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!

Happy Birthday, Sierra!

The day was November 8th many years ago when I went to the hospital to give birth to my last child. I had many mixed emotions that day. I already have 3 very active little ones and I wasn't sure I could handle a 4th just now so I was a little scared. I was also told that I couldn't have any more children and that depressed me because I had always wanted 8 kids. I had to have my children c-section so I was nervous about the surgery. But above all, I was excited to meet this new little person who had been inside me for 9 months. We didn't know if we were having a boy or girl, although I "knew" we were having another little girl.

We had lots of complications with her birth and almost lost her, but she fought hard and before long she was breathing and crying like a newborn should. She was much smaller than my other children and we found out she was 3 1/2 weeks early. Within a week we were both able to go home and meet the rest of the family.

Sierra completed our family. Where 3 kids seemed difficult, 4 was the perfect number. Even numbers are just better I guess. Sierra not only evened out our family, but she also brought a peaceful spirit with her. At a very young age she seemed to know when Mom was stressed and needed her calming influence. She could barely walk and talk, but she knew Mom needed her. She would grab my finger and pull me to the rocking chair and say, "rocky, mommy, rocky". I would sit and rock her for as long as it took for me to calm down and regain my sanity.

Sierra was good for everyone. She was very observant and learned so many things simply because she watched others. She observed when her siblings would do things to get in trouble and she would avoid that behavior. The kids liked to play school and since she was the youngest she was always the student. Consequently she learned a lot and was reading before she every started school.

She learned she could do anything she set her mind to. She learned to play several instruments and to sing beautifully. She is a wonderful artist too. She has taught herself home skills such as cooking, sewing, quilting and even handy work around the house. She is an amazing mother and home schools her children. Her oldest is in 7th grade and the youngest just starting kindergarten this year.

I am so grateful Sierra chose to come to our family. She has blessed my life so much. Happy Birthday, Sierra!!!

Love,
MoM

The Latest on the House

We left off with the floor joists having been completed. We put the deck on and started on the walls.
Notice the cool blueprint table that Dad made for Douhet!

Most of the walls weren't too hard to set up except the ones with the great big beams on top.
Griffyn is a BIG helper, but doesn't like the noise!

More beams! These beams will be exposed underneath the catwalk. They will be beautifully finished when we are done.

Douhet hard at work. It is amazing how he knows just what to do to make everything come out right.

Here you can see the second floor going up. This looks down from the entertainment area into what will be the kitchen. Kylee is in the kitchen doorway.

It looks pretty massive with the walls all closed up. This is the front of the house.

These are called scissor trusses. I'm so glad they put them on the second floor so we didn't have to hoist them up by hand! It was hard enough putting them into place by hand. It was pretty scary sometimes.


We lifted each one into position and secured it in place. It was especially tricky over the open areas like the living room and the entry way.

Kylee is using the nail gun to help secure the trusses in place.

Now we are putting the sheeting on the roof. The first two sheets weren't too hard. We hired someone else to do the really high ones.

This is the second floor from the existing house spanning the entire new addition.

Working on the roof was pretty scary. We prayed everyday for safety!

The cute little dormer is going to be Griffyn's room. We are calling it GriffynDorm!!!

These trusses we had to lift up by hand. It is a 16 x 27 covered deck out the back of the house. We are so grateful for the help we received putting those up. Everyone was amazing!

Here Douhet and Season are putting sheeting on the wrap around porch roof.

That is Brother Miller up on the roof working on the sheeting. Bishop Glenn is on the ladder putting the sheeting on the end of the outside extension.

More work on the outside extension.

We are just about ready to have the roofers start on the shingles.

The roofers started roofing the front of the house on Tuesday. I haven't been home early enough to get a picture so I'll have to post that this weekend. It is just about closed in for the winter!!!