and here's the latest on the surgery....

Last Sunday, i get a message from the surgeons office..."lauri, are you still interested in the surgery"! Idiots. I called them back and said yes, but I'm trying to lose 50 pounds! So on Monday I spoke to another lady who said, well, you don't weigh over 500 pounds do you? I looked down and said, uh no, I don't. She says, ok, with your BMI(mass body index) you would probably have to lose about 15-20 and then we could get your surgery done. WHAT!?! So, long story short, and less cussing, I have an appt with the surgeon on Thursday. They gave me a website for a liquid diet, which I sent for already, cuz it's way more affordable...and then hopefully we will get this show on the road! I keep wondering what God wants me to learn here, I can't figure it out. But I hope I've learned it cuz I am ready to get this done already! I'll let you know what happens after Thursday.....keep praying!

...oh yeah, Cal's cast

I've yet to get a hold of the young man to see how the big date went. He's not returning my calls.....anywhoo, on Saturday when I brought Sam home he showed me what his dad had drawn on his cast....with a Sharpie...in about 10 minutes. Don't ask me how Danny does it....he's such an idiot with everything else...anyway, here's a shot...

Quite the weekend....

Well, it started darn early, I'll have you know. Our church went on another Compton workday. The coordinator asked me to be here at 6 a.m. to take pictures of the loading of the trucks etc. Jayne is kind of her volunteer assistant, so she had to be here at 5. I took Sam along to help take pictures and Dalaynee wanted to go if Sam was going, so they both stayed "over the night" at Mom's and I picked them up (bright eyed and bushy tailed) at 5:30 a.m. We drove to 7 different sites (there were 31 altogether) and took shots of people working etc. Sam was a little nervos cuz we took my car and red is a Crip gang color, who knew. We survived. Then I took a group shot with the home owner. Laynee thought she should probably be in every shot...so here's a bunch of Emmanuelights, a Compton resident, and Dalaynee Jo sitting in the front row. On Sunday I went to all the services (3 of them) and took pictures because we welcomed 21 new partners in mission and about 10 kids from our Life Hurts, God Heals (a Celebrate Recovery for teens) were baptized. It was a great day...but somewhere, somehow, I want triple-credit for time served or something, cuz 3 sermons in one day is 2 too many! I took over 500 pics in the weekend...so for this photography nut, it was a good time!

All the folks in the church parking lot....I think we had 1200 volunteers altogether!See what I mean? She had to be right in the front row....When I brought Sam home...Coco wanted to hitch a ride....you can see we have the same haircut

I love my nephews

Cal broke his hand in football the other day. He's outta football for 6 weeks and has a cast up to his elbow. However, on a lighter note, he does have a date for homecoming. He won't be able to put his arm around her without possibly giving her a concussion, but hey a date is a date, right? Last weekend, when Cal wasn't there, we squeezed the information out of Samuel. He made us swear to secrecy. Then that night, when we met for dinner for the birthdays, Sam slid in next to me and said, don't say anything about the girl, but he might tell you about it anyway, but don't let on that you heard anything from me. So, being the sneaky and manipulative aunt that I am, I grabbed Cal's cell phone and started going through the address book...asking him about several girl's name listed...were they friends, something more, didja ever kiss her etc. Finally, I got to the S's. There it was, the name I was looking for...I said, Cal, what about this Sara chick? His face got all red. Well, actually, he says, I just asked her to homecoming. The table erupted with shock and suprise (just like Sam wanted us to)...I looked over at Sam....he was smiling, just a little bit. Typical Van Hofwegen. So, anyway, Calvin Daniel has a date...and a cast for his first homecoming....life is good, huh?

D and D

Dalaynee has a great little dog tradition already. When she comes home from school she runs to the back door to let Dayzee in. She puts her hand on the door knob and says to Jayne, "mama, get ready for the exciting part". Then she lets in the dog which proceeds to lick her from head to toe...and she loves every minute of it. So many people ask me how she is doing after losing Jeff etc. I think she is doin ok, we're hopefully handling everything right. One night when she was spending time with me in my office while Jayne went to a meeting, one of my co-workers came in. Laynee said, "hey, did you know my dad died?" When my friend said yes and we miss him, Laynee said, "well we would rather he lived with Jesus so he can be all better and if he lived with us, he would have to be sick some more". My friend asked her what she thought he was doing in heaven with Jesus...."well, said my dear niece, "I think he is fishing and watching fireworks and watching me at my dance receital". Sounds about right to me.

Advice from Doctor Dalaynee

So, I've got a head cold. I hate head colds...I would rather have a bleeding wound somewhere....a monumental headache....an arthritic thumb.... than have to deal with a head cold. I got a call from the youngest niece last night...she asked me how I was feeling...I said, not great, kid. She said, "well take your medicine and you have to keep taking your naps and maybe you should stay home from work for about 3 days". I told her I'd just work today and then take the next 2 days off. She said "that should be ok".

Did I tell you how much I hate head colds???

Yup, it's the big five-oh

Yikes, it's true. I'm 50. I don't feel that old, however old that feels. It was a lovely weekend. Mine was on Sunday, mother's on Monday. She baked cinammon rolls, really she did, and all the Elgersma cousins came over and we chowed down. When they sang happy birthday laur, someone said, we wish you many more, don't go out that door, be glad you're not 54...then Danny says "aren't you glad you're not a wh___" Rhyme it out people. Suffice to say, my little brother is an idiot. I'll have to come up with a good rhyme for Danny before October 9. On Sunday, I tried to keep the HB on the down low...and then my friend Theresa announced to all those standing around me at church that it was my birthday...and again with the singing. Very embarrassing. Then at work on Monday, there were signs all over and many well-wishers stopped ..all in all tho, it was kind of fun...thank goodness i have a whole year before I have to suffer through that again...and Happy Birthday to Nate Heilkema, who celebrated his day on Saturday! Us September folks are special ya know...

....at days end

We made our way to Seal Beach, my cousin wanted to walk on the pier. Whilst they did that, I stayed at the car and photographed whatever caught my eye....

And this weekend...

My cousin Rob and his family came to visit from Colorado. We gathered at Auntie Carol's for breakfast...in the a.m. mind you. Mighty early on a Saturday morning. We were sitting outside and one of my cousin's kids comes out and tells her mom that Dalaynee is selling rides in her Auntie Laur's car! Kid reminds me of her father a bit...or maybe her grandfather. Anywhoo, I didn't need much convincing to load them up and move them out...twas a grand day...ending at Seal Beach at sunset...but that's another posting...

I know, I know....it's been a while

Well, it's just been so cotton-picken busy! I'm learning a new part of my job and i've not had a chance to update...I know, I suck. But I am back with pictures to share. This is last week, Miss Dalaynee had a dance receital. She was a flower, don'tja know. She was the best one up there, but I could be a little prejudiced....just a little...

She had to wear a little lipstick....she had to...A little rehearsal time with Dayzee