The Rescue/Trek

Well, we survived The Rescue/Trek our Stake put on last week.  We were very apprehensive because of all we heard about it.  Neither of us were in the shape we thought we needed to be in.  Neither of us are great campers either.  But we had a desire to experience the spiritual as well as physical aspects of the Youth Conference.  Since I work with the youth I especially wanted to join them on this quest.

We experienced many miracles throughout the week.  Some were undeniable for everyone to see.  Others were the quiet ones that happen in individual lives.  One miracle in our life was the simple fact that Steve was able to walk every step of the trek.  About a year ago he hurt his ankle.  It simple was not getting better and he was very concerned about it.  The doctor tried to treat it with medication, but that didn't work.  He received a blessing from our boys and that helped some, but he was still concerned.  About 6 weeks ago he started seeing a Chiropractor and he helped a lot, but it was still a concern.  The leaders told him he would ride in the medical wagon if it got too bad, but of course he didn't want to do that.  He got himself a couple of ski polls, had more prayers and took the first step.  Each night he would put an ice pack on it and the next morning he would start out again.  He usually brought up the rear of our little family, but he walked every step of the way and it wasn't too bad...even over the rough spots.  He went up and down hills, over swampy marshes and over lots of dusty, uneven ground; but, he made it.  After we got home, then his ankle started hurting, but on the trek it didn't feel too bad.  That was one of the quiet miracles although there were many that noticed he made it.

The biggest miracle was the miracle of the storm.  It occurred on our second day out.  We had trekked hard that day by pulling all the hand carts up a very steep hill with a huge rope.  It was tricky and hard work.  Then because we took a very long time to do that we had to make up time so we set out making our own trail to cut off a few miles.  The ground was very uneven and full of lots of dry, strickery bushes.  The girls got scratches on their legs.  After we got into camp we just wanted to rest a while so we didn't bother to set up camp yet.  Just a few tarps for shade.  Before long we heard the bell to gather.  We started an activity our leaders had planned.  While we were in the middle of the activity, one of the leaders broke in and told us we had about 20 minutes to quickly set up camp and secure everything in site.  A big storm was headed directly at us with golfball size hail and winds gusting up to 70 mph.  We immediately ran to our campsites to set up.  We could see the sky darkening and the wind was picking up.  We staked our tents down and gathered anything and everything that was loose and put it in a tent.  They rang the bell again for us to gather.  This time our leader told us that as they watched the storm on radar on their phones they could see the storm split right in two and move around us.  The wind died down and we never so much as felt a drop of rain, let alone any hail.  After it passed us it came together again and continued on it destructive way.  We heard of roads getting washed away and damage by the hail, but nothing touched us.  We could see it all around us.  We saw the hand of God watch over His children.  It was awesome.  With that setting, we continued on with our activity which was the most spiritual activity of the week.  We knew our Heavenly Father was with us.

The next day we had to cross a swampy area.  The families worked together and came up with a plan to simply bend over the reeds over an area to make a little flat area that the carts could cross on.  As several crossed they would add more reeds to fill it up again.  It worked pretty slick.  The missionary that runs the farm said we were the first group to every figure out a way cross without having to bring in extra stuff to make a bridge of sorts.  That was pretty cool.  Our activity that night was a blindfolded maze that taught us how to rely on the Holy Ghost to guide us and that He is always just a Prayer away.

The last full day was fairly emotional.  We were all tired and drained.  After getting a little lost and having to turn around a "mob" showed up to haul away our leader, but not before he issued a mission call to all our brethren.  So before we knew it all our men were gone and we still had to get our carts up a steep hill.  We gathered as women in our families and prayed and sang songs.  We invoked the help of those ancestors we were carrying around our necks, the ones we were rescuing.  Then we gathered all our strength and started up the hill.  The first bit was a big dip and then a long, steady incline to the top of the hill.  We had only 5 girls to each cart.  To get over the dip we had a few girls help with both carts.  I was on the lead cart and when we hit the dip, I fell.  Thankfully the cart did NOT run over me and I was not hurt.  I didn't think there was anyway we would be able to get out of the dip so we could continue on up the hill.  We grabbed the handle and started pushing.  Our ancestors were truly helping us, because it felt like we are on level ground.  We pushed it right out with no problems.  The boys said we made it up the hill much faster then they ever imagined.  We all had spiritual help for that one.  That afternoon we made it to Zion.  It was lush and green and cool and shady and wonderful!!!!!

Season

I have been so busy lately, I haven't had time to do much blogging.  I have posted blogs about both girls, on or near their birthday, but I failed to post one on Season's birthday.  I want to take the time now to post about Season.

It is amazing to me how names really do suit the person.  When he was younger he was as changeable as the seasons of the year.  Sometimes we used to say we should have named him monsoon.  He was ALL boy and very much a Curious George.  He is creative and clever.  I remember several times he made some amazing gifts for his sisters.  He decided they needed a play kitchen so he got a large cardboard box and fashioned it into a sink with shelves and even a drawer.  He put contact paper on it so it looked real nice.  The girls played with that for several years.  Then he decided their Barbie's needed a kitchen too, so he took a shoe box and made a modular kitchen with several appliances and cupboards.

We moved right before his 8th birthday.  He decided his Teddy Bear needed a birthday party so he planned a party and invited all the Teddy Bears to come.  He sewed a costume for Jr. (his Teddy Bear) and embroidered "Jr. the Hero" on the cape.  It was great.  He still plans GREAT birthday parties (and Christmas Eve parties, etc) for family and friends.  I think his Elder's quorum had some great activities when he was president.

Sometime we would knock heads.  As a mom I tried to tell him to do things.  He, on the other hand, did not want to be told to do anything.  It took me years to figure out he would do anything as long as it was HIS idea. It was sometimes a little tricky to get him to think it was his idea when I wanted something done.  I don't think I fully understood this until he was in his teens.

I used to read to the family every night.  We read some great books over the years.  I remember one time when he was a teenager and was going out with some friends.  We were in the middle of a good book.  He made his friends wait until we finished our reading that night so he would miss anything.  I loved that!

Season has grown into a wonderful husband and father.  He serves well in Church and has fulfilled many callings.  I remember getting a phone call from his mission president's wife telling us what a wonderful son we have.  They love him so much.  He served an outstanding mission.

This past year Season and I shared a calling as Seminary teachers.  We were in different buildings and usually on different lessons, but it was very fun to share ideas and talk about our experiences.  He made many clever games to help the kids learn Scripture Mastery scriptures and shared them with me.  My kids loved them!  He was released from that calling yesterday.  It was with very mixed emotions I received that news.  I was looking forward to another year of sharing.  I am so very pleased he is willing and worthy to serve in whatever calling the Lord sees fit to call him.  He has humbly accepted a call to serve in a new calling.  I know he will serve well.  Season, I love you!!!

My Amazing Seminary Class

I have had the most incredible kids in my Seminary class this year.  We have had a great time and learned a lot about the Old Testament.  Spending a year with them puts my mind at ease about the future leadership of the Church.

The last section of the Old Testament is about the Major and Minor Prophets.  The difference between the two categories is the length of their books.  The minor prophets are all much smaller.  I decided to give my kids a chance to teach any of the minor prophet books.  It was optional and there was no problem if they decided not to teach.  I had 7 kids volunteer.  They all did a marvelous job.  I was impressed with the discussions they led and the participation they received from the other students.  I learned much.

Well, today was the last day of Seminary.  I approached it with mixed emotions.  I will enjoy sleeping in 2 additional hours each morning; but, I will miss my time with my kids each morning.  They spiritually fed me each day and I know it will not be the same without them.

I LOVE SEMINARY!

Spring Break

Well, spring break started today. It was nice to sleep 2 extra hours. It was wonderful to see the sun shine...at least for a while. It was nice to drive home on dry roads. According to the radio, there won't be any dry roads the rest of the week. Oh well, I'm glad I could enjoy it today.

We had snow again last week and lost two more days of Seminary. I did manage to catch up quite a bit and am only two days behind now. I think I will be able to ease those two days in over the next several weeks as we start three weeks of Isaiah after Spring Break.

I'm actually pretty excited to start Isaiah. The Seminary lessons are so good and I'm going to learn so much. I just hope I can share even half of what I learn with my kids. Our first lesson is basically how to understand Isaiah. My focus for the year has been kind of a National Treasure theme with finding clues and then interpreting them to be able to find the real hidden treasure. I think that is very true of Isaiah. I'm trying to come up with a "tool box" of sorts that will help decipher the symbols in Isaiah. If you have any ideas, let me know!

Unpredictable Weather

The weather has caused me some grief lately. Don't get me wrong. I love the weather here. I love how the seasons change. I love seeing the sun and I even love the rain. I love that we get snow once in a while, too.

What I don't love is when the weather somehow cancels Seminary, especially when we find out later that it didn't NEED to cancel Seminary.

February is always unpredictable. The first part of the month we had beautiful, spring like weather and had high hopes that winter was almost over. By the end of the month we are experiencing ice and snow. Sunday night they were predicting temperatures below freezing after a fairly wet day, so naturally we expected a sheet of ice on the roads and unsafe conditions. With the hills and turns around here it can be a bit tricky if the roads are slippery. The call was made Sunday night to cancel Seminary. Well, Monday morning the roads were dry. Yes, it was cold, but we could have held Seminary safely. We are already behind several days because of snow days a while ago. Tuesday was good and I figured I could still get caught up by the middle of March.

Yesterday they predicted a winter storm; however the temperatures were warmer so they didn't think the snow would stick. I got up this morning and looked out to see clear roads. I got all ready for Seminary and left the house by 5:15 AM. It was snowing, but all was still good. It was a very wet snow and nothing was sticking. About half way to Church I received a text message so I pulled over to view it. School was 2 hours late and Seminary was cancelled! After about 15 or 20 minutes of texting back and forth between some students to make sure all kids were notified I headed back home. Not happy! I wanted to have Seminary! I have something very fun planned for the rest of the week and I want to make sure we will still be able to do it. Now I may not catch up until the END of March.

It has continued to snow all morning and I see now that the roads are covered. It probably isn't as safe anymore so I guess it was a good call for the schools. If I hope to get out of here and not get stuck, I had better leave for work now. Wish me luck!

Happy Birthday, MyLiege!

Yesterday was MyLiege's birthday. I reflected on her most of the day. I remembered her as my little girl. I see a lot of her in her own two little girls, both in looks and actions. I got to spend a couple of days babysitting those two little ones last week and it was a delight.

I had to laugh when I read her blog she posted a week or so ago about "one of those days". I remember a lot of those days when all the kids were little and I felt so very overwhelmed. She began her post with one of her girls peeing on the floor and said it was the one who should know better. Oh, did that bring back memories as she was that very girl so many years ago. Way back when Primary was during the week I was rushing around trying to get all four kids ready to go and grab all my lesson stuff because I was a primary teacher too. The rule in the house was everyone had to use the bathroom before we left the house. MyLiege refused and said she didn't have to go. Then, after I got the baby in the car and came back to get the rest of the kids out the door, she stood right in front of me and wet on the floor. Needless to say I did not handle it very well. We were also late to primary, and from then on I insisted they ALL use the bathroom before we went anywhere. NO EXCUSES.

Although I don't remember it, I suppose I probably did the same thing when I was a kid too. My mom always said you will get a kid just like yourself. So if MyLiege is just like I was then. I'm delighted we had her and I'm sorry for any and all the bad things she may have inherited from me; but, I think I must have been pretty fun too, because we enjoyed her so very much. (That was one big run on.)

We wanted to do something special for MyLiege for her birthday. We are headed over to her house for dinner this afternoon, so I probably won't post this until tonight so she can't read it before we get there. Steve suggested we make her something special (I can't say what it is because we may do it next year). I thought that was a great idea, but wish he had mentioned it a week or so before so I would have time to make it. Then I remembered something else she wanted. About a month ago, Steve found a beautiful sewing chest for me to replace an old, dilapidated one I had from my mother. I loved the one I had but it was falling apart and looked pretty beat up. MyLiege has loved that sewing chest and even tried to take it when she redecorated my house a few years ago. So we decided to fix it up. I transferred everything into my "new" sewing chest and then we went to work fixing and cleaning up the old one. Steve did a GREAT job and now it looks brand new. He replaced all the hardware. He re-stained the wood. He made a replacement brace for one that was broken. He painted all the trim pieces. It looks and feels brand new. I told him if he had done that before he wouldn't have had to buy me a new (used) one. It is hard to give away, but I know it is going to a good home and I can visit it whenever I want.

Happy Birthday, MyLiege!!!

The Old Testament

I have discovered a greater love for the Old Testament that I never knew I could have. We are studying The Old Testament in Seminary this year. We are all familiar with many of the Old Testament stories we have learned since we were children. Adam and Eve; Cain and Able; the City of Enoch; Abraham, Issac and Jacob; Joseph and his coat of many colors; Moses and Manna from Heaven; David and Goliath and so many others.

We are on a treasure hunt this year to see how the Savior is in each of these stories. They are all a type and a shadow foretelling the life and mission of Jesus Christ. It has been exciting to discover the hidden clues that unlock the secrets of the universe (wait, wasn't that a bubble gum wrapper in Superman?) No, it really is in the scriptures.

One of the things I do with each lesson is to "bring it back home". How do the stories, clues, and lessons apply to us today. I mean, we don't really have to meet a 9 foot giant with nothing but a sling shot, do we? But who or what are our Goliath's? What are the things we struggle with everyday? The kids named off some of the "expected" answers like drugs and immorality. And yes, I want them to be aware of those giants out there. But at least right now, those are not necessarily giants in their lives now.

What kinds of things do they struggle with; do I struggle with; do you struggle with? Perhaps our giants may seem small when compared to someone who really is struggling with a drug addiction, but maybe we have our own addictions. My addictions are sweets, staying up to late, procrastination, general laziness, being cumbered about with non-important things...and the list goes on. I need to conquer each one with the same "stones" David used to conquer Goliath; Courage, Virtue, Faith, Humility and Loyalty.

David was victorious because he had "tried" and "proved" his weapons. He could not use Saul's armor because he had not proved it in battle. But he knew his slingshot. He knew the kinds of smooth stones to use. He had used them to slay a lion and a bear. We have to prove our weapons as well. Have we tried and proved the scriptures? Have we put our faith in the Lord and tried and proved Him? Have we humbled ourselves to call upon the Lord to fight our battles? We can't just magically pick up a stone and use a sling shot we have never used before and get lucky and slay a giant. We have to have practiced long and hard everyday and then with skill and courage and faith we can slay each of our Goliath s one by one, no matter how big they may be.

Aren't we lucky to have the scriptures to show us the way?

Snow!

It is 5:25 AM and I decided now is a good time to write my blog. Normally I would be on my way to Seminary, but just as I was walking out the door, I received a text message from one of my students telling me the School District closed school for the day. I was surprised because it is warmer than yesterday and yesterday they only had a 2 hour delay. Yesterday I was up and ready to go again when I got the text message.

I guess my timing is off because I was checking the school closures too and when I looked there was nothing about a delay or school closure. Anyway, I'm grateful my student texted me. Yesterday, Steve was going to drive me because I'm chicken. Since Seminary was cancelled we went back to bed. I worked from home yesterday (and Monday) so I was able to sleep in. It was nice.

Today; however, I'm staying up. I was actually going to drive myself because, as I said, it is warmer and the snow just looks slushy. It is even falling off my windows. I am staying up, because, I have to go in to Canby for a doctor's appointment this morning anyway so it really wouldn't pay to go back to bed. Since I've been up for an hour it would take me too long to go back to sleep before I would just have to get up again.

It has been fun to watch the snow through the window. One of my co-workers told me to enjoy the snow globe. He was right, that is exactly what it looked like yesterday. The weather was so funny. It would snow hard and blow and look just like a snow globe. Then it would slow down and turn to a rain/snow mix. It might even stop for a few minutes before it would start to snow hard again. Because of the rain/snow mix the snow never really stayed. You could tell, because when the dogs walked in the snow they left behind muddy paw prints.

I was hoping it would be a dry snow and actually accumulate a little. I wouldn't mind being stuck in a beautiful white little winter wonderland for a couple of days. The slushy stuff just looks dirty where dogs or people or cars have been. The untouched snow is still beautiful.

Well, I suppose I should take this time and figure out how I'm going to squeeze my lessons together so I still cover everything. Tomorrow is the end of term for us so I really hope we have Seminary tomorrow. Friday is a teacher work day for the school so the kids don't have school. We are down to one day this week...if we even get that.

I have to admit, it has sure been nice to be able to work from home the last couple of days. Baby, it's cold outside.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2011 just went too fast. I never got around to making my annual Christmas letter so I decided to send out a Happy New Year letter instead.

Actually, I think I have missed a couple of years so I’ll try and catch up.
Steve and I continue to be as busy as ever. I love my job at HawkSoft, Inc. It is a GREAT place to work with wonderful people and a terrific atmosphere. We are a big family. Of course that is truer for me because I work for my son-in-law, but it is still a great family atmosphere.

HawkSoft has been growing in this struggling economy. Not only have they added people, but we are in the process of building a brand new building in Canby that will have a little room to grow. It will be nice to all

be in one building again

DOUHET AND KYLEE
The big news for Douhet and Kylee is the house addition

is started!!! We worked hard all summer building the new addition. We managed to get it roofed before the big rains came. We took a little break for a while, but are getting ready to start on the interior. The house is going to be beautiful and oh, so big when it is done.The addition will really be a new house with the old section becoming the girl’s bedrooms and play room. The dormer on the left is going to become Griffyn’s room. We are calling it Griffyndorm! It will be so nice for them to finally have room!

SEASON AND SARA
Our big news here is the birth of our newest grandchild.

Garren Mychael Wilcox was born on Sara’s birthday, August 18th. He was 8 lb ½ oz. He brings their family to 2 adorable girls and 2 delightful little boys. Since Sara was in the hospital while family picture above with Grandma and Grandpa and all the grand kids. We were able to pick up Madison, Brooklyn and Karsten at the hospital and take them to the coast with us. We got to see the baby and take pictures to show everyone, too.the rest of the family was on the annual family vacation, Garren was not in the family picture above.

They had another big event in July when Madison was baptized. This has been a great year for their little family.

MYLIEGE AND SEAN

MyLiege and Sean have been busy with their little family. Alyx is growing so fast and is running all over the place. Anna started kindergarten this year and LOVES school. Erik was baptized with his cousin Emma after we got home from our family vacation to the beach. Djeryd turns 12 in just a few days and will be ordained a Deacon. He has been able to do a lot of the scout activities even though he is only 11 because his Dad is the scoutmaster. He enjoyed Scout Camp. One of the highlights of the year was the family beach trip.

They also had a wonderful vacation with Season and Sara’s family at Disneyland.

SIERRA AND SHONEE

This family had 2 big news events. The first was Montana receiving the Aaronic Priesthood. He was very excited to be able to pass the Sacrament.
The next big event was Emma’s baptism. We had three grandchildren baptized within about 6 weeks.

Sierra continues to home school her kids and they are all brilliant. Alena is learning to play the violin. Savannah is learning to read. They are such a fun family.

STEVE AND LESLEE
Steve is semi-retired this year and enjoying doing other things. He and Kylee are breeding dogs for extra money to help build the house. He also has been very helpful helping on the house and building chicken coops, dog houses and whatever else is needed.

Steve was also called to serve on the High Council and he is working at the Temple one day a week. You can see he is keeping busy. I continue to teach Seminary and love it very much despite getting up at 4:15 every morning. I am also working out at Curves and have made much needed progress on my weight by losing 19.5 pounds and over 24 inches. I still have a ways to go, but I can see the end in sight.

HAVE A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!

Getting Away

We decided to give each other a little vacation for Christmas this year. So three days after Christmas we packed our bags and headed to Lincoln City for a few days. We didn't have any kind of agenda. We didn't have a wedding to attend or family to visit or meetings to attend. We didn't have anything that we had to do. We just wanted to get away for a few days.

We left about noon on Wednesday, after my sweetie re-sealed the shower. We had been getting some black mold growing and it was gross. We thought giving it a good three days to seal and dry would be a good thing. It looks great now. I decided to exercise on the Wii while Steve worked on the shower.

We arrived at the coast around 3 and went to a late lunch or early dinner. Our Entertainment book app on my phone showed us where all the local deals were so we were able to get a nice buy 1 get 2 meal deal. The weather was kind of stormy so we headed to the hotel to get settled in.

This vacation we

wanted to take advantage of the hotel amenities. We used their workout room, pool and hot tub. The pool was a very nice size for doing some nice laps as well as just floating and relaxing. The hot tub was perfect for our after workout, after swim activities. The room had a very comfortable king size bed and with a nice big flat screen TV and DVD player. We brought along some of our favorite movies too.

After a nice free, hot breakfast we ventured out on Thursday to do a little shopping and to visit the ocean. Since it was raining we just watched the waves from the car. We again, enjoyed the workout room, pool and hot tub. We played games and just enjoyed our time together without other obligations.

Friday came all too quickly. We worked out and swam again before we finally packed up to leave. We went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium for the afternoon. It was fun to see all those amazing creatures in our oceans.

We still had three more days of "vacation" before our work week begins again. It has been very nice to just get away for a few days. I think I am rejuvenated again and can tackle anything.

New Beginnings

The new year is always a good time to take a look at who you are, where you have been and where you are going. We sometimes call them New Years Resolutions, but I prefer to think of it as a life evaluation.

I've been thinking about where I stand in my life right now. A lot of things have changed over the last couple of years and I have grown a lot. I have also hung on to several habits that I really need to loose. Some of these habits I have tried to loose many times over the years, but have not succeeded. I am going to try again.

I think part of the reason I have failed in the past is I left it up to strictly will power. For me, strictly will power never works for very long. I can do OK for a few days or even a few weeks and then I have a weak moment and give in to the habit again. Instead of accepting the minor set back and starting again, I give up and loose myself to my habit. I think this is my personality, because I do it time and time again with different habits. I really want to break that pattern.

I have made progress with one bad habit over the last several months. I have been involved in a weight loss program called Curves Complete for the last 3 months. I haven't lost all I have wanted, but I have lost steadily and consistently. I have had a day now and then where I have blown it, but I have jumped back in immediately and continued making progress. I hope that is an indication I can do that with my other habits as well.

One habit I really want to break is wasting time with playing Spider Solitaire on the computer. I certainly don't do it all the time, mainly because I'm too busy with work, seminary, and exercises. But when I feel I have a little "free" time I seem to waste it all on playing that game. I don't know why I do that. There are so many other things I would like to do with my free time, but never seem to do. Then I complain that I never have enough time to do other things.

I've decided to try a 5 minute blog approach. One of the things I never seem to have enough time to do is write my blog. I would always say, "Oh, I'll just play one game since I have a few minutes." But that few minutes so easily turns into 30 minutes or even an hour or more. I can write a short blog in a few minutes and it would be more beneficial and cleaning for me. I have so many things going around in my head that I need to express. My blog is a perfect place to get them out, ,ponder them, examine them, tweak them, change them, implement them into my life, or just let it all hang out.

Wish me luck!