Posting Hiatus

So, no pics...sorry! We've had a bit of a set back with our fam and so we are headed off to Cleveland, Ohio. On June 12th Doug's mom passed away from lung cancer...just 6 days after Doug brought her home from Manor Care. As sick as she was, one can truly never prepare for the passing of a parent and it has been very draining and especially emotional for Doug. Just two days prior I had booked our tickets to go on the 29th to visit for the 4th of July and have the kids spend some time with her before she passed, but God had other plans. So, being the mom I am and having realized long ago that nothing rarely goes as planned, I called Delta Airlines and tried to rearrange things. Delta Airlines sucks...parden my bluntness. They have no bareavment fares unless you have a relative that dies outside the US......what??? So, the punchline was that our flight per person ended up costing us $700! Needless to say I will never use Delta Airlines again. My husband is amazing! Since April he has been going back to Cleveland every couple weeks to visit with his mom and also to do some forward planning. As hard as it was for him, he planned her funeral and planned them to a "T" of what she wanted. I cannot imagine how difficult that was for him but he made sure almost every detail was taken care of and that his mom was as comfortable as possible until the end. Hospice is amazing!
So, for all you drama-lovers.....here's the bigger punchline...Doug's mom was a huge "AA" person...being sober for over 30 years, she helped others get back on track and was often referred to as "mom" by many. That is great as long as you are in the program but if you are not, you are an outsider and that's what Doug and I and his sister's family are. It's very sad because this group of people immediately began making dibs on her things....one woman even showed up just days after her passing with a truck and brought the police claiming that she was promised the entire contents of the house. We have no idea what we are going to find...or not find when we get there but we are leaving this morning and will be traveling all day. Sunday is her funeral which is a "viewing". My kids nor I have ever been to a funeral like this so this will be interesting. Then on Wednesday there will be a mass at the catholic church since his mom was catholic...again, never be to one but am curious. This trip is not a vacation but more a mission to get some things done and first and foremost to honor the memory of his mom. I am thankful that Doug's sister and her fam live close so we can visit with them and sorta break up the focus on why we are originally there and maybe have some fun. (I hope that didn't sound insensitive??) I will have my camera with me, of course, so check back for some pics of trees, not palm trees, houses that aren't stacked on top of eachother, and hopefully some fun pics of the cousins having fun and catching up! The last time we were in Cleveland as a family, Ryan was 4 and the twins were 10....wow! :-)