Jan 6 07

January 6, 2007

So the baptism never happened. Elder Itri must have had a premonition. We got up at 6:30 to run off the programs and be there to pick up Megan and her mother at 8:45. When we got to the house Rhonda (the mom) was waiting outside for us and said Megan has strep throat. She said Megan wanted to come and cried because she couldn’t and could we do it on Sunday? We said we’d talk to the Elders. Megan might really have strep. Who knows? We’re learned not to believe everything we hear out here.

Well, there we were all dressed up with nowhere to go. Just kidding…that pretty much never happens out here. Not the dressing up part but the nowhere to go part. Last night at 10:30 Alma called and said the baby was in the hospital again. Since we were already planning to go somewhere we decided somewhere should be to Whiteriver to see Alma, Gilbert and Famisha. Famisha is only 2 months old and this is the second time she’s been in the hospital. She starts having trouble breathing then her heart races really fast. They told us today that the doctors don’t know what’s wrong. Seems to us they ought to be finding out.

On our way we stopped at a convenience store on the road to Whiteriver to get our “fix” for the day. When Robert came out of the store 3 of the rattiest looking Indians asked if we could give them a ride to Whiteriver. We were only about 8 miles away so we said yes. They proceeded to tell us they’re all baptized members of the Mormon church. There were 2 men and 1 woman. They woman was quite chatty and seemed to actually know several members. The older man never spoke. The younger man, presumably their son, but who knows, spoke but kept his hand over his mouth the whole way. We think the purpose of that was to keep us from smelling the alcohol on his breath…a difficult task as between the 3 of them we were practically intoxicated ourselves just from sharing the same vehicle for 10 minutes. They asked us to take them to Basha’s, the grocery store, but when we got to town they asked if we’d take them past the sawmill. We were getting out of town onto a pretty isolated road and feeling a bit nervous when they finally said stop and let them out. We did, even though we let them out in the middle of the road with not a house in sight. Whatever. They were gone, but their odor lingered for a bit.

At the hospital poor little Famisha had an IV and was receiving oxygen. Alma was very upset (this is the girl who has cancer). She’s also the one who got thrown out of her house last Sunday when Gilbert (boyfriend and sperm donor) got drunk. She said when they called the ambulance last night Gilbert’s mother came over and got mad at her and said it was her fault Famisha was sick because she shouldn’t have taken her to San Carlos where her mother lives when Gilbert threw her out. Never mind dear mother-in-law was there that night too and suggested Alma leave for a few days. So MIL tells Alma last night that she doesn’t know how to take care of Famisha and so MIL is going to take the baby away from her. We had a discussion about how that would have to happen and I told her if anyone ever comes to talk to her about taking her baby away call us. Don’t say a word until we get there. Alma’s young (17) but she’s trying to be a good mother. I was so mad. Instead of Witchy MIL coming over to help and support she just makes matters worse.

They also said they were hungry and hadn’t had anything to eat…it was about 10:30. So we went out to the desk and arranged for them to get food from the cafeteria. The hospital will provide a meal for one parent. They can share it. Robert gave Alma a blessing, another couple we called last night had already been over to administer to the baby. Then we went back to the store and bought some chips, cookies, Pepsi, carrots and oranges for them to snack on between meals.

Now off to Show Low where we got lunch and ate it at Jiffy Lube (my life sucks…obviously the truck ranks higher than my creature comforts) while we got the oil changed in the truck. Got some groceries and back to Cibecue about 3:00.

This morning when we discovered the baptism was off we went to tell Bonitos. We saw Maxine in the truck and she stopped and gave us an invitation to a birthday party for President and Ariel…this afternoon at 4:00. Ariel is 3 and her birthday was January 4 and President’s is today. But…an invitation the morning of the party? Once again our perception of reality is tested. Don’t people plan ahead? Obviously not. We honestly believe it’s because no one has anything to do (like a job) so there’s no need to ask ahead. They’re always available.

When we got back the family had been hard at work in the church. Tables were set up, with chairs not less. And it was decorated very nicely. However, it didn’t get started until 5:00, but that’s pretty much expected. Maxine Bonito had worked so hard. She had cooked food for 70 people…chicken, beef, tortillas, corn on the cob, potatoes, gravy, salad and the ever popular macaroni and cheese. They had 3 beautiful birthday cakes served with your choice of jello or cottage cheese, cool whip, maraschino cherry concoction. Robert said it was OK but Linda opted not to taste. Too many mixtures of flavors and textures for my pickiness.

After the party we spent an hour cleaning up. Maxine was so tired we brought all the leftover food to the trailer and put it in baggies, washed all her dishes and took them back to her house for her. Then we prepared our stuff for tomorrow. Robert has his “turn” tomorrow to teach Sunday School—it’s a very fair system. He teaches 2-3 weeks, Bonito teaches one, Robert teaches 2, etc. Now we’re happily going to bed. We had been quite reasonable on the work this week until today. Now it’s been another 14-hour day. We thought we were in recovery but relapsed today. So much for that New Year’s resolution.