June 11, 2007, 10:00 PM PDT, Monday

• Noah, Nicholaus, and Grandma Dianne arrived in Mineral at about 5:00 this afternoon. Nancy was the greeting party, and Cris and Laura cleaned out the refrigerator while Dianne cooked a delicious noodle dinner. Baths and a "Little Foot" movie and we were off to bed with Ginger the Cat who was not going to sleep by herself ever again. Both boys were happy to be home. Sometime ask Noah about "living out of a suitcase". He has some interesting concepts about what that means.

Many, many thanks to all of you who took care of all of us this past week.Uncle Eric, Aunt Cindy, Mitchel, Harrison, and Cassidy who, at a moment's notice took Noah and Nicholaus on Tuesday and drove them to Sacramento on Wednesday. To Aunt Boom, Uncle Matt, Colin, and Aiden watched over them on Wednesday and Thursday, and to Uncle Peter, Aunt Lori, Alaina (who gave up her bed for Dianne), and Evan who warmly welcomed Dianne into their home for two nights. To cousins Brendan, Christy, Connor, Braden, and Ian who accepted the tag for Noah, Nicholaus, and Dianne on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights and took Kevin and the boys to the airshow. To the many who brought dinners to the hospital, shared toys, bought clothes, and found toothbrushes, and tracked down vitamins. To Sarah who flew in and stayed with Mary in the hospital for four long nights.You are a great family. Thanks, from the bottom of my heart.You are as critical as the doctors in the success of this surgery.

• Tomorrow, Tuesday, is the day. Molly is scheduled for surgery in the afternoon. Baring another, more critical heart patient, she will be in recovery sometime in the evening. Some stats I have heard: They do 150 of these a year at Stanford and girls fair better than boys. A fellow mac user that I know through my list serve wrote and said her son had this surgery and is now 39 years old and she is now a grandma. Tomorrow may well be one of the hardest in my life, and yet, I am optimistic and looking forward to holding Miz Hot Ta' Molly in my arms again soon.

  Love to all, Dianne

• Lots of positive thoughts are going to Stanford today! I think you can feel she is the best of hands. They do those types of surgeries everyday! Did Kevin and Mary go with Molly? Will she come back to the hospital in Chico to continue post op care before she goes home? The fact she is a girl is a plus on her side from what I have heard. I appreciate the updates. I hope you will be able to sleep once the surg is behind your little darling. Love, Barb
• What time is it when an elephant sits on your refrigerator?...Time to get a new refrigerator... Karen & Ralph
• I'll spare you the knock-knocks, the best of which was
  Knock knock
  Who's there?
  Boo.
  Boo Who?
  (You know the rest.  And that was the BEST one.  The rest had to do with pineapples and apples, and none made a bit of sense.) Karen and Ralph
• Our prayers are with ALL of you, but especially for Li'l Molly. Best love to Kevin & Mary, the Boys & the entire entourage... What a great family, no joke!!
  Alan and Or-Li also send their best wishes and prayers. Thanks to Sarah, Bart, Matt and Gretchen, we now can discuss these neonatal matters with great quasi-intelligence...
  luv,
  Sheila and Mel
• How wonderful that so many people are rallying around your Molly. It’s lovely to read about.
   Carol
• Some People might wonder why I like to make dolls so much. This story might explain it. - Asya
  A man and a woman had been maried for more than 60 years. They hadshared everything. They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old lady kept a shoe
  box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about. For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover. In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife's bedside. She agreed that is was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totaling $95,000.00. He asked her about the contents. When we were to be married," she said, "my grandmother told me the
  secret of a happy marriage was to never to argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should crochet a doll." The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box. she had only been angry with him two
  times in all those years of living and loving. He had never felt so fulfilled and happy about his life. "Honey," he said, "that explains the dolls, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?" "Oh," she said, "That's the money I made from selling the dolls at thechurch flea market on Saturdays."
• Alright, Dianne, I'll try this again. Thought of you lots today. Will think of you and your family tomorrow. Keeping you in our thoughts. Keep it up!... Cheryl
• Godly humor!
  The Coat Hanger. . .
  A woman was at work when she received a phone call that her small daughter was very sick with a fever. She left her work and stopped by the pharmacy to get some medication. She got back to her car and found that she had locked her keys in the car. She didn't know what to do, so she called home and told the baby sitter what had happened. The baby sitter told her that the fever was getting worse. She said, "You might find a coat hanger and use that to open the door." The woman looked around and found an old rusty coat hanger that had been left on the ground, possibly by someone else who at some time had locked their keys in their car.  She looked at the hanger and said, "I don't know how to use this."
  She bowed her head and asked God to send her help. Within five minutes a beat up old motorcycle pulled up, with a dirty, greasy, bearded man who was wearing an old biker skull rag on his head. The woman thought, "This is what you sent to help me?" But, she was desperate, so She was also very thankful. The man got off of his cycle and asked if he could help. She said, "Yes, my daughter is very sick. I stopped to get her some medication and I locked my keys in my car. I must get home to her. Please, can you use this hanger to unlock my car? He said, "Sure." He walked over to the car, and in less than a minute the car was opened.  She hugged the man and through her tears she said, "Thank You So Much!  You are a very nice man." The man replied, "Lady, I am not a nice man. I just got out of prison today. I was in prison for car theft and have only been out for about an hour."
  The woman hugged the man again and with sobbing tears cried out loud,
  "Oh, thank you God! You even sent me a Professional!"...Cheryl
• China has a population of a billion people. One billion. That means even if you’re a one in a million kind of guy, there are still a thousand others exactly like you. (A. Whitney Brown) ~Meredith
• We hope all went well with Molly today. They will keep her pain free; don't worry (too much)!!! ...Barb
• Die Hoffnung ist die Blüte des Wunsches,
  Der Glaube ist die Frucht der Gewissheit
  (Honorè de Balzac)
  Our love to all of you. Erni