It is a very good thing that Aaron was here this weekend; otherwise we wouldn’t even have heard that we have a new bishop in Beaverton First Ward! He was out in the hall during Sunday School talking with Malia Hite and ran into someone else who was saying, “Congratulations” to Randy Daniels. Aaron strikes up a conversation with everyone! So, that is how he learned that Randy Daniels is our new bishop as of today.
On the way home, we called Carol Stanger to get the details! Randy’s first counselor is Steve Mackley (the Young Men President) and Bill Knowles (the High Priest Quorum Leader). Most of you probably don’t know either of them since they moved in after most of you were gone.
Other big news is from Wendi. She emailed that she has also been accepted to BYU. She said that she would have a hard decision to make on which school she should attend. Both are good choices but there are pros and cons to both of course. This may be old news for all of you; she may have made her decision by now!
We had a fun visit with Aaron. He arrived here on Thursday afternoon. That night I captured some time from him and had him go through a stack of old pictures that I had wanted dates and explanations for his scrapbook. I have had that stacks for at least a couple of years. It didn’t take long and it is such a relief to me to have that done after all this time! Now, the trick is finding the time and space to add the random pictures to scrapbook pages that are already done! He also helped me with my iPod Touch learning curve this weekend.
Aaron covered a lot of territory while he was here. He went to dinner and to an OPB taping on Friday night with one of the girls from the singles ward. He went to Gresham to visit with his old missionary companion and snow shoeing partner, Conrad. Conrad and his family moved here a couple of years ago so that was nice that they could get together. Aaron said that they swapped home improvement pictures.
Before Aaron left for Gresham, he found a recipe for a vegetarian crock pot dish that he could start cooking and drop off on his way to visit Conrad (so that it would be ready for the organized YSA dinner group that he was attending that evening before going to the dance with them). His friend that he went out with the night before is vegetarian so that was nice that he made the effort to prepare something she would eat at the potluck.
Dad and I also went to the Valentine dance. We started our Valentine celebration with a late lunch at a Mid Eastern buffet. I am glad that Dad loves that food as much as I do! Earlier in the week I went to lunch with Jeannena and we went to Abu Karem downtown; I don’t think I had been back there since Mindy passed away. Mindy is the one who used to accompany me to several Lebanese restaurants; I have been hooked ever since my very first falafel in Israel in 1976! Our personal guide, Daniel Rona, excitedly introduced the group of us to a street vendor that made the best falafels.
After Dad and I stayed over an hour at our lunch buffet enjoying all the different flavors, we went to see two different movies to kill the time before the dance that night. I had wanted to see the Shopaholic movie and the one with Drew Barrymore, “He’s Just Not That Into You.” They were cute movies; I liked the Shopaholic one the best as it didn’t have any raunchy scenes. But I did like the ending of the other one where the man realized that he was the happiest by seeing that his girlfriend was happy. That is what it is all about.
The Valentine’s dance was not as glitzy this year; no live band, no room full of fancy desserts and not as many fresh flowers, draping and lights in the decorations but it was still nice and there is something rather satisfyin
g when you know they worked hard to stay within budget and there weren’t fifty to one hundred families whose parents were gone for several days to set up and decorate for a one night event. It felt quite timely and the dancing and the mingling were just as fun sans the glitz.The only picture we took all weekend was of a cake that I made. Brad Jorgensen made this cake for Jaime’s birthday in December and Adrianne got the recipe from her last week to make one for her roommate, Rachel. Adrianne described the process so I could make the same ice cream cake for Valentine’s Day. With everything else that was going on, I opted to make it for our Sunday dessert instead. There was so much left over that we are going to use it for some of the refreshments for our Empty Nester Family Home Evening tonight. We are going to read some scriptures that have the word heart in them (I received a list from my institute class last week) and then play some Mormon Mad Gab. I printed the cards on 11 by 14 sheets of paper since most everyone is over 60 in this group . . . NOT ME of course! If that doesn’t go well, I printed some Sudoku off of the New Era section of lds.org. I hope it is a fun evening. Some of my favorite people are out of town.
Morty had a fun weekend in Clovis. Nate flew in the day after Morty but his flight was so delayed he missed the trip to Dog House Grill. I am sure they had tons of fun at Reshea’s. Morty said that he spoke with Shawn on his birthday and learned that he has a new calling in his ward. Shawn is a counselor in the Young Men’s presidency.
Most of our family was actually scheduled to be in California this weekend with Katie in San Diego for a wedding on Thursday or Friday, Morty and Nate in Clovis, Shawn and Aubrey of course there and Adrianne was suppose to travel to Los Angeles with two other friends. Although, it took them all day to travel to Las Vegas on their first day due to bad road conditions and accidents so they gave up and stayed in Las Vegas for the weekend. They made it fun by riding the roller coaster on top of the Stratosphere and getting tickets to Blue Man Group.
The latest article from the old Church News stack that I enjoyed and wanted to share was called, “Faith Unwavering” from the December 27 edition. It used the bible story of Peter walking on water to point out that we all falter in our determination to follow Christ from time to time but what a blessing it is to know He is ever ready to rescue us. Saying that when Peter realizes that walking on water is much harder and scarier than he first imagines, Peter takes his focus off the Savior and begins to falter. The article teaches us that we must continually remember, even in all the storms of our life, that Christ is our partner and makes all things possible. It states, “We do our part by keeping our eyes on Him and continuing to put one foot in front of the other, even if the storm rages on without relief and we don’t know the full outcome of our efforts.”
Scott wrote and mentioned that he was able to talk on the phone with Kyre on their wedding anniversary. I am glad that HE made that connection. She had warned Dad and I previously to not remind her of her anniversary (last year we took her flowers) but of course she would remember it and feel some sadness for them being apart no matter how she feels at this point. But, Dad and I must abide by her feelings and support her wishes. When you love someone so deeply in a committed marriage and give yourself to them, counting on them as your best friends; sharing yourself and becoming so vulnerable to another human being, it takes great effort to quit loving them and having feelings for them. It is against our divine nature to stop loving someone when our heart is right. It makes Scott so happy to hear her voice. And especially since she was more upbeat as she shared the news of Klaire’s case being closed. I am so glad that he heard that from Kyre before hearing it from me. That also makes Kyre VERY happy when she is the first to share any news with anyone.
I love you all and hope for a great week ahead for each of you. Aubrey has announced that she is “done being pregnant.” She is less than a month from her due date now! The time went fast for all of us!
I am looking forward to Morty’s visit this week. Dad and I will go to the Blazer game with him on Wednesday night. I love you all. Love, Mom
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