March 1, 2009

Dear Children,
There will be no pictures this week; no events to photograph. It has been kind of a catch up week. The big meals that we had while Morty stayed here last weekend have fed us all week except the one meal that we ate out. On Friday night we had a buy-one-get-one dinner at Azteca. Dad and I decided, even though it was pretty cold, that we would ride our bikes to help work off the dinner. Next time I think we should share a meal when we ride our bikes. There are no restaurants that allow us to pedal downhill on the way back home so it is much more comfortable to be biking if we aren’t so full of dinner! The chilly ride and exhaustion may have explained the timing of this cold-respiratory illness that has been trying to get the best of me all week to hit with a vengeance the next morning. I have little energy and hurt all over. I laid low all day Saturday as I need to be well by Tuesday. Early Tuesday morning we are driving to Vancouver, BC and then onto Whistler on Wednesday and Thursday. (Bill, what is your advice on changing our money: when and where? Plus, will there be extra fees to use our cell phones in Canada, our plan has no roaming fees in the U.S.) On Friday we will drop back down to Birch Bay in Washington and head home on Saturday. It will be a fun adventure for our anniversary celebration. There will be lots of driving so we are taking lots of reading materials. We will also catch up on our business goals and new ideas as we drive. Nate was so kind to be so concerned about Dad’s lack of business. He wants to help us set up a website. Bitter Concrete does not show up quickly when you Google concrete in Beaverton Oregon and Nate is determined to change that.
This week has been mostly quiet here. Still no work for Dad but he has been happy to be able to do several bids this week. I am also keeping my eyes open for any part time work in the area that would be flexible enough so that I could still do the things Dad and I have planned. And, of course, Dad has found many home jobs that go unnoticed for years like cleaning behind the washer and dryer and taking apart the bed to clean under it. Actually taking apart the bed has improved our mattress immensely since it wasn’t getting proper support after he raised the head of the bed (my doctor said to do it). We didn’t realize that it caused all the other supports to be weakened. It feels like a new bed! Dad took a part for the dryer into a shop to get a new one and the service man was amazed that our dryer was still running. It is over 30 years old. That dryer has served me well; and probably used more than the majority of most dryers. I contribute the longevity of my dryer to the fact that it is a “Mormon” dryer and has rested on the Sabbath each week. I know that it good for our health so it must also do well for an appliance to have a day of rest!!!
Speaking of health, we have been adding some unusual items to our food storage. We have joined a very energetic preparedness group which has stemmed from Joe Farb being in charge of the ward preparedness and his wife, Sally, getting excited about the whole process. One item we just purchased (that we had never heard of before) is a seed called Chia. We have been adding it to our everyday diet because of its health benefits but adding it to our storage since it is kind of a super food with its high protein, calcium and omega oil capacities. We also purchased a rocket stove; a small ceramic chiminea type stove that heats a large amount of water with just a small amount of fuel (small sticks). Many of you may have seen a version of the rocket stove on your mission since a huge percentage of the world cooks on them.
Have you been contacted by Shawn and Aubrey on guessing the actual date and birth weight of their expected baby in March? Dad and I put in our guesses and Dad wanted to know the prize. There is an actual prize planned (besides the baby of course) which is Aubrey’s famous chocolate chip banana bread (if you live close by). Jennie Marchant had her baby this week. They were due in March also so I thought Aubrey wouldn’t be very excited to hear other family members having their babies come early! Christian isn’t arriving from his assignment in Viet Nam until today unfortunately so Aunt Becky flew out the very next day. It caught everyone by surprise including Jennie who kept going back to sleep trying to ignore her labor. Finally at 4:30 in the morning she called Natalie to ask about some details for getting into the hospital. Jennie had planned to drive herself but Natalie had nothing to do with that and left her four week old baby with Danny so she could be with Jennie in the hospital. Jennie had the baby two hours later! I believe that she plans to name her Anneliese!
Have you seen that Katie has a blog now? She just sent us the blog address so Dad and I had fun catching up with her through that. Although, we do love phone calls still! Her blog is very clever: “Live from Left Field.” It sounds like she is having a great experience in St. Louis but sounding like she misses regular college life being alone so far away. I learned in her blog that she loves real mail, snail mail. The way all of you use Facebook, email and text messaging, I never would have realized any of you likes getting regular mail. I am taken by surprise that it would be appreciated. Here is Katie’s address since I sent it out wrong one time:
Katie Luman
7461-A Ahern Ct.
St. Louis, MO 63130
With March already here amazingly enough, I have been so happy to hear the birds singing in the morning and some glimpses that spring is around the corner. I also am excited to realize that General Conference is getting close. I look forward to hearing the remarks and teachings from the prophets. The September when we were newly called to work in the singles ward, their Relief Society was giving away the previous Conference Ensign issue. Their goal was to get prepared for the upcoming General Conference by reviewing the last conference messages. I thought it sounded like a great idea and would like to do that this month before this April Conference: read last November’s Ensign all the way through. Would any of you like to do that with me? We could make it a challenge of sorts! Any ideas?
I had another great institute class this week. I really like studying Revelations at this time since it covers some of the difficulties in the last days. Studying it is better than just reading through it alone since I am able to get more perspective on the prophecies. We are in chapter 13 which speaks of the beast and our discussion came down to avoiding being a casualty of the beast by following the living prophets. There are many personal applications to these verses in this day. My favorite of the class that day came from chapter 13 verse 10 which talks about the need for patience and faith. We ARE on the winning side and just need to follow through, living the commandments and HAVE FAITH.
Much of stake conference today went right along with some of the lessons learned lately in institute. The stake theme this year is Building Your House Upon a Rock. One excellent talk about strengthening our foundation was taken from an article in the New Era. Sister Tillet suggested three simple things we could do each day to help strengthen us and make a difference in the world:
1-Pray everyday
2-Read the Book of Mormon at least 5 minutes each day
3-Smile everyday realizing it is an incredible opportunity to live today
My favorite quote of the day, “cast out doubt, cultivate faith”, came from that talk also. One of the Parson twins, Chris, bore an excellent testimony as he described the temporary crumbling of his 18-year-old-foundation that he felt he had built during the time of his family’s tragedy this summer, the accidental death of his 15-year old sister at their family reunion. He gained a powerful testimony through earnest prayer and the recognition of Christ’s love through others.
A surprise at conference was that Ed (President) Stone spoke. I looked up and knew that I knew him but could place from where, since it did not compute why he would be at our stake conference. Ed and Linda recently returned from being the mission president in Nigeria. They served for two years. He said there are only 12 missions in the church where the mission president serves only two years instead of three due to the high stress levels of some areas of the world. Nigeria is one of the top baptizing missions but also one of the highest security concerns. He is now in the Oregon Mission presidency. He was my stake president when Katie was born. They were also personal friends since I had worked with Linda in a Relief Society presidency years before. He was kind enough to ask the ward leaders if he could serve as my home teacher in the first months of my single years; the support meant so much at that time.
Kyre called this week with the surprising news that she was trying to move this weekend. She had found another apartment in a better part of town that would give her and Klaire much more room but when she gave her manager the 30 day notice, she was told to be out as soon as possible. She was actually very excited about the move even so, if the other apartment manager was going to be able to make things happen. She will be in a different ward but is happy to make new friends. We are anxious to learn of the results. If she has been able to move, we will be able to see her new place in a couple of weeks when we meet in Albany during Spring Break with Kyre and the grandchildren. We are looking forward to that.
Scott told us today that he has been able to call Kyre four times so far. Unfortunately, calling Albany is fairly expensive (the rates in the prison system are horrible) since it is considered long distance from the prison (Portland is not!). If you want to consider a birthday gift for Scott, he may want money on his prison system phone card; you might ask him first. The visiting room was so noisy today. We waited over an hour to get in since it was so packed and had to wait for someone to leave. Grandma went with us since we left to go right after our stake conference. He likes the noise of chaos and children since he never gets a chance to hear that anymore! It sounds like he has been getting more exercise lately by running and also a stationary bike there. Shawn and Aubrey, he thought your baby would come by today so his new guess is March 3rd and weighing in at 8 pounds and 3 ounces! Scott looked good and remembered that we needed a new picture of him so I can try and get someone to Photoshop him into the sibling picture at Christmas.
I am sending restful wishes to Aubrey in her last weeks so she can build up some reserves for the busy days ahead. I love all of you and will be thinking about you this week as always. Love, Mom