Max & Other Olson News

The Olson's and Johnson's (that is Shelly & Jay, Max's adopted parents) have had a roller coaster couple of weeks as Max got pretty ill and it was uncertain what was wrong. He went to sleep peacefully on Mon., 8/21, with Jay & Shelly there to give him love. Last Fri./Thurs. (depends on the time zone) we learned he had a very aggressive, vascular cancer (internal) and we all wanted to let him go without suffering. So we prayed for and got a good weekend for Max with Jay & Shelly. They took him riding in the Wrangler with the top down and his own little bed to ride in. He got to go to Saylorville Lake and go swimming which he loved on Sunday. It hit all of us pretty hard as he had been with us for almost 10 yrs. and the Johnson's got attached quickly as well - He had such a fun personality. He was our first "baby" and we have many wonderful memories to remember him by. Most of you have heard a Max story or two. So enjoy the pic's of his fun weekend and remember him fondly.

On a happier note, the girls started school last week and are really enjoying it. They are hoping to join a Creative Dance class as an afternoon activity. We now have homework for Rachel so she and Mommy are working on the best way to get that done. She has such definite opinions. But she does do it and I hope she just gets a little quicker at it - tends to dawdle if you know what I mean. Do they grow out of this? Does it continue until they are out of the house? Do I put an end to these questions as I'm afraid of the answers? Kendra took right to Kindergarten and has several friends she is dying to have over for a playdate. Rachel is angling for a B-day party. Ah, the social life begins. Fortunately it has been so cool during Aug. with lots of on/off showers that the bug population seems to have diminished rapidly. Indoors - a few sweeps of the vacuum hose seems to keep the spidey population manageable.

And for those who know my habits - I have started in on the landscaping. We've done some trimming and I just bought some plants so am ready to get my hands dirty. I couldn't buy anything til we had a vehicle for me to haul it in. But, I still walk into town sometimes - nice to have the options now. We keep waiting to mow the jungle in our yard - first it was blazing hot and nothing grew but then it got cool & wet so it has grown alot but we haven't been able to cut it! Bart has his work ahead of him - I've offered to mow only when I felt it is manageable for me - a jungle is NOT manageable.

We went to church on Sun. They had a visiting speaker/musician from Capetown, Sth Africa, who was good. The church is searching for a pastor right now so it will be interesting but the girls loved Sun. School and it was so nice to speak to others in English. We miss Valley and our neighborhood and friends. But we are slowly making progress here and have really grown as a family as well. It is a little different but so nice to have Bart home every night - we will really miss him when he goes on his first out of town trip in Sept. Not that we didn't miss him before but we were used to him being gone.

So Hello to Everyone: email us or comment if you like, stay in touch and I'll have more to add soon.