June Begins with a Party!!

June 4th was the day they celebrated all the June birthdays at Bethany Home. They do this once a month....celebrating all the birthdays for that month with cake, coffee and a little program which includes singing and the reading of each person's biography. The biography's are the best part....hearing how each one met their wife or husband, and other significant happenings in their life. They then each choose a favorite song to sing and this is done at the end of the program and led by the pastor. It's a fun time for everyone. This year though was a bit extra special for Mom. She has a special place in her heart for her only living sister Jennie. Aunt Jen flew out from Sioux Falls, SD and arrived just in time to hear Mom's biography. This is their first look at each other. You need to be there when it happens....but it's so sweet, and there is so much joy in their meeting once again. Each time they say good bye...they think it will be the last time they lay eyes on each other on this earth. So......when they are able to see each other, well, it's special....a tangible kind of special that you feel when you are there. You hear the intake of breath, the quiver in the voice, the shining in their eyes....and then we all have a shine in our eyes too as we struggle not to puddle up ourselves. Aunt Jen's son Merlyn and his wife Kathy accompanied Aunt Jen on the plane and were able to greet Mom too.

Mom's Biography as read on June 4th

Dora Fredriks was born on June 7,1918 in Siebert, Colorado in a sod house on property that her father homesteaded. dora was the oldest of four children. Dora's father farmed crops and Dora helped with milking cows, gathering eggs and housework. Dora also remembers collecting buffalo chips to burn for heat and going to church in the neighbor's barn. Dora was also a "Mother's helper" - she helped mothers with their babies and housework. Dora's family moved to So. Dakota. In her early 20's Dora and a cousin moved to Artesia, CA and lived with other cousins. Dora's California cousins told her that "they had a guy for her to meet". She met Herman Van Laar at a church function. Dora and her cousin saw Herman sitting in his car. Dora's cousin said, "I'll sit in the front with him", and Dora said, "No, you won't". Dora sat in the front seat. She dated Herman and 18 months later became engaged, then married.

They lived in Artesia and their first three children were born there. Dora was a good housewife and mother. They moved to Waterford where they had a diary. Here two more children were born. Then they moved to Salida where they had another dairy and added another child to the family. During this time, Herman fell off a haystack and broke his back- at this time they started farming almonds. Dora also helped out financially at this time by cleaning apartments.

Herman and Dora eventually retired and moved to Ripon. Six months later Herman passed away (Oct. 15th 1980) A year later, dora married Gerald Fredriks and they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary before Gerald passed away (2007).

Dora remembers some trips her family took- to Yosemite and also salmon fishing on the Klamath River. Gerald and Dora also did some traveling and camped in the desert of So. CA.

Dora's hobbies are crocheting and embroidery. She also enjoyed canning fruits and vegetables for her family.

Dora is also known by her family as having a saying for everything-

Here are just a few- "Be not simply good, but be good for something"

"once a task is first begun, never leave it till it's done, be it large or be it small, do it well or not at all"

"Kindness is to do and say the kindest thing in the kindest way"

Dora has 23 grandchildren, and 41 great grandchildren.

Dora has been a resident here at Bethany Home since February, 2007.

Happy Birthday, Dora!

May 2008

Ah, May 2008 seems so long ago! And it is!! A lot has gone on since May...it's been a very busy time. So, I'm just going to touch on the high points to get myself up to date and up to speed to current day :) The highlight of May for us, was a much anticipated visit from our little James. Uh yes....Jerry, Bernice and Marie too :)..... But James.....such a little cutie and a trooper too. Jerry, Bernice and James flew out from Chicagoland to be here for the annual Van Laar Wiener Roast. We also began to celebrate Mom's 90th birthday then. I say began....because the celebration lasted for nearly a month! We had a wonderful time together....and this was a momentous occasion for Les as this was the first time he had opportunity to lay eyes on his little namesake. We just spent the entire time relaxing, visiting, and preparing desserts for the wiener roast. Bernice and Marie made us a fantastic dinner on Sunday......beer brined bbq'd porkchops, stuffed baked potatoes, asparagus done on the grill and topped off by a spectacular and VERY yummy raspberry cheesecake made by none other than Ri!

In the year Casey and Jerry were born, Mother's Day fell a couple of days after their birth. I celebrated my first Mother's Day in the hospital. On that first Mother's Day, my dear sweet husband brought me 2 long stemmed red roses....one for each baby boy. This is the way it has been for the last 30 years, on Mother's Day I get flowers....always 2 red roses in the arrangement, or corsage as we used to do, and when Ri came along, he added a pink rose. This past weekend I received a bouquet of beautiful flowers from the children and grandchildren. They arrived on Saturday, and were here waiting for me when we arrived home from our weekend away. Les had no time to get me flowers. He was in business meetings all day Saturday and then we travelled home. It was just one of those things....I really didn't think of flowers from him for Mother's Day. Sunday morning he let me sleep in while he prepared coffee and breakfast as he always does on Sundays. When I walked into the kitchen I saw another smaller bouquet on the counter. In a pretty blue glass that just shone in the sunlight coming thru the window. "What's this now? " I had to smile.....this bouquet had come from my own garden, but no matter....it had 2 large red roses, 1 large pink rose, 3 little pink roses that were also loaded with tiny buds beside. I knew about the large roses, but the little ones? He explained, " the 3 little pink roses are for Katie, Tys, and James.....the buds are for the grandbabies to come."

30 years ago today

At 12:13 and 12:15 pm today, thirty years ago, Les and I had a life changing experience. Casey and Jerry were born two months prematurely. Oh what a day that was for us....worry, anxiety, tears, and most of all fear. What was going to happen to our babies? What was going to happen to me? Would they live, would I live to see them? After they were born, they were wisked away and I didn't have an opportunity to see them for days. I didn't know what they looked like. I didn't get to hold them. I stayed in one hospital while they went to another. I rested in a darkened private hospital room hooked up to monitors regulating my blood pressure, while they lay in an incubator across town with chest tubes and no names. Twin A and Twin B. Les went back and forth, babies, wife, babies, wife...this hospital and then that one and back again. We prayed. Only thinking of the next minute, then the next day. Little did we realize what a tremendous blessing and experience this was meant to be.....then and forevermore. Adversity truly does make you strong. It was rough going at first, but after a time things got better. Casey came home first, and Jerry a month and a half later. They grew and grew and grew! Even if I am biased, I will say they were the cutest kids on the block! When I took them to the mall in their twin stroller, strangers would stop us and comment.....I couldn't get any shopping done! People will still come up to me at church and say...."and how are the twins? We prayed for them you know....we remember when they were born." So many people, so many prayers. God was very good to us that day. He blessed us with happy healthy boys who grew into Godly men, sons, husbands, fathers and brothers. In adversity the depth of our thankfullness to God increased as we leaned on Him. Our life was made fuller and richer through those trials thirty years ago. I could only think then of the next day, but now I look back and see God's goodness. Psalm 100:5 For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CASEY AND JERRY!

Movin' on UP

A week ago today we began the big move....or at least we tried to. Les and I had flown up to Boise to help Ri move into her new apartment....upstairs. Our sweet girl needed a bit of help as her foot was still in the large black boot which is, I think, longer than the depth of the stairs! This makes it very difficult to negotiate the staircase, let alone carry anything while you are doing it! We felt needed for sure. Merv and Diane (Les' retired cousins) meanwhile, were bored in rainy Snohomish, WA, and offered to come help us old 'uns move the darlin'. Course, that would make 4 old 'uns, moving 1 young'un.... hmmmmm. It's a fact of life, no matter what your age, you will not be able to resist the call for help from your offspring. There was one hitch though, Ri's landlord didn't get the memo. She decided to do Ri a favor and paint the entire apartment on the day we had planned to move all of Ri's worldly possessions upstairs. This is a very nice gesture, and actually the painting turned out great, but it sure messed up our plans for the weekend. The plan was: Thursday move, Friday move, Friday evening bring in the young guys to move the big stuff, Saturday PLAY! Since painting didn't get done till 10pm Thurs. night, and floor waxing (Ri has gorgeous hard wood floors now) didn't get done till noon on Friday, well, we hustled!! I should say Merv hustled. Without him, Ri wouldn't be moved right now! At the end of the day he asked Ri if she knew how many steps there were coming up to her apartment? When she said "no" he replied "I DO!" :) I packed boxes downstairs while Merv and Les hauled them upstairs and Ri and Diane emptied them out again. It was a good system! Even though we didn't have EVERYTHING moved and unpacked, we went and relaxed Saturday morning at one of my favorite places in Idaho...the Library. Not THE library, but a coffee house in Meridian that serves wonderful light cinnamon rolls and very good coffee in a converted Craftsman style house. Every room is filled with books and doodads, easy chairs and board games and behind the Library is another house filled with antiques for sale. What could be better? It was a great way to relax and enjoy a piece of my birthday! Even though we didn't get our full day of play...what we had was wonderful. Merv and Diane headed for home, and we headed back to Ri's NEW home, looking forward to making space to walk! The new place is full of character....arched doorways, hardwood floors, and lots of big beautiful windows! Old fashioned ones, with a crank to open them and green and white striped awnings. The counter top in the kitchen is Formica....reminiscent of our house here in CA. In fact, Ri even commented, " I like this place cuz it reminds me of home". Awwww. The apartment had been occupied as a commercial work space for a photographer for the previous 5 yrs. and I believe had never been cleaned during that time. I went to work on it with relish....as I told Ri...it's all about instant gratification. Windows that had not been washed in 5 years were a challenge to make shine, but shine they did. I had to cut thru layers of paint just to get them to open and then sit on the ledge and "hang out the window" to reach the entire pane! The finished product was worth it! Sunday I relaxed at home (I forgot to pack my dress shoes) while Les and Ri went to church. It was a gorgeous day...sunny and bright in the 70's. The windows sparkled and were cranked open to let the breeze in.....ahhhh, can't get much better than that. Isn't it funny how sometimes exhaustion feels GOOD? Monday morning we got up in the dark, packed our queen sized bed into a suitcase (airbeds are wonderful), and headed to the airport. With hardly anyone there, we breezed thru check in and security and were able to board our plane early. With all the passengers accounted for, and a strong tail wind on the way home, our flight arrived in Oakland 25 minutes early. Wow! Never had that happen before. We were back in CA by 8am and headed home by 9. Les went to work and I headed over to my Mom at Bethany to help her settle in to her new room....yes, she moved too! Even though she only has a small amount of personal things to hang on the wall, mostly pictures of family; there were still some things that could be discarded. When you move, you really realize how much "stuff" you have in your life. We cling to it for weeks, months, and even years. Moving it from place to place, packing it away, but never letting go of it. I look at Marie, who is at the beginning of her "accumulation" of worldly possessions, and then at my Mom whose possessions are stripped down to pictures on the wall, and the clothes she wears. Les and I are in the middle somewhere with more than Marie and lots more than Mom. The contrast is striking. Even though the year is nearly half over, I resolve from this point forward, to treasure only those things worthy of being treasured.....and to get rid of things right now that I would toss out or give away if I were moving! OY...it's going to be a long summer! I'd better learn how to Ebay......