Waiting... / My Parents/ Weekend Update

First, all I can say is that I'm anxiously waiting to hear from my husband this morning. He could have Very Bad News today. I had written half a post about it yesterday, but decided not to post it because K didn't want me to. I'll let you know later what happened or didn't happen, OK? The third part of the post is the same, but I want to talk a bit about my parents first.

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An update on my parent's situation:
I called them yesterday to talk about the issue I mentioned, but didn't name, above and I have to recant what I said yesterday about them being OK. My mom is really worried about my dad, she things he's really depressed and upset, but won't admit it. Yesterday was a particularly bad day because their lawyer went to the widow's wife to get some documents from her to get started in requesting that my dad's insurance pay her what she's supposed to receive. When he got there he was told that their lawyer had just left and that he'd have to deal with him from them on. So they're suing my parents and that will take forever and cost quite a bit which -- in her case -- may not be an advantage at all because she may end up with less than she could get from the insurance company, my dad, etc. because she'll have to pay the attorney's fees. Of course it'll still cost much less than here -- my parents know someone who spent the price of a new car to defend himself in a case like theirs. He's just upset that this same money could be raised and given to help the woman and her children, and not wasted on attorneys (he was willing to help her in every way possible). On the other hand, if it's all decided in the courts, my dad won't feel responsible for their family anymore once it's all said and done, regardless of the cost. I actually think it's better this way. It is sad that their lawyer will certainly take advantage of the fact that this widow is basically illiterate and very uneducated and that he's been opportunistic as lawyers can often be, but I don't think my dad should feel so frustrated about it. Like my mom said, maybe they would be feeling better today. They have to live one day at a time and yesterday was a very bad day, in her words. I just hope and pray that today doesn't become a very bad day for our family...

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We had a busy weekend and didn't know it was going to be this way until Thursay night/Friday morning when we learned, respectively, that my in-laws were coming to sleep here on Sunday with K's youngest aunt and her husband (who were visiting the U.S. for the very first time for a week) and that my brother-in-law was coming as well with his family. Good thing that we didn't hear earlier so we had a more relaxed week and didn't work like crazy to achieve more renovation projects in the house (we even got to watch a film last week -- the Netflix DVD we'd had for two months). We only cleaned and organized well and I even attached the the "little things" to the doors upstairs (and looking at the photos in that post I realize that I do miss those cute white doors since we have plain and ugly matte wooden slab doors).

The visits were great, the only downside was the weather since Sunday was a very chilly day and it was quite cold at night (below 32 F/ O C -- we had frost). That didn't prevent Kelvin, Linton, and their older cousin from spending all afternoon playing outside and riding bikes and tricycles on the driveway. (Linton had a very bad night because he had a congested and runny nose, but I think this was a small price to pay).

When they left on Monday morning I was quite depressed by the empty house and reminded that this is how my mom feels every time we visit and leave, only we're going to be thousands of miles away, not only a few hundred ones like my in-laws. My mom is most happy when she has a full house, so she's always planning lunches and dinners with friends and family who come to visit, so I guess this is a family trait that was passed on to me and, particularly, to her grandson, Kelvin. Since he was very little he just loved when people came to visit us and he still does. He has some shy moments in the very beginning (he hides for a while from people he doesn't know), but he's always anxiously waiting for them to come and joyous for their presence. One of the things we're very happy with in this house is that it has enough room so we can invite all our friends to parties and dinners and can receive overnight guests much better since we have two spare bedrooms (even in the study there's room for a mattress on the floor) and a futon on the family room. Therefore, this quick visit from our family members was a great success! :) I hope they come back soon.