well, it is the end of another fine weekend. Actually, I worked this weekend, but only for about 6 hours. It really wasn't too bad. Somehow, though, the weekends disappear quicker than clean air in Salt Lake City.

My friends Richard and Josh and I were able to get out and see a show this weekend. We saw Yonder Mountain String Band play in downtown SLC at a place called Port O' Call. It was a later show, but the venue was nice, and the music was kicking. I went on the recommendation of my little sis and I was not disappointed at all. From the beginning we could tell that it was going to be a rollicking good time. We were all impressed with the mandolin and guitar and had a great time. The first set lasted a little over an hour and a half, and we were into the second song on the second set when we had to leave to catch the train home. Otherwise it could have been a very late night. I suggest that if you ever get the chance you should go see this band. Psychedelic bluegrass, indeed. And there was a funny smell in the air...reminded me of Eugene...

So the kids had a healthy week. Everyone had a relatively good week, actually. Shirley had a great couple of days in a row (she has a sort of achievement chart that we keep track of) and the boys didn't vomit or have to go the hospital at all. They are actually getting funnier, I think. They often make us laugh with their antics or just the little things that they do. It is fun, for sure, even with all the work. It is amazing how I can be dog tired and cranky, but the kids can make me feel good just by being themselves.

On a sad note, I found out a couple of weeks ago that my cousin has leukemia. She was flown down to Seattle from Anchorage and has remained there since. It has been hard on the extended family, and extremely difficult on her children. I have since heard from my mom that she is not improving from her present condition in recent days, which is not a good thing. She is not doing well at all, and it is difficult to think of her in her present state. So I will remember some things about cousin Vicki: My first experience of a donut was in my grandparents' car as she spun a few of us cousins around and around at the lot by our grandparents' house. Her laugh is boisterous, to say the least, and when she smiles, her cheeks plump up much in the way a cartoon character's would. As she is older than me by several years, I remember her pumping disco tunes out of the old hi-fi that took up half the living room at our grandparents' house. She is the one who introduced me to Kool and the Gang. . .thank you for that, Vicki. And though many years passed in between where we lived in different places and didn't see each other much, my most recent thoughts about her were of when we were in Colombia picking up our kids and we received a couple of emails from her. The words were more or less scattered thoughts, jumbled into sentences and very tangential, but they were words of love. They were uplifting words to Janine and me as we were in a strange and beautiful country far from family and friends. She read our blogs faithfully and kept us informed of her own family, which was a welcome thing as we needed to hear about other people and other things than what was going on in our own lives at that time. Her words exuded excitement and encouragement, things we needed and continue to need in our journey. I don't think she is able to read right now, but if she were able to I would just like to thank her for her loving words and to offer our own as well as our prayers for her and her family. We love you, Vicki.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well,
with my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.