And so we find ourselves at the end of another year (in this case 2008). It was an even-numbered year (and we happily remember being at the Lato-Glicklich’s Even Party 02/02/08) .
Happy New Year to everyone!
Jim
This past year has been another year of transitions for Jim. In March, Jim fell four times due to lapses in his judgment while under the care of the Benedale Center CNA’s (who, as part of an assisted living facility, share the care for several people). As a result, we had to hire a 24×7 caregiver for him. This was a new situation for him. His assisted living apartment is roomy, but it is an efficiency. We replaced his large table with a smaller one and bought a sleeper chair for his caregiver to use. Earlier, we had replaced his queen-sized bed with a special twin-sized hospital bed. So everything fit, although having two people sharing an efficiency was a significant change for Jim.
In early July, Jim experienced a urinary tract infection that caused severe confusion, and his paranoia became extreme. He was hospitalized at Linden Oaks psychiatric facility for a few weeks because he was a danger to himself; fortunately, adjusting his medications allowed him to return to the Benedale Center.
This fall Tina took Jim to Rush Hospital in Chicago to see some specialists; their opinion is that Jim most probably suffers from Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), one of a group of Parkinsonism disorders for which there is yet no definitive diagnosis. PSP is also the disease that his local neurologist had suspected. His medications have been adjusted to try to balance his neurological and motor needs, and his doctors will continue to monitor his responses and evaluate how best to deal with his symptoms.
Jim’s current caregiver’s name is Steve; and overall he has been doing a good job with taking care of Jim.
Jim still exercises 5 or 6 days a week in the VSB exercise room. His macular degeneration and the problems from PSP that make it difficult for him to look down contribute to problems with reading and e-mail; and the stiffness and loss of motor function make it very difficult for him to pursue his paper folding. Fortunately, his caregiver helps him with his e-mail, though this doesn’t happen daily. Communicating is frequently hard for Jim, but he wants to tell his friends that he has appreciated their visits–both during this past year and earlier as well.
It was early in September that Jim surprised us all by telling us he had secretly wanted to be a Catholic for a long time; and now he wished to act on that. Sister Regina from the Sacred Heart Monastery visited him frequently to instruct him in a special form of the Roman Catholic Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. Jim began attending the daily masses and we frequently practiced the Lord’s Prayer and Apostle’s Creed prayers with him. In November, Jim received the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and First Eucharist as he joined the Catholic Church. We know Anna must be pleased in Heaven.
Extended Family
This past year, 2008, was a very difficult year for the family as we said farewell to Grandma Kipp (the mother of cherished friend Lyle Kipp, Kristiana’s godfather) and Grandpa Wu (the father of dear friends Sandy Kipp and Michael Wu). Grandma Kipp passed away in March of 2008, almost exactly two years after Anna’s passing. Grandpa Wu passed away in July. In our photos, you will see many pictures of the Wu and Kipp families as we celebrate many holidays with them each year.
Nan
Here is Nan with her goddaughter Lori Kipp and their “hairstylist” Mandy Wu. Besides managing the Yao family household, Nan still keeps an eye on Kristiana’s schoolwork and coordinates her extracurricular activities. Nan also continues to manage Jim’s many doctor appointments, medicines, supplies, and insurance paperwork.
At the annual Bagwell family reunion in Alabama this summer, Nan spent a day in the woods around Lake Carole with Tim, waiting and watching to get snapshots of the elusive blue herons.Nan participated in the Naperville Public Library’s reading program this summer; after her sister Charlene passed along a John Grisham paperback at the lake, Nan enjoyed reading several more Grisham novels back at home even though she usually prefers nonfiction. Also at Lake Carole, Nan picked wild blackberries and helped make a delicious cobbler to go with the traditional homemade frozen custard.
Kristiana
Kristiana started off 2008 with a bang, moving from Jefferson Junior High School (only about a mile away from our house) over to Kennedy Junior High School (about 6 miles away). This move was due to Kristiana’s accepting a mid-school-year invitation to join the Project Idea Plus magnet school program for academically gifted students. There were, as might be expected, many changes associated with the move. First, Kristiana had been working hard to get into Jefferson’s 7th and 8th grade Jazz Ensemble as a 6th grader; she made it, but the group’s first concert wasn’t until early spring. As part of the school transition that everyone had agreed to, for several weeks Kristiana participated in early morning Jefferson Jazz Ensemble rehearsals before being driven over to Kennedy for the school day. In addition, she worked to make a place for herself in the Kennedy band, eventually winning her way into the 7th grade jazz band and fluctuating between first and second chair in the concert band.
The biggest change, however, was in the amount of homework and catch-up work; she eventually caught up to the advanced study courses and continues to do well with her academics. She also made many new friends, though she already knew many of the PI+ students, and also has kept her camaraderie with her friends from Jefferson Junior High and Mill Street Elementary before that.
During the spring of 2008, Kristiana continued voice coaching, dance classes, and piano lessons. In the summer, she participated in a fun jazz band camp, began private trumpet lessons, and reunited with members of her chamber music ensemble group (she played piano and trumpet).
For the third straight year, Kristiana competed in and successfully completed NaNoWriMo, this time writing a science fiction novel that also served to fill an assignment in Language Arts at school. In spite of her heavy homework load, Kristiana managed to be the first person in our region to finish her novel after reaching 50,000 words (this means that she also beat her father); and she didn’t lose a single word war at any of the write-ins. In fact, in one of her best results, she clocked in at 115 words per minute (writing, not just typing!) for seventeen minutes straight.
Kristiana enjoyed our annual trip to the Bagwell family reunion at Lake Carole, and the farm there remains her all-time favorite vacation spot. She always has fun visiting with her cousins and aunts and uncles. These are pictures of Ben (Kristiana’s first cousin once removed) being untangled from Kristiana’s long hair.
Here is a picture of Kristiana with her cousin Missy, wading in the creek–an annual event cut a bit short this year when two snakes were sighted (and destroyed).
This fall, Kristiana scaled back on her extracurricular activities to devote more time to school work. Nevertheless, she has maintained her piano and trumpet lessons (the latter have been painful for her as she now has braces). In the spring, she will suspend the trumpet lessons and resume voice lessons; these days she is learning the Habanera from Carmen in French for a special solo at her school’s spring choral concert. Tim and Kristiana still practice trumpet together (Tim has a slight edge in range due to Kristiana’s braces, but Kristiana has a much better tone and is far superior in jazz improvisation).
Tim
Tim still works at Alcatel-Lucent in the W-CDMA RNC project. At work, they’ve consolidated the Lisle-Naperville campus into a single facility in Naperville, eliminating the single office perquisite for Distinguished Members of the Technical Staff; as a result, Tim has to share an office for the first time since his promotion in 2000. Fortunately, he has a great office mate in Uma Iyengar, who has been his next door neighbor at work (and good friend) since 2002.
Tim started off 2008 with a trip to Ottawa, Ontario (which is the WCDMA RNC project home) for training; and has ended 2008 with another trip to Ottawa for a series of meetings. There is a lot of snow in Ottawa 
Outside of work, Tim still organizes and plays tennis in the spring/summer/fall (good weather) months and leads his volleyball team during the winter months. This fall volleyball season has been a very challenging one; Tim’s good friends Marty Dyer (outside hitter) and long-time (since 1997!) setter Kelley Neal have left the team. Marty moved to New Mexico and Kelley has had to change her life priorities as her mom recovers from a stroke. This has had a terrible impact on the team’s win/loss record–they will be falling from the A league to the B league starting in January. On the bright side, Tim has started a second team, reuniting with his old U of I volleyball teammates Paulo Acioli and Mike Schneider.
Once again, Tim is the leading co-Municipal Liaison for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) Illinois::Naperville region. This means that in addition to writing a 50,000+ word novel in 30 days in November, he planned and hosted supporting local events with his new co-ML Katherine Lato. He has now written a 50,000+ word novel each year since 2003.