Grandparent's Last Transfer, Connie's New House, Temple Open House

Dear Family,

This morning I went to Bountiful to say my final good-byes to my Grandma and Grandpa Burt. Neither is doing well and both are looking forward to “graduating”, or as Grandpa Burt calls it, their last big mission transfer. After seeing the 2 of them I hope it comes quickly for them. Grandma Burt has been battling Alzheimer’s and her body is going swiftly now too. Her body’s swollen and very stiff. She’s so cold all the time that Grandpa Burt has the heater going in their apartment at the assisted living center even though it’s 80 degrees out. He’s there in shorts and short sleeves, lovingly sweating it out, trying to keep Grandma warm who’s wearing pants, long sleeves, a sweater, socks, shoes, and is still covered in a blanket.

My dad and his wife Vicky will be coming down on the 17th with my Aunt Terese and her husband to move both Grandma and Grandpa Burt to a nursing home in Boise. There Grandma will go into the ICU and Grandpa will go into an assisted living unit in the same facility so that he can visit Grandma whenever he wants without worrying about taking care of her. His health is fading fast too. His prostate cancer came back and has spread to all his bones. At his last visit to the VA the doctors wanted him to try a new experimental super drug, but Grandpa Burt says he feels sick enough without more chemo making him extra sick. He’s on oxygen, his legs are swelling, and his kidneys aren’t handling things well.

It was a bittersweet visit. Grandma didn’t recognize me, but still she tried to smile and told me she was glad I came. She seems trapped in a body that’s already decaying and I wish Heavenly Father would let her move on. I don’t know how she’s going to make the move. But Grandpa Burt was amazing to watch. I watched him give Grandma a glass of Ensure, talking so lovingly to her while she drank and so tender with her. He took his handkerchief out of his pocket when a little spilled on her chin and joked with her that he was too clumsy. My Grandpa Burt has made his share of mistakes, but there is one thing I have always known and that was never more evident than today: he loves my Grandmother and is 100% devoted to her. He’s literally with her to the end. He only wants to live long enough to see her off and then follow right after her. I’m praying that he gets his wish and that they will get to go close together.

 In happier news, last month we went to Ephraim to visit Connie and her family before school started. We got to see their new house that they’ll be moving to as soon as the appraisal’s done. It’s in the same ward, doesn’t have as nice a yard, but is a newer nicer house. Connie’s girls already have grand plans for their dad to turn the upstairs into a Narnian Wardrobe. : ) We went swimming Manti and Whitney took us into the mountains where we ate wild currant berries. Even I ate some. And they were scary looking with all these hairs poking out of those tiny berries. ;0)

Tammy and Jeremy have started job hunting in earnest. Jeremy’s put in applications in Indiana and New Hampshire and already has his 1st interview. I already forgot which state it’s in and when he goes, but I know their preference is still the Vancouver, WA area. I’m trying to talk to them into considering UT or ID. Tammy says she needs a few years in a cooler climate to detox from AK. She’s fully acclimated now and complains of the heat when temps rise clear up to 74. She says she feels like it’s sweltering hot and curses that no one in AK has air conditioning.

Last month we also got to attend the Brigham City Temple open house. We brought Penny with us and a friend of hers named Linda. I can’t remember what religion Linda is, but I know her mother was Jewish and her father was Catholic. Linda really liked the temple and people seemed under-whelmed. She was disappointed there wasn’t a tour guide who could answer questions like what kind of stone the temple was made out of and where it came from. She understood why it was a silent tour and that with so many people coming to see the temple, tour guides wouldn’t have been practical. But she was less interested in what happens in the temple so much as what it looked like and the history and other details. There was a short video about it, but it didn’t answer all her questions.

Jared meanwhile definitely felt the spirit while we were there. He was SO happy! The 1st room we saw was the baptistery. Jared took one look at the beautiful font and announced, “I want to get baptized here!” When we explained the difference between getting baptized for yourself and then in temple, he wanted to know how old he had to be to go. He also wanted to know if he could only be baptized for 1 person or if they would let you be baptized for as many as five.

I was most excited to show Jared the sealing room as we’ve told him often about the day we took him to the temple to be sealed to us. Jared must’ve been excited to see that too because after the baptismal font, he asked us the same question in every room. “Is this the baby room????” When we walked through the celestial room he was very impressed. Eyes bugging out of his head, he says, “this is the nicest room I’ve ever been in!!!!” When we finally got to the sealing room after the celestial room he was less impressed. We tried to show him the mirror thing, but there were too many people.

The tour ended with cookies and bottled water with a picture of the temple and the church’s logo on it. Jared took one look at it, saw the words “Jesus Christ” prominently printed and said, “look! Jesus Christ water!!!!” We laughed and Ryan and I joked that it was holy water and we could vanquish vampires with it.

Please pray that our Burt grandparents will their next big mission transfer soon. Though they’re both bravely soldiering on together, they’re fairly miserable. If only everyone could go quietly in their sleep when they die.

Love,
Sherry, Ryan, and Jared


In case Tammy doesn't find time to write, I had to pass this on. Tammy sent this picture last week and says this is what happens when she leaves Jeremy in charge of the kids. :) That's Eve on the table, and Jeremy and Eli playing Wii in the background.