Cats, Cookies, and Conference

This is my last week of three weeks off. It could not have come at a better time, as this gout flare was one of the most painful and discouraging ones I’ve had probably since the first or second flare up. This flare lasted a total of five weeks, with three weeks being completely immobilized and unable to sleep or function.

Luckily this last week of my break I gained enough strength back to do more chores around the house and actually get some things done.

 

 

The missionaries and our male group leader President Velarde came and helped me to dig out a section for our flower bed. It was a lot of work, and could not have been done without the help of those three. The grass had a tight root hold on the ground and we even found a giant  5 gallon sized concrete block under that we chipped away at until we were able to turn it on its side and bury it low enough that our vegetable roots would never reach. Afterwards we had refreshments of ice cream and cookies. I was satisfied with the result. Being crippled and only able to use my one leg, I was able to perform less than a quarter of the work. I am so grateful for the help that was rendered.

Feeling the renewed vigor of having partial movement on my leg, with the help of my cane, I was happy to finally be able to clean some things around the house. Rhea had been performing at double strength these last few weeks that I haven’t been able to stand up or walk. Now with my cane, I was happy to be able to clean the whole house and outside and even run an errand to Lowes to pick up 20 bags of soil to fill our flower beds.

This weekend at church was a biannual worldwide church broadcast meeting, one in which we all tune in and listen to in different languages all across the world. It’s always refreshing to have that one unifying weekend. They had a huge leadership reformation at the local church level at all church congregations. Huge news. Everyone is affected. It will be interesting to see how these changes will benefit the efficiency of our church work.

 

 

This has been the best three weeks off. Just in time for me to rest from the pains of my crippling arthritis. And as I spend days seated with my leg elevated, I’ve had many visits from Josiah wanting to play with me and have me hold him as he would talk to me in his baby language and jump on my lap. This break came when I needed it the most, and I had the added blessing of growing closer with my family. Sometimes in these last weeks, Josiah would crawl to me and signal for me to pick him up. Then he’d just sit in my lap and look around the room, then he’d hug me and give me a smile. My son and I have never been closer. I now have partial mobility of my leg, I can enough strength to drive and return to work.  

This week I returned to work, and it’s been hard as I’ve been counting down the hours and minutes since the start of my shift. My mind and body are still on holiday mode. Not quite back in the swing of things, I ate my packed lunch a little early, leaving me hungry during the last 9 hours or so of the shift.

I saw on Facebook a friend posted Disney Pixar brackets of all Pixar movies against each other to conclude at his own favorite Pixar film. His was Toy Story, but in many areas of his bracket I disagreed. I ended up with Moana rising to the top as the best Pixar movie of all time. Fight me if you want, by I will stand by that bracket.

On Easter while I was working, Mom and Nanay came to visit Josiah and Rhea. Mom fed some Oreos to Josiah which made him happy and energetic for most of the afternoon. Rhea cooked some spaghetti for Nanay that I was later able to enjoy when I got home. My wife is a wonderful chef.

Rhea’s best friend Babeth gave birth to her first child, a daughter, this Easter weekend. I joked with Rhea when I was shown a picture of the baby girl that she was our future daughter in law, and said her name aloud with our last name to hear how it sounded. Celestine Abunda Mora. I thought it went well with Josiah Reyes Mora. It’s too soon to know anything for sure, but that would be a glad addition to the growing Mora name.

My first day back to work I boldly left my cane in my car. By the time I walked the quarter mile through the grass field lot where we have to park during the day time then across the halls of the police building and up to the third floor… my recently healed leg, the leg that has been lifeless, elevated and unmoving for the past three weeks… that leg… that leg went into some kind of a shock. Every muscle completely tensed up, and I may need to use my cane when I come in next shift.

While at work Rhea and Josiah found the stray cat that’s been living under our porch. Josiah was so happy to see it, and both my wife and baby pet it and were all giggles and smiles. When I showed Jessica, who has lived on our street and knows the cat on a deeper level, warned me that the feral cat is riddled with diseases. She showed me evidence from the pictures and videos that I showed her, and I quickly warned Rhea to wash both her hands and baby’s hands asap, and to avoid the cat next time.

In the morning, I started my day with a stretch, which I have not done in some time. I wanted to master the day and not let my leg feel strained from the short walk from the grass parking lot and my desk and back. That was a good stretch. I should do that more often.

 

 

This week Josiah learned to pick his nose. I’ll just leave that there. Josiah’s also learning how to associate chocolate treats with their boxes, which he’s never done before. Now, when he sees the Oreo box or ice cream container, he will get excited and crawl to whoever is holding the treat, and will quickly give a sweet smile or a kissy noise and become your best friend. Then if you start eating the chocolate and not share with him, his friendly demeanor will quickly turn into a crying swatting tantrum where he’ll try to grab the sweets from you or swat them out of your hand.

 

 

Rhea recounted to me the story of when she was young, they didn’t have cookies or ice cream. But her happiness as a child was sneaking into the kitchen and eating sugar. I told Rhea that Josiah may be turning to chocolate as his comfort through the growing pains of teething and the growth of all his bones and organs. She responded with “Matindi,” which basically meant that that was an unnecessarily deep observation for the sugar cravings of a little child.

 

 

We had the missionaries over this week. So my duty was to bring Josiah to the library to play in their toddler play place and to Mom’s house while Rhea prepared the dinner for the missionaries. Since the missionaries have little experience with Filipino food, Rhea wanted to stay with the save favorites of lumpia and pancit. You can never go wrong with lumpia and pancit. Josiah and I didn’t stay long at the library since there were two older kids around 9 and 11 years old who were playing in the play area and any toy Josiah wanted to play with they would take into their stash of toys in their corner. So we left those two to that and went to visit Grandma.

 

 

Originally we were to host the missionary dinner on Saturday, but the men in my church wanted to have a pizza and ice cream social during the same time which the missionaries were also going to, so we rescheduled for Friday night instead. When we got to the pizza and ice cream social, the organizers of the get together forgot the pizza part. We don’t have to go into the disappointment of coming hungry to a promised dinner and not getting anything savory and staying there for two hours to leave there asap. Half of the guys when they saw there was no pizza actually left during the first hour and got dinner somewhere nearby. I was part of the group that heard rumors that someone else was bringing pizza later, so stay put and don’t worry. In the end, while on the way home, I ordered a pizza for Rhea and I to share at home. To this day the organizers of the get together stay true to the notion that they never said there would be pizza. Yet they were the only two on that didn’t hear that part. I won’t want to say anything against a good brother who brought us some great ice cream, but in the words of one of the more senior brothers there who had been part of the group that went out for dinner, “Oh, how quick the memory fades.”

 

 

During the church broadcast, they announced the construction of new temples in some exciting places. Cagayan de Oro in Mindanao, Philippines. Having my family and my wife from the Philippines, that announcement was special for us. They also announced in India, Russia, Virginia, Layton Utah, and in Argentina. Russia and India were other ones that brought a hush over the crowd, as those are big deals, as their countries are generally closed to Christian missionary work from what I understand. Everyone laughed when they announced the one in Utah, since Utah already has like 15 just in one state, and it was announced in the midst of some great groundbreaking areas for the spread of the Christian word.  

Other talks that stuck out to me were that of Elder Holland who spoke of a group of men who renovated a handicapped woman’s home to accommodate her disability… out of charity and love for their fellow Christian and human, not for money or as a job.  

 

 

Elder Uchtdorf spoke of celebrating when the Wright brothers showed the world that people can fly. Having lived in Brazil and been immersed in the Brazilian culture and understanding, that’s always a funny one. I know he’s a pilot so he loves that kind of stuff and uses it in all his speeches, but the Brazilians believe that it was a single Brazilian man who invented the airplane. Many of our members are Brazilian and listening to the same talk, so I chuckled a little on the inside as I knew how the thousands of Brazilian members on the south side of the world are groaning and striking up arguments with their American missionaries who will argue it was the Wright Brothers and not Santos Dumont. The inventor of the airplane is always a great conversation topic/argument starter in sunny ole Brazil.

When Mom came for Easter, she brought Josiah bubbles and a chocolate egg. He loves chocolate. And he loves bubbles. He’s happy