Category: Family Page 15 of 18

Video: Singing solos after Grandpa Lauro’s funeral (1 of 4)

By Dad

On Thursday, June 12, 2014

Everyone should aspire, sometime in their life, to attend a funeral like Grandpa Lauro’s. It was truly a celebration of the life of a great man as well as a victory in finishing well–the way our Lord wants us to finish. There is too much to tell and I will not even try, but I thought it might be nice to put up a few videos of the carne asada at Grandpa Lauro’s recently departed mother’s home. Our dear friend Omar Tamez was very kind to sing for us. The video that accompanies this post is about Mexico and shows the atmosphere of the event. On another day, I plan to post one more by Omar, a favorite of Grandpa Lauro’s, O Sole Mio, and a couple by Kelly, Danny Boy, another Grandpa Lauro favorite and a Hymn, How Can I Keep from Singing. Here is the first:

Betty Blonde #127 – 01/09/2009

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Off to Mexico

By Dad

On Sunday, June 8, 2014

Flying to Mexcio - Don Lauro's stroke Raleigh June 8, 2014 – I write this from the RDU airport as Kelly, Christian, and I wait to get on a plane to join Lorena in Mexico. Lorena’s dad, Grandpa Lauro is in a grave condition to which there might not be a good outcome. We have someone at the house while we are gone, my boss said to take whatever time I need, and we have many people praying and communicating their concern to us. We are very thankful for our family, friends, and colleagues.

…

Raleigh June 8, 2014 – We are in Mexico now. An incredible number of people were at the hospital in Monterrey in support of Grandpa Lauro. We were there maybe six hours and there were always at least twenty or thirty in attendance–not in the room with Lauro because his condition is so bad, but in the waiting room. There were at least a hundred different people who came and visited and left. There were many others who had come in the four or five days before we got there. Some of the same ones come every day. This in amazing credit to Lauro’s community–I have never seen anything quite like it. We feel truly honored to be a member of this community. We still do not know whether Lauro will make it, but we continue to pray for him. All your prayers are greatly appreciated.

Betty Blonde #126 – 01/08/2009

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Our ten year plan is coming to a conclusion

By Dad

On Sunday, May 18, 2014

In Family, House and home, Money

Day 997 of 1000

Ten years ago, when we restarted our homeschool, we made a plan to get Kelly through college by 2014 followed by Christian in 2016. We did it two year early because Christian finished two years early than our plan. I only thought about it about once per year when I made the yearly plan for the next year’s homeschool and bought the books from Sonlight. The plan was completely forgotten while we did the work of homeschooling. Now that we are at the end, it has dawned on me that we have not given much thought to what comes next. Of course, I have my work, mortgage, and retirement to consider, but those are continuing things that require thought and readjustment on a regular basis when I change jobs, move, run into an unexpected expense, etc. We have goals in all that, but they are just going to be part of life until I die, so I planning for that kind of thing is just part of the landscape.

Now though, Lorena and I have to figure out what we want to do next. Does Lorena want to finish her degree or start a business or do both? Do we want to live in Portland or Phoenix or Prescott or stay where we are? There are competing interests in all this. The kids are both going off to graduate school on the west coast. We would like to be near them so we could see them on a very regular basis, but they are at the age to start making their own way without too much interference from us. Are we thinking of moving just so we can be by them? Maybe. But is that bad? Maybe, maybe not. I thought life was going to get less complicated at this point, but it looks like I am wrong.

Betty Blonde #115 – 12/24/2008

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Returning to sanity after graduation

By Dad

On Friday, May 16, 2014

In Family, House and home

Day 995 of 1000

All the guests are gone back to Oregon. Kelly is hard at work on her summer projects for her professor. Christian has started preparation for his summer Partial Differential Equations graduate class. Lorena is hard at work making sure the house is ready to show at a moments notice. My flight to Arizona on Wednesday was delayed long enough that I had to fly out yesterday, promptly lost my luggage and am scheduled to work through the weekend. In the midst of all this we are all trying to find new places to live out West and are finding out it is not that easy. Nothing really seems too settled right now. We can all hardly wait to get back to more controlled lives.

Betty Blonde #115 – 12/24/2008

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Graduation visitors

By Dad

On Monday, May 12, 2014

In Education, Family

Day 991 of 1000

Grandpa Milo, Aunt Julia, and Gladys visit for the kids graduation in North Carolina I am going to write a few posts over the next few days about the graduations that occurred on May 9^th (Christian) and May 10^th (Kelly). We thoroughly enjoyed all of it. I thought I would start off with our visitors. Aunt Julia was very kind to fly out with Grandpa Milo. It would not have been possible otherwise. We were very much humbled and impressed with the care Aunt Julia showed toward Grandpa Milo with the current state of his memory. She gave us a very good lesson in how to think about all this and particularly, how to treat a person with this condition and enjoy them in their current frame of mind. For his part, Grandpa Milo was an enormous addition to the celebration. We can only imagine how much impoverished the event would have been without his presence.

Grandma Sarah, the great higher education advocate in our family could not attend, but was here in spirit. Even though our dear friend Gladys would have been a fabulous addition to the party if Grandma Sarah would have been able to make it, she was absolutely essential in Grandma Sarah’s absence. She is so kind and accomplished in her treatment of people, especially in these kinds of celebrations, we could not have done it this nicely without her. Beside listening to everyone, helping out in every way she can, and always saying the uplifting thing, she (as always) did one other thing that brought great joy to the festivities: She truly enjoyed herself and had a smile on her face the whole time.

I will talk a little bit more about the events of the weekend in subsequent posts, but for this post, we just want to thank Grandpa Milo, Aunt Julia, and Gladys who made such a great effort to be with us to celebrate the kids graduation.

Betty Blonde #112 – 12/19/2008

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Graduation ceremony guests arrive today

By Dad

On Thursday, May 8, 2014

In Education, Family

Day 987 of 1000

We are sad that Grandpa Lauro and Grandma Conchita will not be able to be here from Monterrey for the graduation. We have planned a special trip to visit them in Mexico later this summer to celebrate the graduation, but it would have been so nice if they could have been here. We hope to get some video and pictures of the ceremonies so we can send them and plan to call as soon as the ceremony is over.

Aunt Julia, the kid’s über-aunt is flying out from Oregon today with Grandpa Milo so they can attend Christian’s graduation ceremony on Friday and Kelly’s graduation ceremony on Saturday. She is filling the place of Grandma Sarah who at age 83 really has gotten past the ability to take cross country trips. We are so glad both Aunt Julia and Grandma Sarah were willing for this as Grandpa Milo now has some memory issues and would have a struggle to make it on his own. We hope to send video and images back with Aunt Julia to show to Grandma Sarah. Grandma Sarah has been the principle cheerleader and advocate in our family for higher education. She did not do so bad either. All four of her living children have Bachelors degrees and three of them have Masters. After this weekend all six of her grandchildren will have Bachelors degrees one of which has a Masters degree and two more will be starting PhD’s in the fall. Not bad for a lady who picked strawberries and beans in the summer to support herself through a Pharmacy degree, one of the first three women to complete the degree at Oregon State alongside the first black man. She graduated in 1952 when it was still Oregon State College, not Oregon State University.

We are so grateful Gladys from Oregon will arrive this afternoon, too. She is a very dear friend and honorary grandmother to Kelly and Christian. It is just amazing she was kind enough to make the effort to be here. Of course, every place she goes is better off for her presence, but this is especially gratifying because of the huge and unique role she has played in our family for two generations now.

Betty Blonde #111 – 12/18/2008

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Kelly is no longer a teenager

By Dad

On Thursday, March 27, 2014

Day 947 of 1000

Kelly as a toddler It is hard to believe Kelly is no longer a teenager. Lorena and I always remember the beautiful South Florida Sunday morning drive to the hospital in 1994 and the joy of her birth after a long, hard day of labor. She has been a source of great joy ever since. It is hard to believe she will no longer be living with us in just a few short months as she starts a new era in her education, career, and life.

Lorena called and told me Kelly made cookies to take to her friends at NCSU today. And, of course, she dressed in pink.

Happy Birthday Kelly. We love you.

Betty Blonde #94 – 11/25/2008

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Getting ready to do the next thing

By Dad

On Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Day 938 of 1000

Lorena and I are not sure where we will be or even what we will do over the next several years. We have invested a lot of effort into getting the kids through college that we did not have a lot of time to think about what we will do when they are gone. I understand they are never really gone, but one or both of them will be a long way away from us as they have been accepted to graduate schools that are over 1400 miles apart. So now Lorena and I have to figure out what to do.

The one thing we know is that we want to move back out West to be closer to the kids. I am fortunate to have a job that allows me to live just about anywhere in the continental U.S. So now we have to figure out where we want to live. My work is in Arizona most of the time so that is certainly an option. Kelly will be in Seattle, so that is also an option. Of course, we love Oregon and would love to be there, too. So, we are trying to figure out where to go and when to go there in the midst of all the run up to graduation. We are looking at houses now in Arizona and Oregon. I am sure the right path will become apparent to us if we are just patient.

Betty Blonde #87 – 11/14/2008

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Living out of a suitcase

By Dad

On Tuesday, February 18, 2014

In Family, Work

Day 911 of 1000

Living in Raleigh and working in Prescott is not an easy proposition. I have been doing it for over a year now and am not excited about leaving the family behind and getting on an airplane this afternoon to head back to work. Living out of a suitcase and eating out all the time is not so good for the health either. It takes a lot of discipline to eat right and exercise on the road, especially when there are work deadlines to hit. We are getting closer to hitting the first product delivery, but it feels like it is always just three months away. Of course this is all normal so I should not complain. I have been through it before.

Betty Blonde #74 – 10/28/2008

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Sweden’s generation of bad kids

By Dad

On Wednesday, February 12, 2014

In culture, Family

Day 905 of 1000

There is a totally fascinating article in the Wall Street Journal today about how Sweden has legislated themselves into a corner with respect to how they raise their children. It is against the law to spank children in Sweden now and the attitude that goes along with that appears to be bearing fruit against which the adults in the country are starting rebel. Swedish psychiatrist David Eberhard wrote a book about it whose title translates to How Children Took Power. I think this is definitely happening here in the United States, too. Sweden is prospering economicly because they have started to dump some of their liberal economic ideas. Here is hoping they start dumping their liberal social obsessions, too. Maybe there is still hope for Sweden.

Betty Blonde #68 – 10/20/2008

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Grandpa José passed away last night

By Dad

On Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Day 891 of 1000

Don Jose and his children

Don José Rodriguez Cavazos died last night at age 93. He took his final deep breath and died in the arms of his oldest daughter Grandma Conchita. Don José was the family patriarch in the very best way possible. He loved, served, and guided his family with every fiber of his being. He was defined more than any other way by how he loved and served God. His contemporaries called him Chepo. His grandchildren in Mexico called him abuelito. Kelly and Christian called him Grandpa José. Virtually everyone else called him Don José.

Don José’s first wife by whom he had all his nine children died at age 57 and he married Irlinda not to long after that. Don José was the very first person I met from Lorena’s family. I met him and Irlinda standing in the cafeteria line at a church convention in New Mexico in 1989. Little did I know at the time that he would play such a huge role, not only in my life, but the life of my extended family. I remember him as a very colorful, happy, friendly person. I will write a few things about him in some future blog posts as I want to record some of the colorful stories that he told and that were told about him.

Don José and Grandpa Milo were kindred spirits. They could not speak each other’s language but got along famously and spent the short amount of time they had together patiently listening to translators help them share stories. Both of them grew up during the depression in large close knit families. I remember them giving each other a big old bear hug every time they met. Grandpa José liked to finish that hug by bouncing us a couple times off his belly.

The picture the accompanies this post is of Don José with his wife Irlinda and seven of his nine children. The one’s in the back row from left to right are Gudelia, Betty, Nena, Nelda, and Abel. In the front row are Grandma Conchita, Irlinda, Don José, and Mina. The two missing are Tomás and Blanca.

Grandpa José was Lorena’s last living grandparent. He will be greatly missed, but he was a faithful man and is in a better place.

Betty Blonde #56 –10/02/2008

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Time to start some house dealing

By Dad

On Sunday, January 26, 2014

In Family, House and home

Day 887 of 1000

I am at the last of what has turned into over a year of travel, two weeks at a time out to Arizona. I help doing some kinds of programming I do not normally do in the spirit of getting our first product out the door. My real job entails development of algorithms to analyze images produced by our first product. The reality is that I have very much enjoyed the robotic control programming I have done for the last year. If it were not for the insane hours and all the travel, it is one of those programming things one might do as a hobby.

All this time on airplanes and in hotel rooms has given me time to reflect. Lorena and I have not yet decided where we want to land if and when we can sell our house in Raleigh. All the information about our options is not yet in–we know neither where the kids will be nor what makes sense in terms of my work. The only thing we know for sure is that we want to head West. The most viable options are the Willamette Valley in Oregon or Prescott, Arizona, or Phoenix, Arizona.

We have good friends in all those places, but Oregon would not really be within driving distance to the kids unless one or both of them go to University of Washington which is fairly unlikely at this point even though both the kids have applied there. At this point, we are leaning toward Prescott, but that changes on a minute to minute basis. We do know that we need to get the house on the market pretty soon if we plan to sell it this spring or summer. Lorena has started to prepare the house and I plan to start looking for an agent during my next trip home.

Betty Blonde #53 – 09/29/2008

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A sighting of our favorite Lemonade–Lorina–in Hong Kong!!!

By Dad

On Thursday, January 23, 2014

In Cooking, Family

Day 884 of 1000

Our buddy Jon found himself in Hong Kong eating pizza sandwiches and drinking Lorina lemonade! He was kind enough to forward us the picture because he knew that lemonade was our favorite doble sentido. What he probably did not know is that if he sent me a picture like this there would be no way we could avoid trying to duplicate this meal. Guaranteed, it probably would not taste as good in Raleigh as in an exotic place like Hong Kong and we probably will not be as good as that looks, but it seems to me even if is only a shadow of what Jon ate, it will still be some mighty fine eating. Now all we have to do is remember where we bought that Lorina here in Raleigh…

Jon drinks Lorina in Hong Kong with his pizza sandwich

Betty Blonde #50 – 09/24/2008

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Lorena is an upholstering frame of mind

By Dad

On Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Lorena fixes the barstools

We have had two barstools in the kitchen that featured seats with torn fabric that moved around because they had worked their way free from the frame. She fixed all that yesterday and today. She is a born fixer-upper. We plan to get her a house on which to ply her skills when we move out West, hopefully this spring or summer.

Grandma Sarah’s and Aunt Janet’s 83 birthday

By Dad

On Sunday, January 19, 2014

Day 880 of 1000

Grandma Sarah and her twin sister, Aunt Janet celebrated their 83rd birthday on January 18, 2014. A lot of the cousins got together. I think there were only two or three missing. My cousin Neil was kind enough to send us some old pictures and a few of the event. It sounds like they had a great time. Here is their picture when they were in first grade:
Grandma Sarah and Aunt Janet as little girls

Here is a picture at the birthday party on Saturday (that is Aunt Jean on the right):
Aunt Janet, Grandma Sarah, and Aunt Jean

Betty Blonde #46 – 09/18/2008

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Interesting discussion with a career woman

By Dad

On Friday, January 17, 2014

In culture, Family, Work

Day 878 of 1000

Night before last I was had a long discussion with a colleague at work who had just joined the company as a high level executive. After we had talked about business for a good while we started talking about our families. She has very accomplished children, similar in age to Kelly and Christian. I mentioned that Kelly had applied to several universities for a PhD program in Management, but probably wanted to be a stay at home mom after that.

I think the woman was a little bit offended. She admonished me that I should encourage her to do what she loves. I told her Kelly loves the idea of being a stay at home mom, but she would kind of like to finish a graduate degree first (or after she gets married but before she has kids). For awhile my colleague did not get it. She could not believe that someone might place a higher priority on her family than in a career. She told me how she had spent really big money on great nannies to take care of her kids while she was not there. She used the old canard of quality time being more important than the quantity of time one spends with their children.

All this made me thankful for Lorena who has been the gold standard of all role models for how a woman can set her priorities to maximize the impact of her life by caring for her children and her husband in the home. I am beyond grateful for all that she has done in that regard. I hope Kelly is able to acheive that level of contribution to her family and society. Anybody can be a company executive if they work hard and stay focused. It takes a lot more to be a stay at home mom.

Betty Blonde #44 – 09/16/2008

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Lorena in America

By Dad

On Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Day 875 of 1000
Betty Blonde #41 – 09/11/2008

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Lorena 42 My wife’s birthday is today. She has now lived in the United States longer than she has lived in the country of her birth. Lorena’s English has improved pretty dramatically since she got her even though we still speak mostly Spanish at home. When I retire, we might head back to live in Mexico at least part of the year, but she is pretty much 100% assimilated now, so it leaves us a little conflicted. I hit the lottery when we got married. After 21 years of marriage, two kids, several cross country moves, and a lot of putting up with a husband on the road she just keeps getting better.

Lorena’s grandmother, Rosena, passes away

By Dad

On Sunday, January 12, 2014

Day 874 of 1000

Lorena called me early this morning to tell me her paternal grandmother, Rosenda, had died in the night. She was in her mid-nineties and had a very interesting life. When she was a child, she would have known many people who fought in the Mexican revolution. One of her children, Irma, was born in the United States. She did not have an easy life, but had a quiet disposition and was very easy to be around. In Mexico, people are buried the day after they die, so Lorena will not have time to get there in time for the funeral, but we will be in close contact with the family.

Lorena has one living grandparent, her maternal grandfather, Jose, who lives in Allende, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. He is also in his mid-nineties.

El tío favorito

By Dad

On Friday, December 27, 2013

Day 858 of 1000
Betty Blonde #27 – 08/22/2008

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We are SUPER happyand grateful that Dayanita y Jorgito have arrived to visit us from Monterrey. It is hard to describe how great it feels to have them here. Dayanita y Jorgito come to Raleigh

This should be our family motto

By Dad

On Saturday, December 14, 2013

Day 845 of 1000
Betty Blonde #24 – 08/19/2008

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Here is a cutesy web page that has notes from kids that are all very, very awesome. I especially like this one.
Suck it up.

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