Katie High School Graduation June 10, 2010!

During the month of May, it was unimaginable that Katie was finishing up her high school career. She attended Saratoga High School in Saratoga, CA. What I remember in a nutshell about Katie's time in high school, is her passion for art, her many hours of practice for Color Guard, singing in the Women's choir, and her determination to "get through" those years as she was challenged with health issues.

The greatest health challenge Katie had was diagnosing her Hashimotos Disease that involves the thyroid. She was tired all the time and fatigued after a long weekend of competition with the band/color guard. She had numerous blood tests, sonograms, xrays, and even a very painful biopsy procedure on her throat. The biopsy was the most difficult, as they did not use any pain relief while poking her throat with a needle into nodules in her thyroid for sample tissue. I cried as I held her hand, tight, while she was lying on the table enduring. She was very brave. Tears flooded her eyes and ran down the sides of her face.

Finally, the diagnosis was made and Katie is now on thyroid medicine, probably for the rest of her life. She still gets tired. However, Katie pushes through and reaches the next step in front of her.

In April, Katie traveled to Long Beach for a choir festival. I was able to go as a chaperone and had a great time with the group. I especially enjoyed some time with Katie. She and I like to ride the rides, especially the Thunder Mountain ride! There was a end of year concert for choirs, and also they sang at a Memorial Day ceremony.

The Saratoga High 2010 graduation was really nice. Perfect weather, not too long, and happy! I was proud to watch Katie walk across the platform and receive her congratulations! Katie is a beautiful girl and she is a wonderful daughter. After the grad ceremony, the parents provided an all night Grad Night Party for the kids. I helped a bit with decorations, then I worked at the party from 8:30pm-2:00am. She had a good time!

Katie will be off to attend University of Utah in the fall. She has an undecided major now, but would like to pursue art.

Time to Catch Up!!!

There has been so much going on these past few weeks! I have put aside some time today to catch up on what has been keeping our family busy. There have been three additional graduations, Girls Camp, Zions Camp, getting ready for Scout Camp, just to mention a few.

More Fondant Cakes

I was loading one of my recent SD cards from my camera and found these cakes that Sarah, Katie, and Jonathan made for the Youth Spaghetti Dinner in April. Sarah actually baked the cakes at Piece of Cake bakery, and they took two afternoons to finish their creations! They each sold for a pretty penny! It was a fundraiser!

Katie made a flower cake

Jonathan's cake was a deserted island

Sarah made a bath-time, rubber ducky cake

Memorial Day, 2010

Today is Memorial Day and it is a peaceful and beautiful day! As per tradition, there was the Memorial Day Services put on by the Saratoga Foothill Club at the Madronia Cemetery this morning. I could only get Katie to go with me this morning. Although, she needed to be there anyway to sing in the choir. As usual, it was a lovely service. The cemetery has this section in the middle of the property, where chairs are set up and you are under these huge, beautiful magnolia trees. There were some blossoms on the trees today. I remember one year when it had rained alot the day before. The blossoms would occasionally tip with the weight of the water in them and pour water down on an unsuspecting person. It happened to me once. That is when i discovered that those trees usually have blossoms at the end of May.

Since Katie had to be there early to warm up with the choir, I took a walk around looking at headstones. I particularly stopped to read those that had American Flags. The cemetery marks the stones of those who were Veterans. I found one today that was a Brigadier General and served in the wars of WWI, WWII, and the Korean war. That is many years dedicated to serving in the military.

Today, I have felt a real sense of gratitude for the freedom of this country that we live in. I can't even imagine what it would be like to have a son, or other member of the family, in Iraq or Afganistan right now. Even harder to imagine, is losing a loved one. I'm glad that this day is set aside for us to not just barbecue, but to honor those who serve the United States of America.

I was looking through the photos that are stashed in my iPhoto to find a photo of a flag. This photo below, is the only patriotic photo I have. Sure, I could go online and download a flag and paste it here. However, this one of Scott's dad, Max Wheelwright, gives me a kick! This was taken while he was in assisted living. They had loads of activities for these residents, and on one July 4th, someone came in with a motorcycle and had pictures taken. I understand that Max was the first to volunteer. Also appropriate, Max was a war veteran. He served in the Navy as a photographer. I thank all soldiers, past and present, for my freedom.

Now, Tropical Storm Agatha

A couple of days ago, I thought that Scott would just be delayed a couple of days while they cleaned up the ash at the airport from the volcano eruption. Now today, I received an email from him that they may take a bus to San Salvador on Tuesday and take a flight home, through LAX, to SFO on Wednesday. It's possible that he may be home on Wed. I can only hope so.

The first tropical storm of the season landed in Guatemala on Saturday. It's name is Agatha. The torrential rains was making it difficult to clean up the ash. After searching online for any updated news, I found photos of much flooding and great mud slides. I can't even imagine what these people are going through. I also wonder what Scott and the rest of the Rotaplast team are dealing with. I hope and pray for their safe return home. Here are a couple of photos of what is going on down there.

Volcano Eruption in Guatemala

Well, what a difference a day can make. I was expecting to have Scott come home tonight, however, the Pacaya volcano eruption has closed the airport. At this point, I'm not sure when he will fly home.

The Pacay volcano is about 15 miles south of Guatemala City. On Thursday night, the volcano started to spew and sent ash out over quite an area. The report was 3 inches of ash. Here is a photo of an American Airlines plane parked on the tarmac with ash on the top.

I got a message from Scott this morning that his flight would be delayed. But, of course, looks like the airport will remain closed until about Sunday. I spoke with a Rotaplast person this afternoon and she said they were working on getting new flight reservations for everyone. For those desperate to get home, they may bus them to El Salvador to fly out there.

I have heard that they are taking the Rotaplast team to a hotel near Guatemala City to stay until the airport opens and they start flying planes again. The location of the Rotaplast mission was a 4 hour bus ride from Guatemala City. Maybe the team can find something relaxing to do while they wait.

I can't imagine waking up to a sight like this:

There will be many hours of clean up work.

Scott in Guatemala

For over a week now, Scott has been in Retalhuleu, Guatemala working as a volunteer for Rotaplast. Rotaplast is supported by Rotary Club International. Rotaplast sends groups of volunteers out to do surgery on children with cleft lip or cleft palate. This work takes place all over the world. Clinic's are also held in Mexico, Brazil, China, Philippines, Egypt, and many other countries. This is Scott's second trip to Guatemala. Last time he was in Guatemala City. These volunteers work very long hours and improve the lives of these children, and their families, as they restore dignity to the child's facial features. Many are bullied at school, therefore, stop going. Some have many siblings that will teach them at home. The Guatemalan people are so very grateful for this wonderful gift. They say it is a gift from God.

Here are some photos that I have taken off the Rotaplast blog.

This is the first day of interviewing the families and getting health information. Not all children are taken for doing the surgery. Some are sent home. If they are sick, or have other reasons, they will have to wait for the next time.

This is the non-medical staff. Scott's job is to recover and count the instruments used. Get the tools cleaned and sterilized for the next surgery.

Here is Scott with some medical staff; a few of the doctors and nurses. I believe there are about 26 medical and non-medical volunteers working on this mission. This includes, surgeons, dentists, nurses, record keepers, translators, and others.

The staff had Sunday off and traveled to see an archaeological site. A well deserved break!

The rest of the photos are a few of the children and their families. Some children were brought by mom and/or dad, grandmothers. One family had two daughters that needed help. Many traveled by foot or bus. For some, it took 15 or so hours to get there.