HAPPY NEW YEAR

2012

We are praying for a really GOOD year and lots of miracles!

The Bagpipers played eat the Brunswick Square Corner Park ringing in the new year.

 Wayne was asked to give the prayer for the little ceremony.

HAPPY NEW YEAR.......

CHRISTMAS DAY

2011

We had our Sacrament Meeting Only at 11:00 a.m.  One of the gifts we got from S & E was a cell phone holder for our car.  Steven helped 'install' it after church so we could put it to use.  It is very nice to have.

On Monday, December 26th we had a 'surprise' visit from some old friends......Joe and June Storer.  They were up from Florida visiting June's father, Mack Robertson and his wife Shirley who live in Charlestown, West Virginia.  It was good to catch up with them and their family.

December 27th Wayne and I celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary.  We decided to spend the day in Baltimore.  We started out by going to Fort McHenry where the Star Spangled Banner (our National Anthem) was written by Francis Scott Key as the War of 1812 was being fought off shore!   It was a dreary day but it was goo to be there.

Wayne got to help a scout troop fold the flag as it was being changed out.

 From Fort McHenry it was on to the HIPPODROME THEATER to see LION KING.

 This was an amazing production.  We would love to see this one again.

 After the theater we went to Inner Harbor to Phillips for dinner......we were kind of in the mood for some good crab cakes.

 Wayne told the waiter that we were celebrating our anniversary.  Look how they brought our dessert to us......that was so sweet of them to add candles.

HERE IS WHERE THE STORY GETS CHALLENGING. 

 Don't know even how to get into the whole story but I will attempt.

Jonathan had not been feeling well for a couple of months.  He finally said something about his not feeling well to Wayne.  As they talked about his symptoms they just didn't quite fit together.  That is when the story got interesting.  Wayne asked Dr. Ho to see Jonathan......and here we go......

While at the theater Wayne got a phone call from Hing (one of his medical practice partners).  She had seen Jonathan in the office that day.  She was quite concerned about his health.  She wanted to send him over the next morning for a CT Scan.  The next day, Wednesday, December 28th was Kevin's birthday.....Kevin being our 4th oldest child.  We had already planned to have dinner at Bonefish Grill with Jonathan and Tina and Steven and Elinn.....kind of celebrating K's birthday without him since he and Lauren and their children were in Arizona visiting Becky and David and their family for the holidays.

On Wednesday afternoon we got another phone call from Hing.  Could Wayne and I meet Hing and Dr. Kosoff at the Jefferson Office at 4:30 p.m.?  Well, of course we could.  We knew it didn't sound like good news at all.  Dr. Kosoff was the one who had done the CT Scan in the morning.  He had gotten the preliminary results of the scan and wanted to be with us when we heard what the results were.

4:30 p.m. on Wednesday.....we will never be the same!  We found out that Jonathan has stage 4 colorectal cancer and metastases to the liver.  This did not sound good at all.  Dr. Kosoff encouraged us to have all 5 of our other children tested for colon cancer ASAP!  Jonathan is only 42 years old and very young to have this.  And in excellent health otherwise.  He has youth and that good health going for him!  We need everything we can have at this point.

Thursday, December 29th we were in Dr. Oh's oncology office and spent 2 hours with him about what the 'plan' would be for Jonathan and his treatments to come.  We were told that the doctors would be aggressive.....which is exactly what we wanted.  We really have no time to go at a slow pace.  We needed every single day to try and get on top of this.

By the time we left Dr. Oh's office we have a myriad of appointments and further testing scheduled for the first week of January, 2012.  The schedule goes something like this:

Monday, January 2nd......liver biopsy at Frederick Memorial Hospital at 6:00 a.m.

Tuesday, January 3rd.......MRI

Wednesday, January 4th.......Colonoscopy by Dr. Kosoff

Thursday, January 5th......meeting with Dr. Oh in the morning followed by a meeting with Dr. Brand (he will be doing the 'port' surgery), followed by the PET Scan,  followed by a visit to Dr. Kosoff for the results of the colonoscopy.

Friday, January 6th......hopefully we will be able to get the 'port' surgery scheduled for this day.

Monday, January 9th.....1st chemo treatment.

This is a miracle in and of itself to be able to get so very many appointments scheduled in such a short time.  I believe Dr. Oh stated it very well in a very quiet voice that I think I might have been the only one to hear what he said.  As we were checking out with the receptionist at his office Tina commented that things had gone 'so fast' and so many appointments scheduled.  Dr. Oh very quietly said "We would do anything for Dr. Allgaier and his family....he is my hero"!!  That speaks so highly of Wayne and how the medical community thought of his as a physician.   

We believe in MIRACLES and TENDER MERCIES.  We have seen those already in the past 3 days that we have been on this 'whirlwind'!  Things like:

*  The timing of the diagnosis of his cancer...after Christmas so they could enjoy the holiday together as a family.

*  The fact that the kids did not have to go to school right away so they could adjust to how 'things' are going to be for the next while with their dad being so sick from the chemo treatments, etc.

*  The fact that ALL of the doctors were able to see Jonathan so very quickly and wasted NO TIME whatsoever in getting anything done for him and to be on top of this situation.

What Jonathan has is very serious and potentially life-threatening.  BUT there again, we believe in MIRACLES.  As we fast together as a family (and many friends have requested to join us in this fast) this Sunday, January 1st, 2012 we plead with our Father in Heaven for yet one more miracle....that Jonathan will get better and be able to continue his life here on earth with his wife and children and to see them grow to maturity.  That he will be able to be there for them for many, many years to come.  If this is His plan, we would be so grateful and willingly accept it.  If He has other plans, we know we will have to accept that as well.  

WE BELIEVE IN MIRACLES!!  We need a miracle!!

As we were driving to the temple to work on our shift this morning, there was such a beautiful sunrise.  It seemed to me to be one of hope because it was so pretty.  Hope in what Heavenly Father has in store for us in the next coming months.

ALL of our other children have rallied around Jonathan and Tina and their family during the course of the past few days.  This has been so heartwarming to experience.  We have such a wonderful family....and we are grateful we are an eternal family ...... so very grateful for that knowledge.

David and Andy arranged (somehow!) for the BLUE TRUCK to deliver Jonathan's favorite ribs to their home for him.  They surely looked great and Jonathan enjoyed every bite of them.....and so did Kristyn and Garrett and Tyler and Spencer and Tina.

We are grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and grateful for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation.  I don't know how other people can manage without that knowledge.  We are so grateful we have that.

CHRISTMAS EVE

2011

We started the nice relaxing day off by heading up to the VINDABONA NURSING HOME to visit with the resident there and give them a ribbon-tied banana.  All of them can eat bananas.....so that is the choice!

 What a sweet, SWEET gal this lady is....one of Wayne's old patients and she still remembered him!!  She seemed thrilled to see him again!

 And then there was Sam.....in the Vindabona for rehab after some surgery.  He is soooo anxious to go home.  Can't blame him!

 From the Vindabona it was on to the theater to see HUGO.  But, we stopped and had some lunch at this place first....yup....CHIC-FIL-A!!!  Oh my that peppermint shake we shared was sooo good!  Cute little SANTA COW showing off in the front of the store.

 HUGO in 3-D.  NO, we were not the only ones in the theater.  Just the first ones.  It was a good movie.  We enjoyed it very much.....

Now to relax the rest of the evening and just enjoy being home!  LOVE IT........

DECEMBER 23RD

ALMOST CHRISTMAS!

In the post today we got a little package from Veli ja Sisar Peciulius from Lithuania!!!  What a wonderful pleasant surprise we had not expected.  They are soooo sweet to do this.  We loved working along side of them in the Helsinki Finland Temple as full-time missionaries.

THE TRADITIONAL HILL PARTY a day early this year.  The kids wanted to have it on Friday the 23rd instead of Saturday the 24th....easier to get kids to bed and ready for church on Sunday the 25th.  Great idea.  Aunt Eva went with us this year.  She is 94 now and feeling her age....harder for her to get around.  But she did well....bless her little heart!

 Jonathan took the panoramic view as we were singing CHRISTMAS SONGS around the piano...just before the TALENT SHOW and dessert being served (that being ice cream of course).

3 of the girls decided to play 'dress up' with their high heels!  They were so cute.

Wayne took, and wore, his Finnish socks to keep his feet warm.  Kyllikki made them for him.

A little 'group' shot with Aunt Eva and Tim, Sam and Matthew.

What a very, very evening......and the tradition carries on......60-something years now!!

CHRISTMAS VACATION BEGINS....

Our NCFA office is basically working from home the next day or so before Christmas and then all next week as well.  That means we get a P-WEEK!!!  WE ARE SO LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT.  We haven't really had much of a break since returning from Finland last April.

We started the day off by Wayne making RIISI-PUURO (most closely related to the American version of Cream of Wheat).  We really, really like this BUT you do have to constantly watch it and stir it....OOPS....

 Wayne got distracted by reading a paper while he was stirring and didn't catch the fact that it was boiling over quickly enough!!  And the result was......burnt and scorched milk on my new counter-top stove.  He worked really, really hard to get it all cleaned up.  And the Riisi Puuro was good too....Poor guy!

 I ran errands most of the day that I have been needing to do....Christmas shopping, grocery shopping, drop off at Goodwill, etc.

Lo and behold.....we got a phone call this evening from our hairdresser!  Diane is the best in the world.  And look what she made us for Christmas....

RED VELVET CAKE!!!

She makes the absolute BEST in the world.....and all from scratch.  KIITOS PALJON DIANE!

HAUSKAA JOULUA

Merry Christmas

Our Office Staff Christmas party was on Tuesday.  It was 'PHOTO TIME'......everyone dressed in their Christmas best.....

First the 'formal picture'.....

L to R....Stacey, Bekah, Vicki (me), Wayne, Chuck, President & CEO), Megan, Adria, Janelle and Lauren.  A pretty good looking group I would say, don't ya think so!

And then the 'Cray Picture'.....yup, just do whatever you want to do.  And we all did!

Fun picture....and fun afternoon!!

DECEMBER 18TH, 2009....

2 YEARS AGO TODAY!!!

My sweet 'Hooter-Tooter' passed away while we were in Finland.  We loved her.  She was my mother's dog until my mother passed away on December 3, 1999.  Punkin was then passed on to Wayne and I.  How I loved her.  It was very, very hard to leave for our mission knowing that I would probably not see her again in this life.

The kids (Jonathan, Tina, Tyler, Spencer, Garrett, Kristyn, Steven, Elinn, Tim, Sam, Audrey, Emma and Matthew gave her a 'proper' burial in our backyard.....that is where I wanted her buried.

A very nice program was even typed up for the funeral.

It made me so happy to see what the kids did for her knowing I would want that.

They all gathered in our sunroom to have the funeral service.....even Madi was there.

After the funeral Madi was off to her 'temporary' new home...until we got home from our mission.  Kiitos Paljon Jonathan, Tina, Tyler, Spencer, Garrett and Kristyn.

Here is everyone around the gravesite.

 The timing was absolutely amazing.  The burial was on a Friday night.  The very next day there was about a foot of snow.  

 I asked that Punkin's banner be flown for a while in her honor.  Indeed it was....

Just had to include one picture of where Punkin liked to sleep the most.......yep.....on our bed.

We love you Punkin.....can't wait to see you again some day!  :-)