Hoffman Family Reunionby Angie
13 Jul 2008
12:07 pm0
We had a wonderful time at the reunion this weekend! It was for all descendants of Verne Hoffman, Sr. – grandfather of my father-in-law, Roger. It was held on Saturday at the Heritage Oak Winery, a vineyard owned and operated by Roger’s cousin, Tom Hoffman, and Tom’s wife, Carmela (we all call her Camucha). I was given the job of running the sign-in desk, where we collected contact information for everyone and let each person make their name tag. We had a great time figuring out each person’s “code number,” which we also put on the name tags, indicating their relationship all the way back to Verne Sr. My code was 1.3.5+, which means I’m Verne’s first child (Verne Jr.)’s third child (Roger)’s fifth child (Jim)’s spouse. Jim’s, of course, was 1.3.5 – all rather complicated, but very entertaining.
We ate lunch and various family members gave announcements, performed musical numbers, and told stories. After mingling and chatting some more, several of us changed into swim suits and headed down to the Mokelumne River, which runs along the boarder of Tom & Camucha’s land. We had innertubes and kayaks and took turns floating down the river beginning at the launching point and arriving at the beach area 30-40 minutes later. Huge blackberry bushes grow along the river in a couple of places, so we paddled over to eat ripe, delicious berries right off the bush several times. 
It was incredibly relaxing and fun. I absolutely loved it. At the beach area, there was a picnic table, where we set up snacks and leftovers for dinner, and then across the dirt road was a meadow where a wiffle ball game was held. We stayed until twilight finally forced us to pack up and head home.
Hoffman Family Mini-Reunionby Angie
12 Jul 2008
1:07 pm0
Since we were all getting together this weekend for the big family reunion, the Roger & Kathy family decided to meet up and have a BBQ on Friday evening. Tom & Pam Dozier were kind enough to open up their home and pool for our family’s use. 
They are good friends of the Hoffmans, from back when they all lived in Texas: Now that the Doziers are in Livermore, we get to see them all the time! Tom grilled up some delicious steaks and hot dogs, and we all swam and ate and played for hours.
Since Jason’s birthday is Sunday, we wanted to be sure to celebrate that, too, so we all had prepared movie scenes for a game that consisted of Jason guessing what movie we were portraying, despite the fact that we changed situational elements to make the lines harder to place. He won lots of candy that ended up being shared all around. Jon’s girlfriend, Michelle Piazza, came for part of the evening and met everyone; and even Kathy’s mom, Vera, flew out for a special visit, since she didn’t want to miss a gathering of so many grandchildren and great-grandchildren!
Oh, my Heart!by Angie
10 Jul 2008
9:07 am3
When I met with Dr. Murphy yesterday, he showed me a sketch of my heart anatomy so he could illustrate where the swollen patches are that they identified in the CT scans. I thought it would be fun to show you guys what a crazy-looking little Frankenstein I have. (Click on the image for a larger version.)
RA=Right Atrium
PA=Pulmonary Artery (what’s left of it)
AO=Aorta
RV=Diminutive Right Ventricle
LV=Left Ventricle (really my only one)
EF=Ejection Fracture (function, basically)
The arcs on the right of the picture are the patches. The two parallel lines to the left represent the artificial conduit they put in to take over for my right atrium (which, you can see by the black scribbles, they blocked off). The little black scribble in the upper left of the conduit was where the clot was which has now disappeard – yea! Any questions?
Stressful Testsby Angie
9 Jul 2008
7:07 pm3
Well, folks, it’s mostly good news today. I braved commuter traffic to reach Stanford at 9am for an echo, a stress test, and a clinic appointment with Dr. Murphy. The echo went fine. My function is down a little – 35% – so they’re going to keep an eye on that, but everything else looked normal. The stress test was definitely successful in stressing me out. One of the nurses commented afterwards that my heart rate only got up to 118, so I was feeling a little dejected – like I’d failed or something. When I met with Dr. Murphy, though, they brought in the results for him to look over, and he commented, “Well, I’m glad to see you’re not a faker.” I asked him how he could tell, and he said there are numbers in the results that can indicate pretty decisively whether a patient was really pushing themselves to their limit. He said I probably went “beyond the limit, in fact.” So I felt validated.
We talked about the results from my second CT Scan: The swollen patches are still there, unchanged. He intends to re-present the case to his collegues, but they’re probably just going to check them again in six months. The clotting they noticed in my artificial conduit last time is gone. That’s my favorite news, because it grants me a six month reprive from the Coumadin issue. Then we talked about adoption. He is hesitant to sign my physician form. He said he’d like to read through the paperwork and think it over. I presume he’ll let me know when he’s made a decision.
Independence Day!by Angie
4 Jul 2008
10:07 pm4
Happy Fourth of July, everyone! How wonderful it is to live in a free country! We watched the Livermore city firework display from a park a few blocks away, where we met Jon and Michelle as the sun was going down. We brought blankets and camp chairs, two decks of cards, and a frisbee. It was great! The city arranges for a couple of the local radio stations to play music that accompanies the firework display, so people can just crank up their radios wherever they are to hear all the favorite patriotic songs along with the light show. I think this is going to be a family tradition for us in the coming years.
First Adoption Interviewby Angie
3 Jul 2008
12:07 pm2
I drove up to Concord yesterday to have my personal interview with Jean – our LDS Family Services case worker. She is so spunky and darling. I love her already. Anyway, it was really fun. I was a little nervous going in, because I didn’t really know what she was going to ask or talk about, but we pretty much just chatted about life and families and the adoption process in general. We talked about the many steps ahead of us, and also about what we can start doing already to, as Jean put it, “find our birth mother.”
It was very encouraging and we’re excited to be moving forward! I meet with Dr. Murphy next week and, hopefully, will get his approval on things. After that, our next step is our home study and couple interview in August. We appreciate everyone’s prayers and support, and will keep you all posted!
“It’s a rental…”by Angie
2 Jul 2008
6:07 pm0
Our car was in bad shape, so it had to spend a couple of days in the shop. In the mean-time, we decided to rent a car for Wednesday, since I needed to get to Concord and back. With AAA, renting was a lot cheaper than we thought it would be, and Hertz gives a discount if your car is being repaired. So, I got to drive a fancy-shmancy Mazda3 for the whole day! It was light blue, like in the picture. I felt so cool – like I was on vacation or something, driving a sleek automatic with that “new car” smell. I thought it would make our car seem pathetic in comparison. When I picked up our own little Mazda 626 at the shop, though, with a new water pump and tensioners rumbling along inside, I felt happy to be driving my own car again.