Work on Will and Mindie's Rental and our yard

24 April 2009
Will and Mindie’s house on Vena fell vacant and we have been working to set it to rights. Daddy B.J. cleaned the basement, where the hot water heater spread a lot of water and created a mud mess on the central cement floor from the surrounding open dirt areas. He also did touch up painting. I hired Leah Pierson at the beginning of the month to do the initial inside cleaning including shampooing the carpet. I could have done that but her home health care employer has cut her hours to fifteen per week, which a hardship for her.
I started the major project of making curtains for the fifteen windows. When a friend commented that the renters would want to decorate according to their own tastes, I realized she was right. Then I hit Value Village on two successive 99¢ tag sale days and was blessed to find curtains for eight windows. In the middle of one night it came to me that I had unopened lace curtains, which I purchased at a similar sale about a year ago. They worked for four more windows. I had already sewn the curtains for the master bedroom. When pondering about the expense of curtain rods, which were needed for all windows, I was inspired to think of teacup hooks and bamboo from our yard . The holes for former rods, which had been removed, were receptacles for the hooks. I wrapped the ends of the bamboo with white masking tape, which made them more attractive. On pieces to support lace, which revealed the bamboo, I wrapped the middle with plain gray duct tape. By fiddling with the strings and patiently bandaging together breaks in vinyl slats with white duct tape, and splinting one broken bottom rail with bamboo I got the mini-blinds to at least hang approximately even. Last Saturday we spent several hours doing general clean-up and hanging curtains. It worked out very well.
I have a great exercise plan to recommend – yard work. Monday for Family Home Evening Daddy B.J and I headed out to Vena. He used the weed-eater, shovel and broom to clean up sidewalks and flowerbeds. I mowed. Then we made a sandwich board for “for Rent” signs and Daddy B.J. called in an ad to the Sun newspaper.

Tuesday I mowed our own lawn and noticed how very much larger it is than Vena's. That night I started weeding the strawberries. I put in a lot of hours yesterday to finish that and take out the dandelions that had formed a border beneath the cedar hedge along our driveway. I accumulated two wheelbarrows of weeds. Daddy B.J. said the place is starting to look like someone lives here.
My sister is having foot surgery today. Dr. David Gent is removing a bunion and putting in a pin to straighter her big toe for that foot. Sis and I talked a couple of days ago and she had exciting news about Korb and his family. The company he used to work for back in Minnesota is opening business in Europe. They asked him to return to work for them and when they agreed to all his requests he agreed. He will be taking his family there for a year starting this summer. Naturally Cliff and Sis will try to visit them sometime - for about a month. They were there when Cliff was in the Navy and look forward to both visiting family in that setting and doing sight-seeing.
Sis and Cliff were very pleased that Joseph & Kathryn stopped both ways on their trip to visit Kathryn’s family in Montana. Salt Lake City, Utah is half way between Pahrump, Nevada and Bozeman, Montana. Kathryn made some new blog entries including one about their trip. What magnificent scenery and how fun to be with so many in her family.
Last Friday David and his girls plus three of their school girl friends, who were spending the night, came for a visit to borrow a tent to put up in their family room. At the Easter Egg Hunt Adryann and Brynneé noticed that I had a tent and stored the memory. While here they played in the back yard. David offered to take them on a canoe ride. When I saw five wiggly squirmy girls in life jackets in the canoe I asked David if he really thought he could keep them sitting still enough to avoid tipping the canoe. He doubted it, so we pulled out the rowboat and I got out a set of oars. They spent about a half-hour on the lake and had a marvelous time. Since sound carries so well I could hear their laughter.

David and Fatima had a business appointment in Seattle one day this week. They took advantage of being close and went to a session at the temple. David said the peace he felt was a tremendous blessing. Peace is a very rare commodity at this time for them.
Nathan called yesterday. We talked and he counted blessings. Debbie and Jay’s generosity to him during his visit in California headed his list. Nathan can see Heavenly Father’s hand in his life as a response to his actions related to their generosity.
Jay’s birthday was last Monday. I complained about having only one photo of him from the previous year – too little on which to expend my creative efforts in making a birthday card for him. He promised and Debbie promised too to sent more pictures this next year. T.J.'s school put on their musical last weekend. Debbie hoped they would make a video of it available. I hope so too. T.J. was in the chorus and had a great time singing and dancing.
Benjamin was so taken with a baby picture of Anna Kate that he asked a friend to do a portrait of her from it. He sent it to Mike and Jenna and hopes we will get to see it there. Mike and Jenna can hardly believe Anna Kate is going on two – June 13th. Jenna added some great pictures of Anna Kate to her blog. They were taken over Easter and while visiting with Jenna’s parents.
Sunday, April 19, 2009 Ruth added to her blog out of the mouth of babes - "We’ve been trying to teach our children the concept of the spirit’s promptings and satan’s enticing. So for family home evening/scripture study Tim whispered things into the children’s ears like “be nice to your sister” or “make fun of your brother” and then asked who they thought would be saying what. Last night after we were done reading scriptures Gent leaned over and whispered into my ear, “satan says be mean to your husband.” He leaned back from me and smiled and then he leaned into my ear again and whispered “the holy ghost says give cotton candy to your son.”
Last week I was caught short on time when I wanted to get a letter off to Benjamin so I didn’t post to my blog. I just dashed off a note. I think I told him how very much Ruth’s family enjoyed their trip to Debbie & Jay's to celebrate Tim’s completing his Nevada law bar examination. They especially enjoyed going to Disneyland and Debbie took care of Zion so Ruth and Tim could be one-on-one with Ellie and Gent.
Skagit the dog disappeared after four days at our house. Easy come easy go.
We love all of you. Have a wonderful week.

Mike and Adam's visit and General Conference

We don’t know how much of general conference you were able to listen to. We set up/ took down the projector for the broadcast both days in our chapel. So we were able to soak it all up.
Last Friday night was a ward temple night for me. It was the first time in ages that I was just a back seat passenger and not the driver. I napped on the way and it was the best temple worship I have had in a long, long time. It really helps to be rested. Sister Judy Kerman, with whom I worked in cub scouting for years several years ago, sat beside me during the sessiion and afterwards we talked. Her husband had been on kidney dialysis for seven years and was drawing very close to death when a donor kidney was found for him last October. He is a new man in that one part but seems a new man all round. Judy was so happy.
Adam arrived in Bellingham that evening. Michael picked him up and drove him to Bremerton after the Saturday morning session of conference. Daddy B.J., David, Adam, Michael and Patrick attended the Priesthood session together. What a treat!
All the talks both days were wonderful. Jeffrey Holland’s tearful remarks impressed me, ”…that the supreme sacrifice of His Son might be as complete as it was voluntary and solitary, the Father briefly withdrew from Jesus the comfort of His Spirit, the support of His personal presence. It was required; indeed it was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind—us, all of us—would feel when we did commit such sins. For His Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone.” This rings true to me.
During the week he was in town Adam did a lot of visiting with our family and David’s and at Bremerton High School among former teachers and coaches and with friends from his high school days. Nate Gillam, who was a close friend of Joe Gent, is now the head football coach for Bremerton HS. Imagine Adam’s surprise to walk into the coach’s classroom and find a large picture of himself with the UNLV head football coach on the bulletin board at the front of the room. Adam knew that Coach Sanford mailed out copies of his players to their former high schools and junior colleges, but Adam didn’t know it would end up being displayed so prominently. Mr. Gillam said it was to encourage his high school players, letting them see that former BHS students could make it onto outstanding college teams.
From the wrestling coach’s library of past year’s video tapes Adam gleaned several to borrow. He used them to make a DVD of his own matches. He shared some of the DVD with us. It was a lot more casual to watch a nice movie than it was to watch a match in person! This morning I hopped on the Internet to pre-purchase a ticket for him with his credit card to catch the AmTrak train from Seattle to Bellingham this evening. Michael will pick him up and enjoy him for another night and get him to the airport tomorrow evening for his flight to Las Vegas.
I checked back with Nathan about his Sri Lanka guests and he was able to give a Book of Mormon in English to Shamir before he flew home. Nathan said that since they were bedding down in the living room and since the TV is in that room too, they heard a good bit of General Conference while Nathan watched it there. He was sowing seeds.
Nathan applied for a summer internship in Pahrump, but the county would have to find funds to pay for it, so the chances are pretty small. He may just stay in Las Vegas over the summer and ask Adam’s help in getting work. Nathan’s second year of law school will finish up in less than a month now. It’s not all fun -that is for sure. But, working hard and not just fun makes time fly fast.
Debbie emailed me a cute picture of Amy. Debbie looked through the house for her daughter and found her in the toy closet ready to make an imaginary meal.
Last Monday Fatima almost hit a dog in the middle of the highway near the Red Apple Grocery. She opened her car door to call to the dog to get him to get off the road and he jumped in her car. Adryann, who has a really soft heart for dogs took a real shine to “Scrambles” as she nick-named him but Daja, their big old pit bull, did not. So we brought the newly found dog home, posted a picture of him at the Red Apple and called in for a free pet found ad in the Sun newspaper. Patrick feels much like Adryann when it comes to dogs. When the dog ran away up the road a couple of times Patrick tracked him down. The owner caught sight of Patrick as he looked. She offered the dog to him saying they were going to take him to the humane society anyway because they simply didn’t have time for him. Well, with his wonder-lust I don’t know how long this canine will be around but for now Skagit is here. It is interesting that the nick-name Adryann picked isn’t all that different from the county he is named after.
Happy Easter!

April egins

Family and Friends,
David phoned April Fool's day to say it was snowing. It wasn't a joke, unless you this the weather this year has been laughable. I learned late the day before that the last day of March was the deadlline for removing studded snow tires. Not wanting a $124 ticket - surely with all the noise they make you couldn't avoid getting one - I was sort of happy to sit in the tire waiting room till 8:15 PM to make the switch.
Ruth's 30th birthday was March 30th and she celebrated for a full week. The Thursday before Debbie drove up with her daughters and over the weekend Adam and Nathan came out too. Of course the family from right in Pahrump joined in and they had a party all weekend long. Ruth's young women then gave a party for her on April Fool's day. So ended the best birthday of her life.
While Debbie was in Pahrump Jay send her the largest floral arrangement she had every seen and she generously shared that with Ruth too. Well it gladdened everyone's hearts.
The woman, who invited my family to investigate The Church fifty years ago, called me last week. She moved to Missouri several years ago. Through the last couple of years she lost track of contact information for her other friends in Bremerton. She was inspired to try my phone number. Since it hasn’t changed in the last fifteen years, it worked. It was great to talk to Mary Louise Peck Fulton again and I was able to help her.
Mary recently made a short distance move to within .3 mile of her daughter and son-in law’s Brian and Kristin O’Loughlin. It was an inspired move because shortly afterwards her six-year-old grand-daughter, Mary Grace, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. The child first complained of leg pain but within four weeks she had lost bowel and bladder control.
It is a brain cancer but fortunately it formed not in her brain but in her spine. Consequently the doctors give her a 90% chance of recovery. She is several hours away from home at the St. Jude’s Cancer Research Center in Memphis, Tennessee. It was founded by Danny Thomas St. Jude is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance. Kristin naturally needed to go with her. Her ten-year-old sister insisted on going too. Their mom is “home-schooling” them there. Living so close now, Mary is able to help the dad and the eight and thirteen-year-old sons, who need to remain at home. Mary said the bright side is that many neighbors and acquaintances have been touched by the peace that radiates from the family in spite of the calamity. I think you call that passive missionary work.
Speaking of missionary work, Nathan is hosting three students from Sir Lanka. They are attending a week long International Client Counseling Competition being held at Nathan’s college. Chithral, Shamir, and Charuka are of diverse religious backgrounds – Muslim, Buddhist, and Catholic. They see pictures of Jesus on the walls of Nathan’s apartment. Nathan takes them through the institute building after driving them to campus. They are impressed by the fact that food items available in the institute building are sold at cost and a simple box is beside the food for payment. Nathan says they are “blown away” by it’s being on the honor system. Nathan has ordered copies of the Book of Mormon in their language and hopes they arrive in time for him to present them before they leave Tuesday.
We are excited that Adam is flying into Bellingham tonight. Michael will pick him up and they will watch the first session of General Conference Saturday morning with Jenna and Anna Kate. Then Mike and Adam will drive down here to attend the Priesthood session with Daddy B.J. and David. Michael will return to Bellingham Sunday but Adam doesn’t return till Friday to catch his flight home. What fun we can have around here!.
Daddy B.J. flew with President Anderson to Kansas early Wednesday morning. They attended a training for Aviva along with Will in Topeka. Daddy B.J. returned late last night but President Anderson stayed at their layover point in Salt Lake City where he will attend General Conference. He will ride home with his parents.
While he was away I worked at his office so Brenda Holmes wouldn’t be alone there. I made a small dent in a huge project making curtains for Will and Mindie’s Vena house.
I will be heading over to the temple tonight since it is our ward’s temple day. Daddy B.J. was going too till he saw that an appointment had been scheduled with a client, who has been upset that it has been taking so long. I told Ruth I would put Tim’s name on the prayer roll as the graders still might be checking over his Nevada Bar Exam. He has the job he wanted as a prosecuting attorney IF he passes the Bar. He will.

Spring 2009 begins

Aunt Lavina’s lump on her thyroid in her throat is benign but the doctors do want to have an ultrasound check on it every year. She is wise to check on anything unusual . That way if she ever needs treatment, it can be done immediately. She and Cliff are in Utah now and will be till the day after Easter, which is April 12th, when they head back to Bremerton.
Monday night we had a terrific family home evening. Brenda Holmes loaned us a copy of the DVD “On the Lord’s Errand” a biography of President Thomas S. Monson. It is beautifully done and very inspiring. We have a great prophet and the Lord worked at training him for the calling for his entire lifetime. I am slowly reading “A Disciple’s Life” a biography about Elder Neal A. Maxwell, who was an apostle with a unique way of saying things. One quote of his I love is: “Since a real sense of belonging matters, one of the great things we can do for family and friends is to contribute regularly to their storehouses of self-esteem by giving deserved and specific commendations and encouragement.” Another is, “God does not begin by asking our ability, only our availability, and if we prove our dependability, He will increase our capability.” Anyway I have bumped into a slight snag in keeping the details from President Monson’s life and Elder Maxwell’s life straight in my mind. I think I will have to look things up if I ever want to talk about either man. For now I just grateful to know that we have latter-day prophets, who are inspired as Abraham or Moses.
Tuesday night as many of the activity committee members as could met here at 6:30 for an assembly line packing of the Easter bags (125), which we will pass out at our Easter Egg Hunt and coloring activity on April 11th. Four sisters joined me and we placed two pieces of candy in each plastic egg and two plastic eggs along with a small toy into each bag and then used the self-fastening top to close the bag. The fun thing about it was the chit-chat and laughter as we enjoyed the various egg colors, sizes, and patterns and the toys. I think one can always have fun working with friends.
That night Patrick was at the church during mutual and Daddy B.J. took him to the home where he has been staying and dropped him off about 9:30. Close to midnight a phone call came from Leah. Patrick found that he was locked out and he called the police. The family was awakened to policemen with pistols drawn and spotlights on. The woman said that was the last straw - a humiliation before neighbors. She said that Patrick knew a house rule was to be in by 7:30 PM before the doors were locked because she has to get up really early in the morning for her job. Daddy B.J. helped Patrick gather his things, which had been deposited on the porch, that night and returned the next night for the rest of his things. Fortunately Daddy B.J. had been lead to scriptures that talked about serving the needy among us and understood that as a direction to take Patrick in again and simply be as patient as possible with him.
Last Sunday was our ward conference. Our speakers were the bishop and the stake president. Daddy B.J.’s talk encouraged us all to show Christ-like love for each other. Also as individuals to lay hold on the joy of the gospel by daily scripture reading – if only one verse, morning and evening prayer, and looking for ways to serve. President Anderson touched on many things but I especially enjoyed his challenge to be people of integrity. He told a story about his great grandmother receiving too much change after buying a ticket, returning the extra money, being observed in the act of honesty and that leading to her being chosen from among 500 applicants for a job at a bank. One opportunity led to another. She worked as secretary for Ezra Taft Benson, when he was over agriculture in Idaho. She eventually met the wonderful man she married. All these blessing flowed from one act of honesty when her friends were tempting her to just keep the money and spend it. After that meeting I went to primary where I was substituting. Have a great week.

March Is Half Over - A Unique Season 2009

A recent email was in cartoon form showing people dragging their personal crosses through life. One man prayed several times for the Lord to reduce the size of his cross. Each time he took out a saw and cut a piece off the tail end the thanked the Lord for making his way easier. There came a ravine and the others with their full-size crosses were able to use them to bridge the gap. The man with the shortened cross could not make it. An explanation accompanies the cartoon. It is, “We complain about the cross we bear but don't realize it is preparing us for the dip in the road that God can see and we cannot.” It sort of boils down to trusting the Lord all along the way.
It has been a unique week. Saturday was our ward activity, the Un-Olympics. It was fun but also a relief to have it over.

Gold Medal – Daddy B.J.

Silver Medal – David Gent
Bronze Medal – Graham Hall Bishop B.J. racing Bro. Hall Adryann and Brynneé

Sunday I arrived at church at 7:00 AM to join the ward council meeting. It seemed to be starting to snow. Several minutes later Brother Stan Palmer arrived with large snowflakes on head and shoulders. By the time that meeting finished there was about an inch of snow but the Bishop decided to proceed with sacrament meeting. We had four of Justin Stailey’s out-of-town family members sleeping at out house. They and many others came to Bremerton for the blessing of Justin’s son that morning. The first announcement cancelled the other meetings. I was certainly grateful the snow tires were still on my car as I drove four of the visitors to their family celebration in about three inches of snow. I used my extra time at home that day to work on the new ward phone list. The snow was gone by morning
Monday evening the four full-time missionaries in our ward came to dinner. I had a ‘missionary moment’ to report. A new couple moved in up the road from us across from Diana Purdy. He is a pastor and starting a new church here. I met him a couple of weeks ago as he was performing the service to taking folks’ garbage cans from the street to their houses. Monday morning I stopped at his house to give him a copy of the Book of Mormon. First he said he already had a copy on his bookshelf. When I opened it to show him our family picture and explained that I had marked this copy so he could read throughout it in about an hour-and-a-half, he said since I went to that work he would accept it. He said some neighbors objected to his retrieving their garbage cans so he changed service strategies to picking up roadside litter.
Yesterday Adam emailed me a web address for a beautiful slide show. Its title slide is “Here Are Some Tips That May Bring You A Beautiful Life! “ The quote from one slide says, ”Dream more while you are awake.” The accompanying picture is of a doll lying at the side of a street with a dream bubble by her picturing her between dad and mom stick figures. I looked at it several times before I understood it. Anyway there were thirty slides with wise suggestions. I liked the slide show so much that I copied it to my computer as a power point presentation. I get excited when I learn something new for using my computer and I did in this case. I also enjoy sharing computer hints. Yesterday Brenda Holmes, who helps at Daddy B.J.’s office, asked me two questions about excel spreadsheets and I was able to show her how to perform both tasks. All told I had several computer-growth-highs yesterday.
This morning I have been on the phone with T-Mobile to set up Daddy B.J.’s new cell phone under Nathan’s Loyalty Family Plan. Daddy B.J.’s cell number will be ported over from Sprint to T-Mobile and it will save us lots of money. Saving money is another thing that is dear to my heart and gives me warm fuzzy feelings.

An exciting second week in March 2009

You will recall the opening lines of a hymn, “Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, Uttered, or unexpressed…” It always amazes me to note how Heavenly Father answers those prayers. Over the last couple of winters we have used a heating pad as a feet warmer for Daddy B.J. That faithful source of comfort “died” about a week ago. Now we certainly didn’t make a new pad a matter of formal prayer but there were some unexpressed wishes –especially two nights ago when Daddy B.J. said he was freezing. With the residual pain from his gums healing and the need for pain medication, his coldness may have been just a by-product. Yesterday after running errands I felt impressed to stop by Vinnie’s. Guess what I found. Not just one but two heating pads. I bought them both and Daddy B.J. was truly comforted. That was yet another tender mercy of the Lord.
Now, on to more trivial matters. I have been hustling all week to get things ready for our upcoming ward activity. An Un-Olympics needs a lot of props. I made gold, silver, and bronze medals – 48 each and a stand for keeping the three separate and easy to present. I checked a great march music CD out of the library for playing during the opening ceremony. I’ve searched our attic, carport, and finally our closet at the church to track down the event signs and posters prepared for the September 2007 event. I found them yesterday morning! I looked through the pictures from ’07 to add a few to the email reminder that goes out to all ward members with known email addresses. I printed up our family flag again. I’m grateful I saved it on the computer. That is far better than having to be creative this time. I prepared the record sheets for events – six each for the respective groups of participants and started gathering the materials needed for each event. I’ll finish that round up after getting a letter off to you.
I had a nice visit with Michael. He was impressed by man’s talk in his stake priesthood meeting. The man said the only regret he had was not telling his father how much he cherished him. So Michael phoned to tell us how much he cherished us. Pretty neat, huh? He also mentioned that he had given a talk last week in his Sacrament Meeting. I asked him to email me his notes and he did. I printed up his notes and will include it with this letter. It actually was a tribute to Daddy B.J. and me. It said he had learned to give service by growing up in a home where much service was given.
Debbie’s son Nicholas is training in how to be a fireman. Debbie sent me a picture of him in his full fireman’s outfit. She also sent a picture of herself and Amy laying on a blanket on the lawn. It was interesting because Amy had on a swimsuit and Debbie looked like she was dressed for cooler weather. Speaking of weather, we had small amounts of snow again last week. Well the first day of spring is just one week from today on March 20th. I’m just glad we still have snow tires on my car. The sun is out and it warms up nicely – well the mid-40s anyway – in the afternoon. But, the clear star-filled sky at night is a hallmark of cold temperatures and the roads are icy of a morning. I found the rock salt in the member custodial closet last Sunday morning and Brother Sorensen sprinkled it on the patches of ice outside. David said it was 17o a few nights ago. What a bizarre winter it has been.
Did I ever tell you that Mikel and Amy Anderson bought the house that Wayne and Jan Bales owned. It is right across the street from David’s office. Mikel stopped in a few days ago and spoke to the girls working for David. Since Mikel is David and Fatima’s Silverdale 4th ward’s stake president as well as our own, it gives you pause to know that he knows where you are.
Will called and told me how much he enjoys the emails that I forward to him. I try to be selective since I myself delete hate to be swamped with emails. Will said his work is going better for him all the time.
Joseph called in excitement over The Church’s new family history website . He asked from the death dates of my mother’s siblings and when he had them he was able to get their names “temple ready” in just a few more minutes. I think he must have emailed or called a lot of other family members because Adam called me a day or so latter and had been on the website and reserved several names to do the work for. Since he and Nathan are only a few minutes away from the Las Vegas temple, I hope they can get them done. It is exciting.
We love you. Keep the faith. Let us know what’s happening with you.

The 3rd month of 2009 Marches in.

I guess you could call it a moving week. Monday I babysat for the baby of the Wood family, who are moving to Port Orchard. Wednesday I went and helped the missionaries load a moving van for the Hickam family, who are moving to Shelton. Friday Daddy B.J. took our van and helped the missionaries move Rhonda Rameriz and her children, who are moving within our ward boundaries.
Monday was Debbie & Jay’s daughter Amy’s 8th birthday. The whole family went to an inn on the beach for one night and enjoyed the activity facilities there the weekend before. Of course, Debbie took cupcakes to her school for her. Each treat had a little toy ring on top. Then for her party Debbie cooked up lots of ribs, which Amy favors, and had all the traditional birthday festivities. Amy is a fan of a musical movie series called “High School Musical”, so Debbie found a large poster of the stars of the part III edition and posted it on their wall of mirrors. Nathan & Nicholas used a helium canister to blow up fifty balloons. Amy went from that fun to a pajama day at her school. Debbie frequently calls me as she is chauffeuring the kids around. I could hear the smile in her voice as she watched Amy heading into her building and plumping up the collar of her fluffy bathroom as she went.
Travis’ birthday was Wednesday and he turned eleven. Daddy B.J. and I were able to catch him before he left for school to sing our birthday wish to him. I had mailed off his birthday card along with those heading to Amy and Joseph (March 1st) and Mindie(also March 1st). Then I remembered that I had committed to writing each grandchild a personal letter for their special day when they were between the ages of eight and marriage. I enjoy touching their lives this way and perhaps impress them with how much we love them. Travis’ only took about a half-hour, but I stewed over what to write Amy. I ended up piecing together a picture letter. I made the mistake of leaving a picture of Monica off. Fortunately Debbie called so I could redo the page and email it. Debbie printed it up and it turned out to be a real hit. Jay’s favorite part was my using a picture of a deer in place of the word “dear” in the greeting.
Ruth’s husband took the Nevada bar exam for three days at the end of February and then the whole family headed up to Utah to visit his cousin Charity’s family and unwind. Daddy B.J. and I know he passed it, but the true release of pressure doesn’t come till he receives the letter of acknowledgment in the mail in about three months.
David calls most mornings while he is driving to work and he has also stopped by a couple of times this week. His wife and girls all suffered a bout with the flu but they survived. David gets to hear first hand about all the aches and pains that afflict us as we grow older. He does all he can to stimulate health.
Nathan has included us in a wonderful cell phone package with T-mobile that will allow us to save a lot of money every month. Hurrah! You know a buck saved is like two earned – because of taxes. Speaking of taxes, we were surprised to receive a tax return this year. True, it would be better if things were going so well that we had to pay even more taxes, but in the current recession we are just glad for the modest blessings. We know a lot of workers who are losing their jobs or having their hours cut back.
Adam chatted quite a while yesterday with his father and then called and talked to me too. He has decided to really focus and getting his Bachelor’s degree as soon as possible and should have it by the end of this year – yes December 2009. He has also carefully looked as his time, energy, and financial budgets and decided he can leave his job at the casino. Actually this is part of the focus. Go Adam! At football he is practicing at starting positions on several defensive plays. Look out you ball-carriers!
From Aunt Linda Goodman’s blog: “Truth be told, we really didn't do too badly. Out of 214 teams we came in 74th; we were 26th out of 94 teams in our division. The fastest time was 20 hours and 29 minutes; the slowest 36 hours and 27 minutes. Our time was 29 hours and 28 minutes. I am proud of our effort, and so proud to be included with all those young, fit athletes. What could they do? My son was the team leader!” Shaila and Nick Jr. were on her team.
I visit all all my children’s and relatives blogs as I prepare entries for my own blog. It is wonderful to see and hear what is going on for them.