The rest of the week

While we were in Arizona Blake was busily working on everything we needed to do to get to England. He got everything organized so we knew what all we needed to do when we got home. He had all the passport papers filled out for each of the kids and their birth certificated ready. Monday morning he took Alissa, Remi and Broden to get their pictures. I waited for Parker to wake up, fed him then we all met at the courthouse. We turned in all the pictures, papers and birth certificates, raised right hands and said everything on the papers was true, then signed them and paid $80 for each of them and another $25 processing fee! It was nice to get that done though.

That night we got all the kids to bed at a reasonable hour. Blake and I were just laying down and Parker woke up screaming. I tried doing a breathing treatment, but he was screaming too much and wouldn't stop. Eventually he calmed down a little bit, so I counted his breathing and it was fast again. I called the nurse advice line and they said to take him to the ER. GREAT! While I was on the phone with the nurse I got a text from my brother saying my Grandpa(papa) was being taken in an ambulance to the hospital because they thought he had a stroke. I talked to my little sister on my way to the hospital and we said we would keep eachother updated.

As soon as I walked into the hospital and gave them my info and said what was going on I knew I didn't need to be there, but once you give them your info I don't think you can just leave. Parker was alert and smiling at everyone. His color was good and his breathing was back to normal. They still got us back right away. His temperature was fine and his oxygen was 100%. Sooo, we waited and waited for the doctor to come release us. They didn't even leave the machine hooked up that kept track of the oxygen saturation. The doctor came in and talked to us and said we could go home. He told me to bring him if he got lethargic or a fever. I did notice while we were waiting for the doctor that Parker's first tooth had come in. That explains the fussiness in Arizona and that night. While I was at the hospital I got at text from Blake saying as soon as I left Broden started throwing up. Poor Blake had to clean it up. He is one of those people who also gets sick when he smells it. I think he handled it pretty good though.

So we headed home and kept in touch with my family throughout the night getting texts about Papa. He was doing ok. They did a cat scan I think and discovered he had a perforated bowel that would require a surgery to fix. Papa had in his medical paperwork stated that he didn't want any life saving procedures and the doctor didn't know if he was strong enough to handle the surgery. So They would keep him on pain medicine and keep him as comfortable as possible until he left this life. I was sad and torn. I knew it was good for Papa. My sweet mom did everything for him, but he just wasn't able to have the quality of life he once had. He was ready to be with his sweet wife again in the next life. I wanted so bad to go home and be with my family during this time, but things just wouldn't work out. Parker was still doing breathing treatments and coughing(a good thing) Remi had school and I didn't know if I could make the drive without any other adults. Blake was supportive and said I could just go with Parker, but my family reassured me I didn't need to come. Papa wasn't really conscious anymore and there wasn't going to be a funeral. So I didn't go.

Tuesday Blake got an email saying we needed to go to the base passport office and get no-fee passports for free:) What about the passports we just paid $500 for? They are for traveling, not for living in a country, so they wouldn't work. We tried to get them stopped, or changed into the other passport, but no luck. I guess we will just have to travel a lot to get our money's worth out of them. We are just accepting the fact that the military does things a little backwards sometimes. As soon as we found out we were going to England EVERYONE said we needed to get our passports. So we were right on top of it. Too bad they didn't send that email until almost 2 weeks later saying where to go and what kind to get. Maybe most people just know what kind to get. Oh well.


Thursday night Papa passed from this life. He was surrounded by his children and some of his grandchildren. I was sad and happy at the same time. I had explained to Remi and Broden that papa was very sick and was going to die. They were very accepting of this. When they would pray throughout the week it would make me cry almost every time. These are some of the things they would say in their prayers.
-Help Parker get better
-Help Alissa get better
-Help Broden get better
-Help Drew's throat get better(he got his tonsils out)
-Help Baby Gibson get better so he can go home with his mommy and daddy
-Help Papa that he can be healthy and live with Jesus and be resurrected

It was so cute and comforting to know that they knew that Papa would be resurrected. Friday morning I told Remi that papa had died she said so he is healthy again. I explained that he was. He could walk again and he was with his wife Booma. Remi remembered me going to see Booma in Arizona with Alissa when we found out Booma had a tumor in her lungs and would be passing from this life. I was surprised Remi remembered. I am so happy that we have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our life to give our children this foundation of eternal families. I love knowing that I will be with my family forever and the peace it gives me to be able to explain death to my children in a way that isn't sad, but hopeful.

Throughout the rest of the week we spent a lot of time on the phone with passport people trying to get our money back or something. Because we had sent in all the birth certificates to get the travel passports we didn't have extras for Remi and Broden to get our no fee passports. So I had to special order and rush delivery on passports from Idaho and Ohio. The Idaho one said a 1-2 day processing period then they would air mail it. So we got that one the same week. The Ohio one said a 15-30 day processing period. So if it took 30 days, then we had to do passport papers and wait 6-8 weeks for our passports, then another week for our visas, it looked like Blake would be going to England without us. I said lots of prayers that week and something worked because we got Broden's birth certificate Monday, after only 5 days!