school). We have missed him terribly.
Travis left the MTC and went to the Lubbock, Texas mission on April 18, 2011. We were able to talk to him on the phone while he was in Dallas Texas waiting for another plane. That was quite nice. Of course, he also got to call home on Mothers Day. He bought him a bike and then a couple of days later he was transferred to Abilene, Texas. In Abilene, he got his training. He seemed to grow up a lot in the time that he was there, as we got the emails from him. He had one baptism while he was there, and had more set up to go when he got transferred to a little town called Borger in July. We looked up his address on google maps and when I went to the street view we were able to see two missionaries outside of the building. One of them was on a unicycle. We found that a bit humorous.
In Borger Texas, Travis found that he was now an hour away from the closest set of missionaries (my guess is that they are in Abilene which is 50 miles away) and out of 300 members about 40 were active at church. A counselor in the Elders quorum was asking to be released. This seemed to be a bit discouraging to Travis, but he is buckling down for the work. In just a few weeks, he told us that the numbers of the ward activity improved and people are asking them to go on missionary splits with them. This is all good. We are hoping he has many more positive experiences with this.
Back at home now. During this time we had to get Rod into the hospital because he had cancer of the lung. He had to go in for an operation to take care of that. He also had an aneurysm that had to be taken care of and was life threatening. So, after he healed from his first surgery he went in a second time. Then, after healing from that he had to get a blockage taken out of his colon. This was found to be non-cancerous which was good news for us.
My wife in the meantime has been struggling with taking care of her mother (and father) through all her dementia and Rod through all of his problems. All of this was done while she has been in pain from being beat up back in February (the effects of that are still lingering). She has also had some internal problems with her uterus and is waiting for a hysterectomy that will be taking place at the end of this month.
Meghan has been helping out with a new trailer for her marching band at Bingham High School and now has started a job at Justice for Girls. She has kept pretty darn busy, even when the summer months hit us.
In June, Dee Anne and I went to Dallas, Texas so I could go to a conference. We were able to spend some time together, and it was hot out there. It also was quite spread out and we were glad that we live where we live. Meghan spent that week at her good friends house Katie (her and her family have been a godsend for Meghan).
One thing that I should mention in passing is that Utah had some flooding this year. Water levels were high and it kept on snowing even into June. Thank goodness we didn't heat up all at once, or we would've had major problems. As it happened, the floods were mostly controlled, but some farmlands weren't able to plant which isn't good for the economy.
Speaking of the economy. It has struggled along and is not doing all that well. Hopefully, things will improve soon, but I wouldn't bet on it.
That's about it for now. Who knows when I will post again.
When I quit posting, my wife had been beat up and her sister was gone. As it turned out, her sister got on a bus and headed to Las Vegas. We were able to track her through a couple of credit card purchases she had made to the Bus Station and then at Circus, Circus. We talked with the police in Nevada because we had to show where she was in order to cancel an APB (All Points Bulletin) put out looking for her in Salt Lake. They were able to go to Circus, Circus and into her room. One of the officers called me to see if there was anything they needed to do. He said that he was an officer that they call out when there is a mental health issue. He could tell she was agitated, but there was nothing to be done because she was doing no harm. I told him, that all was well as far as we were concerned and to just let her stay there without any intervention. She stayed there for a week. We got the APB cancelled and had Steve call and talk to her on an almost daily schedule.
Melanie stayed in Vegas for about a week. My wife, in the meantime, went to her parents house on multiple occasions to pack up Melanie's things. We also went over as a family to move Rod back upstairs into his old bedroom (the master bedroom) which he had given up when she moved in. He couldn't handle it by himself. Margaret continued to be confused about just about everything that has been going on.
When Melanie came home on the bus, we had Jeff meet her at the bus station. He took her to a hotel (a weekly rent one) where she could stay. She has been told not to come back to her parents home because we can't have that kind of behavior. This has caused her to have ill feelings for my wife as well as Pam and Anne. I guess she can't talk good about them in any way shape or form. My wife (and I) have no desire to see Melanie right now. We still had to deal with the courts that came about because of this major problem.
As far as the courts go, we wanted to get Melanie into a mental health court rather than a criminal court. Dee Anne's family was kind of upset at us for even making sure there was a police record of this (although I still feel it was the right choice). While we were waiting for this all to take place, we finally got a court date. It was for March 30th (the same day we were to take our son to the MTC [Missionary Training Center] in Provo, Utah. My wife called them up with a hardship. The clerk was not very nice to her and told her that this court had nothing to do with religion. He treated her pretty rough through the phone. My dear wife was victimized twice now because of this. He told her that she needed to write a letter to the court and include in that letter the address where Melanie was staying. In other words, they had no idea where she was and had no good reason to set up a court date without having served her. Dee Anne and I decided she should not write the letter. Just let it go. The date came and went and a bit later we got a letter stating that unless we did something the case would be dropped. We decided that this was for the best and just let the case drop. This was a huge relief. Dee Anne only wanted to be to the court to defend her sister (which seems kind of strange when she is the victim). They had her in the wrong court system.
Well, enough said about that. Of course, our life continued to move on. We took our son to the MTC on Wednesday March 30th. We picked up our daughter from school and went to a burger joint for lunch in Provo. We were still a bit early, so we went to the Provo Temple grounds (which are across the street from the MTC) and took a few pictures. It was a cold day. Kind of fitting as we would not be seeing our son for the next two years. My wife was in tears, and it hurt my heart to see this was so. She knows it is something that needs to take place and that it is good for our son, but it doesn't make it any easier knowing this. We gave him the final hugs at the MTC and left, feeling a bit empty. It has been hard on my tender wife to have Travis not at home (or in school). We have missed him terribly.
Travis left the MTC and went to the Lubbock, Texas mission on April 18, 2011. We were able to talk to him on the phone while he was in Dallas Texas waiting for another plane. That was quite nice. Of course, he also got to call home on Mothers Day. He bought him a bike and then a couple of days later he was transferred to Abilene, Texas. In Abilene, he got his training. He seemed to grow up a lot in the time that he was there, as we got the emails from him. He had one baptism while he was there, and had more set up to go when he got transferred to a little town called Borger in July. We looked up his address on google maps and when I went to the street view we were able to see two missionaries outside of the building. One of them was on a unicycle. We found that a bit humorous.
In Borger Texas, Travis found that he was now an hour away from the closest set of missionaries (my guess is that they are in Abilene which is 50 miles away) and out of 300 members about 40 were active at church. A counselor in the Elders quorum was asking to be released. This seemed to be a bit discouraging to Travis, but he is buckling down for the work. In just a few weeks, he told us that the numbers of the ward activity improved and people are asking them to go on missionary splits with them. This is all good. We are hoping he has many more positive experiences with this.
Back at home now. During this time we had to get Rod into the hospital because he had cancer of the lung. He had to go in for an operation to take care of that. He also had an aneurysm that had to be taken care of and was life threatening. So, after he healed from his first surgery he went in a second time. Then, after healing from that he had to get a blockage taken out of his colon. This was found to be non-cancerous which was good news for us.
My wife in the meantime has been struggling with taking care of her mother (and father) through all her dementia and Rod through all of his problems. All of this was done while she has been in pain from being beat up back in February (the effects of that are still lingering). She has also had some internal problems with her uterus and is waiting for a hysterectomy that will be taking place at the end of this month.
Meghan has been helping out with a new trailer for her marching band at Bingham High School and now has started a job at Justice for Girls. She has kept pretty darn busy, even when the summer months hit us.
In June, Dee Anne and I went to Dallas, Texas so I could go to a conference. We were able to spend some time together, and it was hot out there. It also was quite spread out and we were glad that we live where we live. Meghan spent that week at her good friends house Katie (her and her family have been a godsend for Meghan).
One thing that I should mention in passing is that Utah had some flooding this year. Water levels were high and it kept on snowing even into June. Thank goodness we didn't heat up all at once, or we would've had major problems. As it happened, the floods were mostly controlled, but some farmlands weren't able to plant which isn't good for the economy.
Speaking of the economy. It has struggled along and is not doing all that well. Hopefully, things will improve soon, but I wouldn't bet on it.
That's about it for now. Who knows when I will post again.
posted by Craig's Blog at 11:21 AM
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