April 25, 2011

Dear Children,

What a wonderful Easter weekend this has been. It started with a sweet phone message from Sunhee thanking us for sending Easter goodies and ended with a solemn but sweet gathering today with friends and family of Michael Bowman, from our old ward. It is amazing but comforting how we can be away from long time friends and it feels like just yesterday that we were seeing them everyday.

How can a funeral be a wonderful part of Easter weekend one would think? Well, after coming out of our first funeral of the weekend on Saturday evening for Risa Whitaker, I realized I had just heard the best Easter sermon of my life. Risa’s service was full of music and excerpts of her journals. She started keeping a journal daily at the age of ten; what an incredible gift to her family to be able to read and relive her life at any reading especially when they are feeling lonely for her. Even though she died at eighteen years of age, it felt like she had lived such a full life since she had learned to live with such pure joy and thankfulness, something for which we all strive. A couple of months ago she bore her testimony. Her mother said that she was given a gift that day to feel well enough to attend church. Her testimony made no indication of the real trials she had endured since her cancer diagnosis last April but emphasized her gratitude for the Savior, how wonderful her life had been and the gifts she had received. One of the speakers quoted Elder Russell M. Nelson from this last general conference, “It is true. We live to die, and we die to live again. From an eternal perspective, the only death that is truly premature is the death of one who is not prepared to meet God.”

Because we will be in Las Vegas next weekend, we celebrated Katie’s birthday early at a downtown restaurant called Mandarin Cove on Thursday, Scott’s real birthday. That is where Katie asked to go for her high school graduation also. They have amazing sesame chicken. Katie did the cosmopolitan thing and got there on the MAX line while we did the irresponsible thing and took two cards into town! No, it was for a good cause. We learned that day that my cousin’s husband (Connie and Clarey Cordeiro) had a heart attack and was in a Portland hospital. They live in Woodburn so have not been able to get to the hospital much to visit. Grandma and I ran down for a short visit before Dad could get home. It was worth it. Then we all met at the restaurant. We had a relaxing and fun time there and katie received all her birthday presents early!

On Friday we were happy to have Heidi come for the weekend so she could be here close to Scott’s birthday. She had several visits where she said lots of tears were shed as they share a common ache for missing loved ones. We also had a surprise “guest” at the home this weekend in that Katie slept overnight Saturday and Sunday so we got to see her more hours. Grandma also came both nights so that, of course, added games to our evenings! It was great fun and very relaxing. It was very nice to eat and then sit at the table not rushing off to anything. We had a quiet but great Easter. See those bunny rolls I made for Easter in Heidi’s photo? Remember those? I used to make those and glaze them with frosting. These are glazed with butter for dinner rolls. Yummy!!! The day started kind of rushed since I had two deliveries of warm cinnamon rolls to get out Easter morning (from the Young Women’s auction) but then the day settled down after church.

I almost forgot to tell you that Dad and I were successful at walking the half marathon in the Run for Risa on Saturday morning. It was all the way around Hagg Lake and then some. It was a beautiful day, one of the few we have seen all season. We had a great walk and a great time (I seem to be saying great a lot!) visiting with each and every water station along the way since we knew most everyone. It was so much fun. Even with all that visiting and all my potty stops, we walked it in a little over four hours we were pleased. Of course the standings say we won our bracket but that is because there was no one else in our age group that walked the half marathon. There were other shorter events and even the marathon also. We also ran into Mikael Luman. He was on a bike ride around the lake with a friend. We stopped and talked fro a while and then were surprised to come home and open the Oregonian to see a huge article about him and his going into schools to warm teenagers about taking drugs.

Another fun thing we did this week is drive down to Albany to see Alina play volleyball. She is on a girls team form Boys and Girls Club and she does very well. This is her first year but she is a gifted athlete. Dad couldn’t get off work early enough to get down there since we had to go during a time of traffic so it was going to take longer. We met Kyre, Adam and Klaire at the game. Grandma Maldonado went with me; that was fun. She hadn’t seen the newest home that Kyre and the children live in. We, of course, took time to play one game of UNO before driving home.

I hope that your week was as nice as ours. I love you! Love, Mom

April 17, 2011

Dear Children,

This is the first weekend since February that we are home and alone. It feels that we have been traveling a lot and had lots of fun visitors. We had a very enjoyable visit with Jack and Judy Hoagland last week. Jeff Hoagland’s home was full since Amy, Amanda and Jeremy also came into town so Jack and Judy stayed with us. It gave us a great chance to catch up on seeing photos and videos form their mission to New Zealand. We had seen many of them on their blog throughout their mission but it is always more enjoyable to hear their own narration.

Hearing their love and enthusiasm for their mission rekindled the hope that someday we could do the same. We had always planned on Dad retiring in 2016 and had saved and invested generously so that we were building up a nice retirement plan of our own. The last three years changed that situation so we plan to start rebuilding again as soon as Dad’s business picks up more and we can do more with our SendOutCards business. We are very hopeful. Our goal is still the 2016 retirement but we know we can’t do it with just the concrete business any longer.

Jack and Judy were on their children’s schedule so they never knew if they would be here or at someone else’s place for meals. I kind of felt like Grandma Bitter, trying to be prepared for everyone that needed a meal at a moment’s notice, which was kind of challenging at times since we eat so differently these days. The Hoaglands are planning on moving to San Antonio, Texas with Jenni and Rob’s family if they can sell their home. They learned of the Allan’s move from Denver the day they signed the papers on their new home there! They would like us to visit their part of Colorado before they leave this summer. We think it would be nice to visit, especially since it is a Southwest airport, but just need to find the time.

Speaking of visits, we had a nice one with Scott today. It was great to wake up to the sun shining. I think we are all very weary of rain, cold and clouds here. As we drove for the morning visit session Scott called on the phone! He doesn’t call much so that worked out perfectly to give him a heads up that we were arriving. It is not unusual to wait 30 to 40 minutes in the waiting room for them to get him there but we both arrived at the same time today. He mentioned the morning sunshine and said that his new cell allows him to look toward Mt. Hood on clear days. I think he said that he can’t actually see Mt. Hood but he knows it is there behind some trees. It is great that he gets some glimpses of the outdoors. He is training for a marathon on Katie’s birthday this month. He said they bring in other runners from outside the prison system since it is a qualifying marathon. I thought it would be cool if some of our family runners could plan that some year but, if you are on an inmate’s visiting list, you cannot join in the marathon.

Heidi is coming for a visit this week. She wanted to be in Oregon close to Scott’s birthday. She will be here over Easter Sunday so, although I hate to see her miss Easter with her family, it will be fun to have her here for Easter dinner. Hopefully, we can get Grandma and Katie here also. I leave that evening for Las Vegas for a week. Morty’s birthday present was a request that I go sit at the TV shop in his place while he goes on his trip to the Dominican Republic that last week in April. It is doubly good since that is also Aaron’s birthday so I will get to be there for that. Flying home standby on Saturday (Katie’s birthday) does not look good so I may need to stay until the following Monday. In which case, Dad may try and fly down to Las Vegas also for that weekend.

Katie came by today after her church. She has been in San Diego this past week for a friend’s wedding, Emma. It sounded wonderful and the weather sounded heavenly!

Morty was in Oakland this week. He and Shawn went to a Portland Trailblazer versus Warrior basketball game. Shawn had bid on great seats at Gregory’s school’s auction. Aubrey was very nice to let Morty go in her place.

Jace Green came home from his mission to Lisbon, Portugal. He looks great. He was only able to stay home a few days since the BYU soccer team was leaving for a tour to Puerto Rico and surrounding countries. Since he was only home for Fast and Testimony Sunday, he bore his testimony. The first place he said that he wanted to go when he came home was the temple. He wanted his whole family in the temple so they did baptisms so Tanner could be involved. He was in Portugal when the Church announced that there would be a temple there. He said everyone was so thrilled. He bore a strong testimony of the temple and the fact that it was a great place to feel God on this earth.

Dad and I had a nice time at the temple last night. It is always great to be able to run into President Child when we go there. He has a lot of love for our family. It was a nice Saturday. Dad and I did our last long training walk for the half marathon walk for Risa Whitaker; it was 8 or 9 miles yesterday. That is this coming up Saturday at Hagg Lake. Lots of you have run or biked that route around the lake. It looks like it may just be good weather next week; yes! After our walk Dad was able to go finish the job he was on this week and then we headed to Lake Oswego for a conference on the family with sessions taught by professionals. There were a couple of marriage classes that looked good but we only attended one since they needed earlier than planned. But, it was nice to be able to see and talk with Pat Aanderud. Her husband died this year unexpectedly. I remember that he was Aaron’s Primary teacher when Joe left and he would take his son and Aaron out occasionally for ice cream. After class we used a dinner coupon at a fun place in Tualatin called Famous Dave’s BBQ. That place was crowded but good!

This week Dad was in charge of Pack Meeting in our back yard. He and his Webelos planned a campfire with marshmallows, obstacle course and hot dog feed. It was very successful even though it poured rain and even hailed during the day. Dad put plastic on the deck and put up one canopy but the rain stopped long enough for the meeting. It started raining as we were cleaning up and the last die hard marshmallow roasters were still around the fire.

Have a great week ahead. We are looking forward to a warm weather forecast. Good luck in all that you are doing this week. I love you, Mom

April 6, 2011

Dear Children,

We drove back from Otter Crest Monday in just enough time to pick up Grandma Maldonado and take her to her first doctor visit since her hand surgery. Her wound is healing up just fine and she was very pleased to learnt hat she has the OK to drive now. The doctor though noted that her surgery may not have gotten rid of all of the pain that was intended. Afterward, we picked up Miss Kitty and took her to the vet. She had, what the doctor described, a seizure during the night. Grandma was very worried but learned that it just might not happen again and Miss Kitty’s health seemed good for her age. Dad and I were in a rush from the beach to pick up Grandma since our very quiet and relaxed week at Otter Crest ended with unusual excitement that day.

Even though we woke up to rain, we had decided that we wanted to end our trip on the last day with a walk into Devil’s Punch Bowl at low tide. Many of you may have done the same on our various trips to Otter Crest but, even at low tide, as the water is sloshing in that arch facing the ocean, it is a bit unnerving to be standing in the area that experiences such forceful waters regularly when it is filled. Our picture doesn’t do it justice.

On our Sunday walk, we ran into a couple that suggested another path to the beach so we walked that afterwards and spent some time traversing rocks, mud and little streams over by the surfer’s beach, Beverly Beach. We planned to end our walk with a shortcut back to the condo so we could spend the last couple of hours relaxing in the hot tub and packing but changed our mind at a cross road opting for a larger loop we had taken before. That decision was a blessing.

Minutes after we headed in that direction, we could see a woman carrying a child. Our first thoughts were that she looked homeless and was muttering to herself. As we got closer, she started crying out for help and we could tell that she was really in a state of panic as she was covered in blood. Her 2 year old daughter had been attacked by a large American Bulldog. We called 911 immediately and got her sitting down so she could concentrate on calming down her baby and putting pressure on some areas around her daughter’s face. Luckily, her car was right there and full of clothes so we pulled out towels and blankets to keep her and the baby warm as we waited for the ambulance. The child’s wounds were horrific enough that each time she was quiet for a minute were worried that she had quit breathing. As we fielded questions from 911, we learned that the dog belonged to a friend with whom she lived and the mother wrestled away the dog and fled the house with her daughter to get away from the dog before starting to wander the street looking for help. We learned from the news after we arrived home in Beaverton that the girl was taken to OHSU and until just last night, they had been reporting that she was still fighting for her life. She was upgraded that she will live.

We have never witnessed an attack from a dog and noting that it was a family dog, I would now never leave a dog alone with a young child. Now, Scott and Kyre’s family might not think we were being too protective to not allow your children in the backyard without an adult when we used to have Sammy.

After the ambulance took them away, we realized that, on that quiet street, the mother was not walking toward anyone of her neighbors that would have been home. It was another example of how the Lord is aware of each of us and our needs since it was a split second decision to change our plans for our walk back that way. I don’t know if we were truly “prompted” but after the adrenaline settled down and we were walking home wondering why we changed our original walking path, the words from President Uchtdorf, “Turn down the volume of the world to hear the promptings of the Lord. It is vital to serve each other and the Lord meets others’ needs through us.”

Otherwise, our past week has been the most quiet and relaxed time we have experienced for many, many months. We spent lots of time walking, swimming, warming up in the hot tub, watching movies and playing LOTS of games. One of the best movies that we picked up from RedBox was Les Miserables 25^th Anniversary Concert. You have got to rent that one; it is fabulous. It is not the theater showing but the music is incredible and don’t stop it before the end since at the end is one of the best treats you will hear! It is always fun to hear those songs again and remember when Heidi was in high school and sang that high soprano solo of Cosette’s with her choir. When Les Miserables came to Portland when you were all younger, after going I played the musical score a lot and I couldn’t believe that Nate (about 5 or 6 at the time) chose to pick up on the only song I wouldn’t have wanted him to repeat, Master of the House, out of all the other wonderful pieces!

On our longest walk we discovered a little lookout and gift shop we had never noticed before. It was Cape Foulweather and that was a great description. It was socked in with fog when we walked past. But as we walked farther along the Otter Crest Loop (the long way to the highway) the fog began to lift and we saw some beautiful scenes along the coast, scenes we miss while in the car since most of that road is up high on the cliff line. We liked the walk (it took us about 3 ½ hours including a little meandering) as it had lots of hills so it was helping us prepare for our half marathon walk later this month, the Run for Risa. We loved our time at Otter Crest. We love it when Ivan and Ramona feel like they owe us a favor! We had kept their yard watered after they left on their mission until the home sold plus Dad was on call to check on a few of their rental homes to give Ivan advice while they were serving in the Dominican Republic.

Sadly, we learned that Risa Whitaker passed away last Thursday. Our cell phones have not worked while at Otter Crest and we had been in areas to check our messages just a few times. Her funeral is planned for Saturday, April 23, the day of the run since all of her family was planning on coming into town for that event. It was just after April General Conference last year that Risa was diagnosed with cancer from an unknown source and not being able to detect the source, made it difficult to treat.

We experienced some bumps watching General Conference since they didn’t have it on TV here so we finally figured out the most reliable formula was watching it muted on the computer screen but listening to it on KSL radio since the video streaming kept going out. Dad was able to go into town for the priesthood session so we were very pleased to get so much of conference considering the Saturday morning problems.

All the messages of conferences were so timely and inspiring to me. I hope all of you were able to listen to some. I want to download it onto my iTouch so I can listen as I walk. I came away knowing I want to be make myself more able and willing to help others. Much of conference, for me, could be summed up in a few sentences, the main one being that my greatest joy will be found in following the Savior as I serve, keep my covenants and be sensitive to other’s needs as we treat others as He would. I liked Walter Gonzalez’s comment that the power of our covenants is more powerful than any challenge we may face. I thought it was surprising when President Uchtdorf taught how to use social media to spread the gospel and then I loved his comment, “By becoming the answer to someone else’s prayer, we can find the answer to our own.” My favorite talk of the weekend was Elder Dallin H, Oaks and I want to re-listen to that several times as he taught us that desires dictate priorities, priorities shape our choices and choices determine our action. There was so much in that talk; I hope you all have a chance to re-listen or reread it.

I wonder if any of you recognized the story of Liam from Sister Jean A Steven’s talk on Saturday morning. Liam is the son of Laura (Griffiths) and Paul Yaussie. Besides being so real to us, it was an incredible analogy plus lesson on what we can learn from children who seem to more naturally exhibit Christ’s attributes.

On Sunday, Dad enjoyed viewing a little of the “Darwin Barney show” as he saw one of his hits and his run during the Chicago Cubs game. He is their second baseman.

We were sad to hear of the difficult week that Southwest Airlines had while having to pull so many of their planes in to be checked after their one scary incident. We feel VERY connected and dependent on their success! Katie had just returned from a short trip to St. Louis to be at the Cardinal’s opening game of the season and so came home to a very intense weekend as they moved travelers to flights that didn’t have to be cancelled.

We received some cute photos of the Brady girls at a children’s museum. The subject line said something about being on a life flight helicopter which was a bit of a scare since it flashed in my mind that we were out of cell phone range! But the helicopter cabin was in a museum happily.

We love you and hope that you have a great week ahead. Do your best! Love, Mom