Angie & Jim

A Quiet Sabbathby Jim

Today was a nice quiet sabbath.  This morning Mom was sitting on the couch with her eyes closed and Dad and Jon were having a conversation about parenting.  Both of them thought Mom was asleep, but at one point in the conversation, when Dad said something about some particular point of parenting, Mom emphatically nodded her head in agreement.  Never underestimate the attentiveness of a mother.

After lunch, Mom had a nice long nap on the couch.  She was really sleepy at lunch, so it didn’t surprise us much that she slept for a couple of hours.  She seems to be sleeping more lately.  Mom woke up rather suddenly (on her own) and gave Angie a smile, who had just looked over at her.  We sat her up and sang a sacrament hymn and then administered the sacrament.  Afterwards, we sang a few more of Mom’s favorite hymns (she likes them all, so we can sing just about anything we know and it is one of her favorites).  After the singing, we took Mom out to the backyard to sit in the sunny, beautiful 71° weather.  There was a slight breeze which felt heavenly.  I read a bit to Mom from the book she made for us a couple years ago.  What a great testament of her love to her family is contained in that book.

For dinner, Angie roasted a delicious lamb that she found in the freezer.  When Angie first suggested it to Dad, he said he loved the idea, but only if we “had a full jar of mint jelly on hand.”  They had to dig around a bit, but huzzah, we found one!  She also made mashed potatoes and Mom’s glazed carrots.  Yum.

After dinner, we watched a documentary on the Polynesian Cultural Center that aired on BYU TV back in 2005.  It’s really neat, so if you’ve got some time, you ought to watch it.  Mom has always had a very special place in her heart for Hawai’i.  Before bed, Mom got a massage from Aunt Carol and then we tucked her in and sang to her for about half an hour.  Dad joined us and we all knelt and said a family prayer before saying goodnight to Mom.

I’d like to share a thought I had last week as we flew into Atlanta.  Each day Mom gets a little worse.  She’ll speak less, or eat more slowly, or be less responsive.  I knew it would be like this before coming out here to help, and it scared me to have to face that every day.  But then I had a Pres. Uchtdorf moment and I thought of an airplane analogy.  I thought that this experience is like trying to land a plane.  There are certain things you have to do to land a plane safely like slowing down and lowering the flaps and the landing gear.  Our job right now is to help Mom be as comfortable as possible and surround her with love and support so she can come in and land smoothly.  Thinking about that has given me strength during these last several days.

BYU TV special on the PCC: Beyond the Dream