Family Update

Hi Everyone, This is Margaret's son, Doug, and I am posting this in case anyone still watches or visits my Mom's blog. My Dad passed away on June 5. I had been taking care of him here at our home, but it became too much for me and so I put him in the same nursing home as my Mom. He did not want to be there and I think this is why he stopped eating. Not having much control anymore over many things at his age I think this is the one thing he could control (the eating). So I believe this was my Dad's way of saying, "I'm done." I was with him at the nursing home right before he passed. I was watching him sleep and he was not sleeping well. He seemed so small and frail and I asked God to please not let him suffer anymore. He passed two hours later.

My mom is still in the nursing home. She is doing well for now, but Hospice has been called in to evaluate her. Hospice says she is doing better, but you can't stave off the inevitable. She still suffers physical side effects from her heart attack and because of her age and the congenital heart failure. I've been told these symptoms will only get worse as time goes by. I can do nothing but wait. In the meantime I visit her, show her pictures of things on my phone, talk about the old days when we were all here living in this house as a family. Now it's just me.

I have started to take care of her blog again. I'm currently attempting to replace some of the images and photos that disappeared and uploading them to my new hosting server. It's not much, but this blog was something she loved and I want to keep it maintained. At least for now anyway. I feel so useless and out of sorts these days. Doing this gives me some small measure of sanity and purpose, even if it isn't that much.

Nice Day For A Visit

Me and my folks relaxing in the yard.

Thought I would post an update on how things are going. Today my mom came home to visit. We sat in the yard, talked and played with the dog. My mom is still in the nursing home, but she is doing better than she was. She still can't speak very well and she doesn't have full use of her right arm, but she can get around with her walker and wheelchair. She called my niece yesterday from the nursing home on her own. Sarah asked her if someone had called for her and she said she had done it herself and even remembered the number.

My Mom with Jackson.

Sarah had asked me a few weeks ago to move in, because she just wanted to have me around and also to help out with chores. Since my brother passed (her dad) and my mom had her stroke she has been kind of lost over here. Being here feels kind of strange without them around. I still haven't fully accepted my brother being gone and neither has Sarah. When we talk about it it's like we're talking about some other family. It's weird how quickly things can change and when they do you feel sort of alien and lost.

My mom and dad in the yard with the dog.

But for now my mom is doing great and we are very happy about that. She can come to visit and we can go see her at the nursing home here in town anytime. And now that I'm living here with Sarah and my dad we at least have each other and we can be thankful for the blessings God has given us.

The New Year

At the end of 2011 my mom had a heart attack and was taken to Mercy hospital in Muskegon. While she was there she had a stroke, and was paralyzed down the left side of her body. After being held there for several weeks she was finally released to a nursing facility here in Grand Haven.

She has made some encouraging progress since then. She has recovered most of her mobility, but she is still unable to speak or use her right arm very well. She gets very aggravated because she can't articulate to us what she wants to say. Last week while I was there with my niece Sarah my mom sat up and was trying to tell us something. We waited. Finally, as tears welled in her eyes, she managed to say, "I have no home anymore."

My niece has taken over the house my folks lived in and she is handling the rent and bills and keeping an eye on my dad, who isn't doing very well himself. My brother drank himself into a stupor and Sarah had to call the ambulance to take him to the hospital. After being there for several days they told her that he would never recover and so they sent him to a rehab facility in Fremont. So now it's just me and Sarah trying to keep what little family we have left together, for the time being at least.

Last week they allowed my mom to leave the nursing home and come back to the house for a short visit. She was able to sit outside with Sarah and my dad and enjoy the quiet of her yard once more. She can continue to come home or go for drives as long as she is doing well. She makes progress everyday, because my mom is very stubborn and refuses to give up. Her beloved computer is now gone. I had my own drama happen at the beginning of 2012 and I'm now staying in the basement of a friend's house. I gave the computer to my friend's son, and his wife is using the computer desk. I have the monitor.

We certainly had a traumatic new year here at the Cloud residence and while things can never really go back to what they were, we can only hope and pray that what we do have will improve.

- Doug Cloud

A Child's Christmas Eve Dream

Last night I had a lovely dream, but strange as it could be,
For on the hill beside our house, stood a great Christmas tree.
It glowed with lighted candles, right at the top a lighted star,
And round it dancing in a ring, children from lands afar.
Polite little English girls, Swiss boy's with funny skis,
Dutch children in queer wooden shoes. joined hands with shy Chinese.
Turkish lads is tassled fez, tots from France, Greece and Poland.
Laughing as the children do, in the safety of a free land,
Perhaps my dream's a prophecy, of Christmas to be,
When little children everywhere, can sing because they are free.
I surely wish with all my heart, this day of Jesus birth,
That peace and love and happiness, soon cover all the earth.

I would like to wish all my blogging friends==A very Merry Christmas and may all your dreams come true, love=Margaret.

The Night Before Christmas

Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863), wrote the poem "The Night Before Christmas" also called "a visit from St. Nicholas" in 1822. It is now the tradition in many American families to read the poem every Christmas eve. The poem has redefined our image of Christmas and Santa Claus. Prior to the creation of the story of Twas the night before Christmas St. Nicholas the patron of children had never been associated with sleigh or reindeer's.

Clement Moore the author of the poem, The Night Before Christmas was a reticent man and it is believed that a family friend, Miss H. Butler sent a copy of the poem to the New York Sentinel, who published the poem. The condition of publication was that the author of The Night Before Christmas was to remain anonymous. The first publication date was December 26, 1823 and it was an immediate success.

It was not until 1844 that Clement Clarke Moore claimed ownership when the work was included in a book of his poetry. Clement Clarke Moore came from a prominent family and his father-Benjamin Moore was the Bishop of New York, who was famous for officiating at the inauguration of George Washington. The tradition of reading The Night Before Christmas on Christmas eve is now a world wide institution and tradition.