Betty Passes Away

Everyone knows of the love I have for Eric's mom Viola Williams, she was ultimately the single most influential person in my life.  I loved her dearly for her love of the Lord, her testimony of prayer and most of all for her love of family.  Her family ALWAYS came first, once when Eric and I were first engaged she told me if Eric ever came home from work and wanted me to take a ride with him, but I didn't want to because the house wasn't clean and there were dishes in the sink, that I should not think twice about it, leave the dishes and go with my husband, "the dishes will be there when you get home, but tomorrow your husband may not be, and you would of passed up an opportunity to make a memory  . am memory that could be your last"  I've always remembered the day she told me this, where I was sitting, what she was wearing and the smile on her face as she gently reminded me of keeping family a priority.
After Vi passed away, Ray married Betty, a woman from their ward who was single and who Vi was friends with.  This time of life was difficult for a few of the children including Eric, not because Betty was not a great pick for Ray, but more because of the memory they had of their mother and father together.
Yesterday, Betty passed away.  It's 3:55 am I've been up for hours not able to sleep, cleaning my floors, dusting my furniture and thinking of memories we had with Betty (Grammy) her personality was completely different than Viola, but none the less she loved Ray and he was happy, I truly believe if it had not been for the relationship between he and Betty, Ray would of passed much sooner than he did, she kept him in line and she kept him alive.
I'm grateful for the knowledge I have of our Heavenly Fathers eternal plan for Families to be together forever.
My youngest daughter Haleigh is getting married in two days, last night her mother in law and father in law had a dinner party for close friends and family.  Not only was the weather beautiful the words spoken by each person in behalf of Haleigh and Scott were beautiful.  How is it that my youngest is old enough to be married?  This has been an emotional couple of weeks, with Ezra in the hospital,  and now the passing of Betty, I am a little behind on the wedding plans--but I have faith it will all turn out and be a memorable night.
This week our plumbing in the kitchen went out, the freezer went on the blitz (that was a mess) it looked like Jeffrey Daumer had been hiding things in our freezer, and guess who got to clean it all out?
There is something I am really happy about, this is the best I have physically felt in a few years. I will see my oncologist in two weeks with a couple days of tests first then our little visit.  I'm assuming with how I am feeling right now that all will be a good outcome.

Life moves so fast

poor baby Ez

Just when I think life is moving as it should, a reality hits me hard and brings me back to the place where I need to be, a place in my heart that I've been missing for awhile.  Our beautiful baby Ezra joined our family, and then was struck with severe RSV.  He was put in the hospital and Kayla had to stay with him 24/7, Jeremy was there as much as he could be, but also had to work.  I had the privilege of taking care of Recker, he is our 3 year old autistic grandson, he is non verbal, but boy can he make some noise.  He too, has not been feeling well I took him to the doctor and he had a ear infection, sinus infection and croup.
My love for Kayla, the mother, has become more endearing as I have now seen 24/7 for a week what she deals with on a daily basis. Although, Recker spends a lot of time at our house it is a  completely different story when you are watching him non stop for that long of time.
While at the doctors office he went through every drawer and cabinet he could get his hands on, climbed under the desk, picked up the phone, played with the computer system and twirled on the doctors chair, it was all fun until..... the pediatrician came in to visit our little guy.  He had a complete melt down when the doctor looked in his ears, then came the news he needed a steroid shot in the arm, I thought to myself "oh boy, he is not going to like this"  HE DIDN'T.  He screamed and threw his body around like a rag doll, tears filled my eyes as he looked at me as if to say "why, why are you allowing her to do this to me?"  I tried so hard to get him to settle down, I sang him a song, tried to rock him and soothe him with calming words, but it just made it worse.  I thought I should get him calmed before I walked back through the waiting area, that idea was not going to happen, so I quickly made a dash for the door and out to the car, all the while he was out of control.  I sat him down to open my car door and he started to projectile vomit every where including on me, it looked like an alien shooting out of his mouth.  Oh my gosh, I felt so bad for him, all I could do was hold him and love him.  Kayla has told me about these melt downs he has, but I have not really ever seen him work himself up so badly that he vomits.  By the time I got his medicine at WALGREENS and made it home he had calmed down and fallen asleep.
Kayla and Jeremy were missing him so badly,  I felt bad for them too.  Luckily they were able to come and see him at least once a day.   I took Recker to our condo in Mexico for a few days, thinking maybe if he were not here in Arizona, it wouldn't be such a temptation for them to come visit him.  The reason why I use the word temptation, is because Recker has been sick and I'm pretty sure he gave whatever he had to Ezra, if Kayla and Jeremy were to transfer it bak to Ezra he would never get better.
I had a great time with Recker in Mexico.  This boy loves the outdoors, the ocean, the sand, the grassy areas, and especially the pool.  From 9 am to 6 pm he was outside running and playing.  One day he made a mad dash for the ocean, I was running after him, I watched him play in the water for over an hour, then decided it was time to go to the pool.  Of course Recker thought I was picking him up to take him inside, so he started to scream, and try to scratch his way out of my arms, he is extremely strong, I could barely hold him up.  Everyone was staring, my swimsuit top was down to my stomach and my breasts were fully exposed, I had to either continue to the pool area or drop Recker.  I chose to continue, all the while saying to myself "no big deal, my breasts have been exposed to complete strangers before,  I can handle this" then the Mexican vendor yelled "hey lady, want to buy some sunglasses?" I turned and looked at him and with a scowl on my face replied "are you serious?"
I finally made it to the pool area, where I am quite sure I gave a 80 year old man a slight heart attack, I was so mortified I wanted to look at him and say "what, you've never seen a 50 year olds boobs exposed while carrying a 3 year old screaming and scratching his way to freedom?"  Eric happened to be walking towards the pool, and with his hands in the air, as if to say "what the heck are you doing?" he ran over to help me--save the day, however just a little too late. I calmly sat down on the chair pulled up my swimsuit and laughed.  What else could I do?
Although my swimsuit never came down again, I will say it took two of us to get Recker up to the condo after a long day of playing, he never, ever wanted to go inside.
We face timed Kayla and Jeremy each night before Recker went to bed, and we could get an update on how Ezra was doing.  It was hard, Ezra would be doing good then bad, we never knew what each day would bring.  He is home now and seems to be doing well, Recker has been on his antibiotic for over a week now and is doing better also.  Today, while they were visiting us Recker had a complete melt down when he had to come inside, Kayla was chasing him around the house while he was screaming and not letting her get to him, I heard her laughing, it made me smile--at least she can laugh.
Any parent of an autistic child should be praised, autism is hard, none of us quite understand what it is and why some children have it, but I do know our Heavenly Father knows, and he has a special place in Heaven for these special little angels.

Recker at the doctors office

Ezra hooked up to the machines

He looks sick

he looks so little in that crib

Ezra joins our family

I think this is the longest I have gone without posting on my blog.  Things have been crazy around the Williams home, so much to catch up on now--
Eric and I are so overjoyed with our new little grandson Ezra Ray Roussel, he arrived on February 23, 2013 weighing in at 9 pounds 8 ounces and 22 inches long.  I was blessed with the opportunity to be in the delivery room with Kayla and Jeremy again.  There is nothing more miraculous than a baby being born--just a couple of days before Ezra was born I was at the Temple and felt Eric's dad really strong, on my way home I called and told Kayla what a great experience it was to feel him right there with me again.  I am thrilled they decided to name Ezra after Ray, he was an amazing man.  We will have fun telling Ezra all about his humor and big spirit.
I have to brag on my oldest daughter for a minute, Kayla is amazing at giving birth--I know that sounds weird, but she really is.  Never a peep out of her, in her mind she thinks she is screaming but we never hear a word out of her.  I know she was worried about having a C-Section, the doctor came in the room and told the nurses to get the OR prepped for a C-Section and I could see in the face of both her and Jeremy they did not want that to happen--problem is the doctor did not want to put the baby at any risk--since Ezra was so big, the doctor was worried about the width of his shoulders, if she got the head out but could not deliver the shoulders they would have to push him back in and do an emergency c-section.  Kayla did awesome, little Ezra's arm was behind his back while coming out, they were worried his arm would break, and I have never seen a delivery doctor work as hard as hers did to get this little guy out safely, after his head was out the nurse stuck both her hands in and turned him.  I know the pain was excruciating especially since the medicine had worn off by then, but they did it.  I watched the doctor turn red and shake as she pulled on Ezra's head, I got teary thinking she was going to break his neck--finally he plunged into the world--HUGE was the only thing I could think of--I was so proud of Kayla-she has been an amazing mother to Recker and now she gets the joy of raising another wonderful son--it's such a spiritual experience to watch a baby enter the world.

doctor had to suction him out--poor little head

We love Him

Welcome to the Family

Ezra Ray Roussel 2.23.13

Recker giving little brother his 1st kiss

This is perfection at it's finest, our family has been extremely blessed.