Mom is gone

Ruth Shirley Bell passed away this evening.

At home in Mililani, her heart gave out.  Jamie was there at the time as was Dad.  She was taken to Wahiawa General Hospital by ambulance.

Three generations:  granddaughter (Jamie), daughter (Jacque) and mother (Ruth)

We arrived at the hospital ER before midnight.  Jacque went in while I waited in the car (I have an aversion to hospitals).  While waiting, I expected Jacque to come out and tell me that mom was going to be all right but would have to be admitted to the hospital for a few days.  That is what I expected.   Why?  Because mom was strong.  Mom had no obvious outward signs of being sick and even if she wasn't at the peak of health, she was far from a life-threatening state.  That is what I thought and probably what everyone thought.

Ma and honeybear

So when Jacque came out to the car where I waited, I was stunned by the news.  We hugged to comfort each other for a long time.

Dad & Mom 2009

Jason and Corren along with Riley and Zayden arrived.  Freddie was there as well.

We miss Mom dearly but look forward to seeing her again.  We have great faith in this.

Aloha, Mom!

Dustin is 24 today!

Happy Birthday, Dustin!



24 today.

Many, many more! 

Good news comes in threes!

It's been said that bad news comes in threes.  Well, today, good news came in threes.

1.  Dayle receievd his priesthood line of authority, which is like a genealogy, only in this case it is the line of priesthood holders who ordained each other.  His line includes not only Charles Longley, who ordained him but also Brigham Young, Joseph Smith, Peter, James, and John and Jesus Christ.

 2. We went hiking today with our good friend Wing Ng and (surprise!) his wife.  Yes, Wing, a longtime bachelor, is married now.  We hiked the Maelieli Trail to mark and clear it for an upcoming hike Dayle and I will lead for HTMC.

Wing and his wife

3. I completed Psych 422 (Magic, Witchcraft, and the Supernatural) at UHWO this summer (an online class). I earned an A.  This puts me four classes away from a bachelor's degree in psychology.

Movie night

Jacque, Dustin, and I went to Koolau Theater tonight to see The Sorcerer's Apprentice, starring Nicholas Cage. He's an actor we enjoy seeing and on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd rate SA a 7.5.

Bottom line: we had a fun time.

The end of Diet Soda and Aspartame

Dayle has been complaining of having dizzy spells for the past week.  This is similar to what happened to him a couple of years ago. The possible solution:  stop consuming aspartame, the sweetner used in diet sodas and "low cal" foods. 

Dayle has been drinking bucketloads of diet soda over the past fews, so that is going to stop.  Fortunately, he is okay with drinking heavily diluted skim milk (a glass of water with a splash of skim milk in it).  Yuck!  But he is perfectly fine with that.

Blood Drive, a success!

Our ward's Elders Quorum  hosted the folks from the Blood Bank of Hawaii today for a donation drive held at the Waikalua chapel in Kaneohe.

I was able to donate a pint, which is good for me because I occasionally get rejected (deferred is the term the blood bank folks use) due to higher than acceptable blood pressure.

The goal was 40 pints and though we came up short with just 34, the result was still good given that only 50 people had signed up to donate.  Usually, only half the people who sign up show up

Happy Birthday Roxy!

Today, our Rotweiller, Roxy, is one year old!

Hauoli la hanau, Roxy Sasha Turner.

A "Killer" Day

Today we went to see a movie at Ward Theaters.  It was one of those times when things just turned out.

We arrived at the theater not knowing what movies were playing and at what times.  We had movie passes but there was only one movie we could use the passes on:  Killers.

And the movie was slated to begin ten minutes from the time we arrived at the ticket counter. 

As it turned out, Killers was a fun movie.  God was watching over us!

And even when we returned home that night, God was watching over us!  Twice!  :-)

I hope we have more Killer Tuesdays!

Happy Birthday Sweetheart

Happy Birthday Honey,

You are so much of my life.  Honey, you are the wind beneath my wings. To me, you will always be that young vibrant Hawaiian warrior (prince charming) that rode in on your white surfboard (car, horse) to carry me off to grow old with you.  You are a good friend to have in my life.  I hope I'm a good friend to you in your life.

As you go throughout your day, I hop rays of God's sunlight will bless your head.  The strength of the earth will help you feel God's solid love.  The wind will be caressing your skin.  And know that God's enveloping you in his arms and letting you know how special you are.  Heavenly Father created you 52 years ago.  What a gift and miracle you are.  I hope He blesses all your senses with exuberant joy of life.  I love you, Honey and I'm so grateful that God made you just for me.  From your feet up to the top of your head, you are beautiful!

Love,

Your wife,

Jacque

New Karate Kid

I'm not big on watching a movie in a packed theater but guess what we did today?

The venue was the Mililani megaplex and the movie was the remake of Karate Kid.  Instead of Pat Morita and that skinny haole kid as teacher and pupil, the remake featured Jackie Chan and Wil Smith's son as T & P. 

This was opening day in Hawaii for the flick hence the packed house.

An enjoyable time by the Turners, despite the crowd.

Happy 6th!

Today is our 6th wedding anniversary.  Jacque bought me a new lawn mower as my present.

For Jacque, I gave her an array of gift certificates from her favorite places to shop (Macy's being one of them!)

Happy anniversary to us!

Yet another semester in the books

Its final exam week and Jacque completed a final for one her UHWO classes today.  She's nearing graduation and just needs a couple more classes to earn her BA degree in psychology.

While she was taking her final, I graded final essays and misc work submitted by my students.  When done, the Spring 2010 semester will be in the books for me, marking my 20th year here at LCC.  Wow, where has time gone.  Not sure how many more years I'l continue to teach.  I'll be 52 in a month, so I figure I can work for another ten years, as long the brain cells can continue to fire enough synapses to help me remember where and when to use commas, where my office is, and so forth.

Later in the afternoon, we went to see the new Ironman movie at Mililani Theater.  Good flick.

Then we picked up Roxy from Mom & Dad's in Mililani, then home.  

Jacque is being bothered by pain in her shoulder.  She thinks it may be her rotator cuff.  Another operation? 

I'm praying for you, sweetheart.  God Bless!