Rainey, Spring 2005

Las tres amigas, Cancun, June 2006:  Kim, Toni, Rainey

I did not get to blog yesterday because I was a mite busy.  19 years ago yesterday morning, my life changed completely when I saw the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my life.  Lorena was beautiful, so beautiful that I had asked her to be my wife several years before, but this new girl was absolutely stunning in her beauty.  What was so wonderful about meeting this new girl, though, was that I got to hug and kiss Lorena as we admired the beauty of this new girl, and Lorena absolutely beamed as I hugged and kissed the new love of my life.  And, yes, it was definitely love at first sight...

It was snowing the morning of 21 March, 1987,  when I took Lorena to the 97th General Hospital in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.  We had been to the 97th a few times already, so we were both tired, but Lorena assured me that this time was definitely the real one, so I called for a sub at school and traipsed back to the hospital with Lorena.  There she delivered an angel that we named Lorraine Michelle Thomas.

It wasn't a real easy birth, and Lorena chafed the restrictions of the military hospital where she was treated as if she were [A] a service member (or, [B], worse, the wife of a service member.)  She was expected to get up, make her bed, eat in the mess hall, and take Rainey to the bathroom with her to shower, etc.  Lorena had lost quite a bit of blood so she was exhausted, and she quite quickly assured her caregivers that she was neither A nor B.  [See???  Si!!!!]  After her tirade (echoed then in my tirade), life became much easier for her.

Bud and Patty Olmsted were Rainey's first visitors, taking her a Teddy Bear and a Polaroid camera for her first modeling shoot.  Herb and Marion Wooten quickly followed, bearing another Teddy Bear and a ton of motherly advice.  Lupita Naupol (close friend and niece of Mexican ex-Presidente Miguel de la Madrid) was a regular at the hospital, as were several of Lorena's other friends and my colleagues. 

It was definitely a learning experience combining new parenthood with cultural differences.  Lorena's first food or drink after the birth was Malzbier (malt beer -- a minimal alcohol beer celebrated for its nutritional value.  Yes, we were definitely in Germany.)  I had only known chamomile tea from Beatrice Potter books because Peter Rabbit's mother was a disciple of it, but soon I was an expert of it both as a beverage and as a Sitzbath liquid.  I soon had a Master's degree in Tea-ology which served me well since my kingdom had become a Tea-ocratic society.  It seemed I constantly brewed for my brood: manzanillo, peppermint, fennel, lemon grass, you name it.  Vigilantly checking to see that our cupboards remained well-stocked, I quickly became a Tea-totaler.

Little lily-livered Lorraine was definitely yellow.  (Actually she was not handling her bilirubin well, suffering from  neonatal hyperbilirubinaemia, where the newborn's liver is not able to properly conjugate the bilirubin (see jaundice).  [Therefore, I am not exaggerating when I accuse her of looking early on at the world through a jaundiced eye...])  UV light breaks down bilirubin, though, so as a result, I had the indescribable pleasure of holding a naked little brat in my lap as we lolled in the sunlight streaming in through our double-paned windows that separated us from the frigid outdoors.  Those really were halcyon days.

Technically, Rainey could not legally be registered as a German citizen, but one of the first things that Lorena did was go to the Rathaus in Frankfurt and register her birth on the official German roll "just in case."  When Rainey was just a few days old, we lugged her to the U. S. consulate in Frankfurt, where I held her slouched over for her first U.S. passport.

Rainey's first passport photo...

Rainey and Lorena in happier times...

Just a couple of weeks later, she took her first international trip as we drove to and through the Netherlands with Socorro and Javier Almeria [Mexican Consul to Germany] and their daughters Christina and Margarita.

I still get to tease Lorena quite a bit for those early days.  She was not a happy camper, and she had colic quite often so that I quickly became sleep deprived.  However, I still had to get up and go to school each morning.  Finally, I grew so desperate for sleep that I slept out on our 9th floor balcony in my sleeping bag -- in the snow...

Last night we had a wonderful little get-together for Rainey's birthday.  We ended up calling Lorena separately, but Rainey said that Lorena was very quiet during their conversation other than crying quite a bit.  When the rest of us had a chanced to talk to her, she was very subdued, again crying quite often because she cannot talk to Rainey and I know she desperately wants to do so.  There was some laughter from Lorena, but her dearth of laughter yesterday was more than compensated by the antics of my three clowns at Rainey's party.

Lorena, we need you back.  We need you to keep us sane and halfway civilized.  We need to be able to hold you and to thank you for making this family what it is.  We need to be a real family again.  We need to laugh with you at all your little comediennes.  We need you to help us sing "Happy Birthday" and "Las Mañanitas" to Rainey.  We need you to see how beautiful and wonderful your daughters are.  We need to grow up -- and old -- with you.  We need you.  And we love you...

Jon (and Katy), and my other U.S. Navy folks:  Thank you for your service!!!!  I am proud of you!!!!

For the first time in years, the girls got to have a real spring break this year because we did not have funds to go to Mexico to see Lorena.  They had a wonderful time, even as I missed them -- and had several soul-searching times when it seemed that they did not miss me at all.  But then they came home last night to big hugs all around and an abundance of stories.  Lya had my school lunch packed last night, and she fussed over me like a mother hen this morning to be sure that I did not leave it at home.

Lunchtime came, and I opened my lunch to find the following note:  "Daddy, have a 'Great!' DAY!!!  I love you very much and I missed you very much!  Come home ASAP!  We need to to to sleep early.  bye Love, Lya  (P.S. eat the applesause, then bring home the spoon)  [She had put me a pint of applesause in a jar and sent it with a spoon from our silverware.  I guess she thinks she has a nincompoop for a father who does not know enough not to throw out silverware.]

Needless to say, the lunch and the note put a smile on my face that I have not been able to erase all evening.  Lorena, you need to be here to see this and soak up some of this loving.  I couldn't do without my girls...

Just an FYI (and, no, it is not all one world...)

Afghan Man Faces Death for Allegedly Converting to Christianity

Sunday, March 19, 2006 KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan man who allegedly converted from Islam to Christianity is being prosecuted in a Kabul court and could be sentenced to death, a judge said Sunday. The defendant, Abdul Rahman, was arrested last month after his family went to the police and accused him of becoming a Christian, Judge Ansarullah Mawlavezada told the Associated Press in an interview. Such a conversion would violate the country's Islamic laws. Rahman, who is believed to be 41, was charged with rejecting Islam when his trial started last week, the judge said. During the hearing, the defendant allegedly confessed that he converted from Islam to Christianity 16 years ago when he was 25 and working as a medical aid worker for Afghan refugees in neighboring Pakistan, Mawlavezada said. Afghanistan's constitution is based on Shariah law, which states that any Muslim who rejects their religion should be sentenced to death. "We are not against any particular religion in the world. But in Afghanistan, this sort of thing is against the law," the judge said. "It is an attack on Islam. ... The prosecutor is asking for the death penalty." The prosecutor, Abdul Wasi, said the case was the first of its kind in Afghanistan. He said that he had offered to drop the charges if Rahman changed his religion back to Islam, but the defendant refused. Mawlavezada said he would rule on the case within two months. Afghanistan is a deeply conservative society and 99 percent of its 28 million people are Muslim. The rest are mainly Hindus.

I just received the following email from Pam Baker, and I would urge you to cut and paste and send it on.  My mother died of breast cancer, and my sisters are at risk, which is a shame because this is a disease that we should eliminate.

We just got off the phone with Lorena -- and it was a WONDERFUL conversation.  Jorge answered the phone and transferred our call to the main house where Lupita got us immediately in to talk to Lorena.  She was in very good spirits, and we had some really good laughs.  Kacy and Tyra, she really enjoyed your news, and was especially joyful when I mentioned Patrice Trickey becoming a grandma!!!  (Tyra will be a wonderfu Mommy, and Patrice will give new meaning to the word "spoiled" for this grandbaby...  Congrats to all of you... 

We had a great visit from Dorothy Thomas and Hilda Foster last week.  They were up in this neck of the woods and had run by Steve's for an adjustment.  Then they went by Bluejay to see Dena and Craig -- except that they have not lived there for several years now, so I ran them over to Diane and Phil's place, Steve and Julie's (where Steve fed us lunch) and then over to Dena and Craig's house where we all had a nice visit.  Dorothy and Hilda are both looking well, and Hill is having the rest of a basal cell carcinoma removed from his face.  (His doctor had removed it, but the lab results said that all of it had not been excised, so hopefully they got it all the second time.)  They and Dena even kicked the idea around of a reunion sometime this summer.

Jerome and Ruth Smith tried to get us down to the Holder area over the break, but we were just too busy.  They sound great, and had the boys down, so they wanted us to come out for some fishing and some wiener roasting (which I almost cried declining...)  We sure do miss them -- and it has been ages since we have been down there.  There house was Lorena's other home here in Texas, and she really does look upon them as family as close as her own.  Thomas Smith is now living in Palo Duro Canyon outside Amarillo where he is an ER doctor.  We had been concerned about him and his family with the wild fires out in that part of the country, but they are well, with the fires all well to the east of them.

The girls are all well, as am I.  It is nice to be back in the blogging business and trying to catch everyone back up.  I really needed this break because life really gets me down sometimes now, but this has been wonderful.

Be sure to check out the following link.  You will benefit from it -- as I did.  http://wandascountryhome.com/interview/

Kacy Chandler update dated March 11:  

Michael and the girls here in Stephenville.  We are alive!!!!  I will post again tomorrow, but we are well, just running circles and trying frantically to get spring break tied up, taxes taken care of, grades done, and the umpteen other things that seem to monopolize all my time.  Lorena had not new information to report -- when we have gotten through to her (which seems harder and harder to do this week.)  She is happy, though, and that is the best news of all.  Thank you all for your support.

Michael and the girls here in Stephenville.  We are alive!!!  (And well!!!)  Lya recuperated by the end of school Friday (just in time for me to tease her mercilessly about the timing of her phenomenal recovery.  Needless to say, she vehemently denied any ulterior motivations in retreating from the brink of death to manic marvellings of, "Dad!  I feel great!!!")  Anyway, she has been frantically catching up on her social agenda and recouping on her play time with Megan, Meagan, Allison, and Molly.  She has not spent the night here at home since Friday, and I am not sure she has spent two nights in the same house yet.  She is something else.

Stephanie is sewing dresses with Joey's mother today -- and having a ball.  She is really excited about it, and now I understand that she wants to sew dresses for Lya and Rainey.  I will flatly put my foot down, though, and refuse to wear any dress she sews for me...

Rainey has gone to Austin, San Antonio, and Fredricksburg with Kim Svien, Amy Beck, and one or two of her other buds.  She called yesterday, and they are doing fine.

Lorena has been great the last couple of times we have called, really upbeat and very positive.  Unfortunately, the last few days, we have not been able to get through to her, either because we get no international connection, because of technical problems there in Mexico, or because we simply get no answer when it rings there at the house.  They have not contacted us, though, so we must assume that all is well with Lorena and her dad.

My past few days have been filled with sewer stoppages.  I was definitely in over my head a few times, but fortunately I was able to keep my head above water.  I finally rented a big electric snake to cut the roots out of my drain and then to scour the other lines around here -- and then to clear Duane Godwin's drain (which coincidentally happened to overflow simultaneously with mine.)  Now that it is all over, I am definitely pooped, and I feel drained, but I am definitely flushed with success -- repeatedly!!!!

We will try to call Lorena again tonight....

I tried not to dwell on it today, but this is now year 3 ALS [After Lorena's Stroke].  We entered our third year this morning.  Our lives have changed immensely and traumatically, none more so than Lorena's.  She was always busy, always working, always studying, always helping others, always keeping house and home and family together and cared for, always being a friend, always living life to the fullest.  Then she stopped, and she nearly died.  She became a physiologically correct doll, who, except for the times that spasms would rack her body and contort her into bizarre and torturous shapes, would lie in the position she was placed, would be dressed, fed, bathed, and toileted at the whim of others.  Her life became a series of tedius rituals which all too often passed by without her ever seeing the sun and with her VERY seldomly being outdoors.

I am amazed at her progress.  She should be dead.  She should, by all rights, be vegetative.  She should be a depressed, crying, suicidal basket case.  But she isn't.  She is alive, laughing, planning for a future of which she is an active part, caring for her family and friends, working hard to regain what she has lost.  Her miracle continues.  To God be the glory!!!!  Thank you all!!!

Michael in Stephenville.  We have been running hard and fast at home and at school.  Lya has not gone to school all week because if her illness.  Yesterday, we took her to the doctor who diagnosed her with "the Stephenville crud," a virus that apparently is wreaking havoc in Stephenville and the surrounding area, characterized by a pretty persistent fever that tends to spike in the evening and night (so that Lya often wakes me up in the middle of the night complaining of headache, etc., and gets stuffed full of Tylenol in return.)  Needless to say, we have not been getting much sleep.  Yesterday, she called me at school and was talking to me when she began crying, saying, "Daddy, I wish I was at school.  It is so much more fun than being sick at home alone.  But I REALLY don't want to be sick over spring break [next week]."  At this point she really began crying hard.  The doctor prescribed an antibiotic for her yesterday (for $70!!!) that hopefully will get her back on her feet quickly.

We called Lorena yesterday, and she was sounding great.  Alma took the call, and Lorena's nurse Rosalba served as moderator for the call.  Lorena was cheerful and upbeat, and we had many good laughs.  She did not cry even once, which was wonderful.  Hopefully, she will continue to improve and our communications will become easier.  We are all anxiously awaiting the day that she will talk again.

I saw Grace Schouten the other day, and she said that Bill's surgery had gone very well.  Duane Godwin is hanging in there and slowly regaining his strength.  Duane Hutchins is "hanging in there."  All are in our prayers...