HAPPY HARVEST!

The children are out of school today and we are all up early preparing for Harvest festivities this evening. The older girls are preparing the prize board for Fred's annual jeopardy game and Mikayla is making a list of pumpkin pie ingredients so we can get them ready for Abe, Lily and Sophie to deliver to family friends as harvest gifts. Last night Jordan and his friends went to a haybale maze at a members home and ended up at Pres. Walkers home for ice cream. Mikayla and her friends had a group party with good old fashioned games, bobbing for apples and pumpkin juice drinking contests. The extended family Harvest party last weekend was a perfect beginning to the holiday season and really got us in the spirit.

For Mom and Dad's benefit I included a few pictures, but my camera batteries ran out early that night so I only got a handful.



This was the first activity, which ended almost before we got there, because it was almost as tall as Ben and Renee's house and there were casualties early on. Eventually a safer slide was put up with the kids enjoyed all night long!


When the evening was ending the adults sat around listening to Jordan play his guitar while the younger children enjoyed their own musical talents.



Isaac after enjoying the treats from room to room "trick or treating".
We also enjoyed good food, strobe light fun, hay rides, and most especially family!

A Stool In The Corner

Fred went into Stevens-Heneger for his 3rd and final interview yesterday and they offered him the job. We are a little stunned. We feel like David in "Sabrina" when Elizabeth Tyson asks him to marry her, he proposes, she accepts and he says, "Why?!" It's not that Fred can't do the job, because really he's perfectly suited for it, it's just that they came looking for him, and compared to some of the qualifications they were looking for on paper, namely a Masters degree, and vast managerial experience, and the fact that those "qualified" people are certainly out there, is a little perplexing. The only explanation is that these people were being led to put away paper applications and to see inside Fred's heart and mind. We are humbled by the implications and the expectations. It's like transitioning from 5th grade, at the top of your game, to middle school, where you spend the entire year just treading water and looking at the older class men as intimidating giants. Of course your potential is just the same, but it takes you some time to build your confidence back up again.

As the director of the Respiratory Therapy department at the college, Fred has been given the assignment to get the program up and running by January. From what we can gather that will include staffing instructors, and overseeing curriculum with only 2 weeks of training in San Diego. I just smile and say, "I know you can do it honey!" and skip off to cook dinner and fold a load of laundry, feeling very grateful that providing is not my role. Though a bit overwhelmed by the challenge, I know Fred is excited with this incredible opportunity to grow. After the first year, he can attend classes free of charge and they will encourage him to acquire his Masters degree at the college. We don't know yet exactly what his expected hours will be because it's a salary position, and they offer classes at all different hours of the day, but we know that it won't include weekends or holidays, a blessing which we have never experienced in our 18 years of marriage, except for those few short months working with Ben. We feel so blessed and know that the Lord's hand is in all of this. Though his salary will be just minimally more than he is now making, and we will still have to be very frugal, just like everyone else, it will allow him to forgo getting a second job, which was a consideration which was weighing on him heavily before, and the way will be wide open for advancement, since he is starting on the bottom rung of qualifications.

The college is an immense high story building, which they call the "campus", but only two floors have been finished. The remaining space is there for "expansion" as this school is just getting started here in Boise. I asked Fred if he would get an office. He said he gets a stool in the corner of a small room which he shares with two other people...........and a pointy hat. I think he's exaggerating about the pointy hat. As always, Fred is humble and teachable, which is why, I think, the Dean and C.O.O. have been so taken with him. I think they will be pleased with their choice. Fred is intelligent, creative, and resourceful and has the happy gift of being liked by everyone. He has friends everywhere, which will be invaluable in creating ties between the local hospitals and the R.T. college.

Fred's sleep lab also had their first patient last Tuesday, which was fun for him and his partner. They still have all kinds of road blocks impeding their progression, but it is a encouraging start.

Angel Maid

Mikayla is reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" for school and enjoying it immensly, but last week she came home feeling very perplexed, and informed me that Jem does not call Scout "Angel Maid", he calls her "Angel May".

Of course we were raised watching that movie, but in my adult life, I have also read the book. How both Mom and I missed that, I can't imagine, but Mikayla has grown up thinking she was named after "Miss Jean Louise", and all this time the name has been wrong! I told her she's stuck with the wrong name, and it doesn't change the source, but I think her identity has been a little shaken. At any rate, she is turning into more of a young lady every day and Angel Maid, without the sarcasm, suits her.

Things I Wish I Had Learned

The past few days I have been wishing I had learned more. You know, the kinds of skills that aren't necessarily part of the "Home Economics" curriculum in college, but are part of the home economics of real life. Things like how to give your four daughters really cute haircuts, and how to take your sons senior pictures, and how to write a professional resume for your husband. Things like teaching your family how to sing and play piano... and violin... and guitar. Things like knowing how to keep real houseplants alive and flourishing. You know, just things that create and sustain and capture beauty. I haven't been a very receptive student in those areas and have had to rely on so many other people. Oh, I know, we all have our different talents, but lately I yearn to know those kinds of nurturing things.

Saturday, I spent hours writing a resume that I had no experience with writing. Tomorrow someone else will cut all of our hair. Friday someone will spend hours taking pictures for Jordan, and every day I walk past an ivy plant that used to be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and watch it die stem by stem.

Sunday, the children and I went to an Institute choir concert at our Stake Center, and I was so moved by the power of good music, that as tears ran down my face, I felt happy my children haven't been very athletic and have seemed drawn to musical outlets. But, for that, again, we rely on someone else. Of course there is a price to be paid for the help of others, and so even those avenues seem very limited.

I have no great ambitions to be Ansel Adams or Pavarotti or the English gardener of a grand estate; I just want to be useful when my family needs a little help. I wish I had learned more things. I think I will.

My Town

I was just sitting here thinking how much I love my town! When I first drove through it, I have to admit that I was not impressed. It seemed way out in the boonies, and run down, but it also seemed "right", so I invested myself. A few weeks ago, Fred and I had to do a few errands in town. Jordan needed some cultured stone for a city council presentation so we stopped by a small home improvement store here and asked if we could "check out" some samples to use. The owner just handed us a big display board and told us to bring it back, with no paperwork, just a handshake. We then went to the local hardware store for some fence tools, where one of the city councilmen was working and recognized us and asked about Jordan being at city council that evening. He was excited about Jordan's proposal and project and we left with a "good luck" to go to the hometown grocery store, where Abe's soccer coach was our checker and reminded us about practice the following evening. We drove home on the main street that has no stop lights and just felt privileged to be a part of this "podunk" town where everyone feels like family.

On these cold nights, we can hear the weekend football announcers over at the high school and the trees "over the river and through the woods" are turning brilliant colors. Until the weather turns nasty, the older girls and Abe all walk or bike to or from school and I feel safe because they are surrounded by friends and people who are watching out for them all across town. Our little library "hall" has finally broken ground for a building extension that will double it in size and with a nice little library we will finally be daily life sustaining. We have to leave town to do any shopping, but that is only 15 minutes away and we like the traffic and all of the commercialism to stay in Nampa instead of here.

Of course our dream would be to live out in the country here, but we do have a huge canal bank in back of our yard that we take walks on and pretend is our little wildlife refuge (we see muskrats, herons, snakes, red-winged blackbirds, geese, and ducks) and that ends at a big, open field that has been sold for future subdivision expansion, but which is Olive's dream world right now. And we love our neighbors, who are all friendly and look out for each other, so it is probably a good thing to be here, where I am forced to interact and not allowed to be a home hermit (which I am rather prone to).

It has truly been a blessing in our lives to be here, though it took much traveling to reach this destination. I won't say that we'll never leave, because I've learned my lesson about pretending that I'm completely in charge of my life, but we're sure happy here right now! As soon as we figure out how to simplify more and learn to enjoy the here and now better, as President Monson encouraged us, we may even find peace and true joy.

I am so looking forward to the Harvest Party and all of the months ahead that focus on gratitude and family, and in sharing in Mom and Dad's mission and Mys and Dave's daily adventures.


(The canal bank which extends along the back side of our house and subdivision)

VALIDATION

Marg was worried about Jordan's taste in fashion with the Homecoming pictures we posted. I don't blame her, but here's proof, from last year's Prom, that he and his friends know how to do class" as well.

HUMOR -- THE BEST MEDICINE

I received a phone call this morning from a solicitor. I had to say hello twice, so I was waiting for a computer to come on and then I was going to hang up. It wasn't a computer, but a very uneducated telemarketer reading a badly written script for a carpet cleaning service. I am on the no-call list, so when telemarketers do call I'm not very patient, but this one sounded like he had "special needs" and was offering to clean ALL the rooms in my house, including my laundry room and garage, if I had carpet in there. I kept thinking that this sounded like the message left on our cell phone when we were trying to rent the farmhouse, but I didn't recognize the voice, so I politely told the poor man that we had just cleaned our carpets--which we have. The salesman, then said, "Okay, what about paint?" and all of a sudden it dawned on me that it was Ben, and the reason the script was badly written was because he hadn't thought anyone would be that gullible and he was grasping for lines. It has been over an hour now and I am still laughing. I love you Ben, and your quirky sense of humor!

PUZZLE PIECES

Last week, out of the blue, Stevens-Heneger college called Fred and asked him if he would be interested in interviewing for a job as the director of their R.T. department. I guess they have just finished building here by the temple and have started hiring and, for reasons unbeknownst to us, his name was floating around among the staff. He went in for the first round of interviews on Friday. They want someone with a Masters Degree, but they are still interested in him, if he would agree to getting his Masters while he's there. He still has to go through two more rounds of interviews and we know they are interviewing other people, and that they will possibly open up the position all across the country next week. Fred is still struggling with the idea of it all. It's scary to think about this kind of a change in an economic environment where everything is so shaky. The job is very administrative and would include teaching positions and the whole enormity of the responsibility is a little overwhelming and intimidating to Fred, who is ever so humble about his abilities. He's at the top of "the ladder" at the hospital, so his job is as stable as stable can be right now, but because he's at the top there is nowhere to go either and we are feeling the tight pinch to make ends meet, like everybody else. Before Fred's dad moved in with us, Fred was working 16 hour shifts so he could get overtime and pay the bills. Then Fred's dad came and almost immediately the hospital stopped allowing those kind of overtime hours, but Fred's dad wanted to pay his way and his gifts were almost exactly what Fred had been making working overtime. A coincidence? I don't believe in those. Now Fred's dad has moved on and we are not only trying to keep things together again, but with a new debt from the funeral. Ours is the same story as thousands of other people right now in this country, many of them our friends and family. We have been praying for answers but not in this direction, however, the puzzle pieces just keep falling. We don't know if this is the path we are supposed to take, but having more "normal" time together as a family has been in my prayers and providing has been in Fred's, so he is pursuing it until he gets cut out of the interview process or he is offered a job and then we'll decide (or it will be decided for us) what path to take. We sure would appreciate your prayers in our behalf right now, though I know you all have a hundred worries and concerns of your own. Whatever happens, we know the Lord's hands are in it and he will guide us. It's just listening and hearing that seems to be hard sometimes.

As Fred always says, "Zero Deffects!" and "We're living the dream!" Just look around us and see how much we are blessed. I'm sure Mom and Dad can attest to that a hundred fold from their vantage point. I am absolutely positive that in our married life, Fred and I don't know the smallest thing about physical humility. I was sure of that as I finished reading Mom's life story last week, and as Dad and Mom share some of their experiences in the mission field, I am certain that I am a very privileged child. I have to be oh so careful, that because of that, I don't become a spoiled child.

Lori and I had a big round rattan chair in our apartment at college. We dubbed it "the whining chair", and there was a rule among all of us, that you could not complain about anything unless you were seated there. I need to remember, that If I'm ever sitting there, I'm surely being idle and idleness happens to annoy me. I'm sure it does Him as well.

Mother of Teens

It is so much fun to be the mother of teens! This week I have watched Jordan slip in and out of that adult phase of life with so much maturity. He was elected to be the Senior Boys Rep. this year in school, which makes him part of Student Council and with Homecoming this week, he has been unusually busy. He was writing the script for the assembly, planning and setting up for the formal dance, practicing to perform the song which he wrote in the Carnival talent show, and preparing paperwork for the Chamber of Commerce for his Eagle project. He had also asked his favorite friend girl to the dance and was trying to work for us to get enough money for that date. On Wednesday evening, Bishop Waltman called and asked him to speak on Sunday. He looked up at me, after that phone call, with homework spread all over the table and just smiled. I said, "Welcome to the adult world." He then packed a "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet into his backpack to study on the Cross Country bus trip the next day. On Friday, he was elected as Homecoming King which was fun for him, but that meant he had to be at the football game on Friday night and postpone corsage making, which a group of boys had planned at a ladies house who supposedly had all of the materials and expertise, if they would supply the flowers. I was pretty busy myself, and though I was concerned with all that he was trying to accomplish, I had confidence that he would be able to do what needed done. He is, after all, a "big boy". Friday night, with permission, he came home much later than curfew with a sad looking corsage and a lot of stress about date plans that seemed to be falling apart. He was going with a large group and hadn't been as involved with the planning as he would have liked because of his busy week. I asked if he wanted help. He said he was fine, but by Saturday morning, that mother hen instinct took over and while he was gone, I ran up to his date's house to get a fabric swatch to see if the tie he had decided to wear would match. It didn't. I came home, tore apart the corsage, realized I didn't have the materials I needed to fix it, grabbed Mikayla, who has become my stabilizer in such situations, and went to town for wire, tape and a tie to match a turquoise dress (the dance theme was neon). The wire and tape were easy, but no one has a turquoise tie. Neon just isn't very popular in the tie section. With Mikayla's help, I finally found one that would work, and we flew home, hoping that we would beat Jordan and that he wouldn't walk in before us and see his corsage in bits and pieces all over the bar. We did. I went all over the yard and picked bits of pretty flowers and greenery and spent the next hour trying to remember what I had learned 17 years before about corsages. Now it was my turn to be stressed. All corsages were pin-on then; none are now. You have to make them differently. I was finally able to succeed and Jordan was most appreciative to walk in to find a unique and pretty corsage and matching tie waiting for him when he got home. He had to take down the dance last night, so Fred and I and Mikayla and Eden all waited up for him until 1:30. He said, "It was all worth it!" (Don't worry Dad, I grilled him -- no kissing -- no holding hands ;-)

Tomorrow is a new week; I wonder what that will bring!

Jordan and Hannah


The corsage


Half of the group

Divine Intervention

As a Stake, we have been planning our Y.W. Standards Night for quite a while now, but last Wednesday, our main speaker fell through and our Y.W. President's father ended up in the hospital with bone cancer. She called me, crying, from his hospital room, not knowing what to do. I had the prompting to call a lady from our ward, who I felt had some things to share that would resonate with the young women. Her husband is working out of state for two months and she is trying to juggle everything here on her own, so I knew a week's preparation would be a stress, but she humbly agreed to help us out. Yesterday morning (Standards Night was that evening) she called me. She had lost her voice, and with much effort she could barely squeak out her dilemma. She had called her twin sister, who lives in another area, and she was willing to come read Terri's talk, with Terri standing by her side. Sister Fisher (the Stake YW President) approved that as a standby, but I knew it wouldn't carry the same power. Sister Fisher and I prayed for her all day and at 6:30P.M. she showed up with her twin, and still no voice, and President Walker (Counselor over YW in the stake Presidency) and his son Laren (High Councilor over YW) gave her a very sweet blessing. She stood in that meeting and bore a powerful testimony of our worth as daughters of divinity and when I went to thank her after the meeting her voice was gone again.

I know our Father in Heaven listens to our pleadings. He knows the yearnings of our hearts and he blesses us in our righteous desires. And though Lily and Sophie play "Meetings" much more than they play "House", this calling has increased my testimony tenfold and continues to bless the lives of my family in countless ways.

I love you all,
Rach

Wisdom Teeth

At the age of 39, I finally had to have one of my wisdom teeth removed today. Dr. Gray has been encouraging me to have it extracted for a few years now, but I'm not very courageous, especially when it is just a suggestion. Two months ago, it started causing problems and he stopped encouraging and got a little more aggresive in his advice. However, after telling me that it had to come out Dr. Gray made the comment that it was going to be a beast and that I would hate him for two weeks and that I would almost certainly get a dry socket. Then I made the comment that I would rather have a baby AND HE AGREED WITH ME! I have rescheduled my appointment twice, and was about to do it again on Friday but I called after the office was closed. I was so terrified this morning when I went in that I made Fred come into the room with me at first. He did have the twins, so he had to be in the waiting room during the procedure. They gave me laughing gas, which I've never had before and I almost fell asleep before they realized they were losing me and turned down the flow. I didn't like the feeling, but it did help me relax. After he was done Dr. Gray said, "well that's going to heal up nicely -- now that wasn't as bad as you thought it was going to be, was it?" I just about screamed. Apparently he had forgotten his encouraging words from two months ago.

I am happy to report, however, that I have made it through the first full day without too much pain. I will be a very good patient tomorrow and hopefully we can make it through the week without the Dr.'s dry socket prediction coming true. "Life is just a bowl of cherries!"

Love you all,
Rach

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY BLOG!

Below are some of the fun things that have been going on in my life recently:

Traditional (started this year) sisters b-day luncheon at Miss Tami's cottage (we were celebrating Renee and my birthday. We celebrated Lori and the twins earlier this year and will change to a different restaurant for next year. It's been such a good excuse for us to force ourselves to get together. Thanks Liz for the idea!

We are in the process of making "Grandpa's" room into a fun sanctuary for Lily and Sophie. They love it and spend hours drawing and coloring at their little table. A curtain and quilts are the next project in here, but Mom is going to have to give me pointers over e-mail since I have never made a quilt before.

I missed the General Relief Society broadcast ( I completely forgot) but when it was mentioned in church the next day I was horrified. I listened to it first thing Monday morning and was inspired by Elder Uchtdorf's talk about creativity and compassion. I have spent this past week making curtains for my home and ripping down dingy, worn out blinds (a thing which I have planned to do for years and always felt too busy to follow through). I realized that "tomorrow" was never going to come so I've been seizing the moment. So far I have only done the living room and dining room, but I won't stop until the whole house is done, which means I must re-paint Jordan's room and my bedroom so I have a color palette to work from. I'm also spending a little bit of time behind the camera, trying to capture memories that I have been very amiss in capturing for the last few years as well.

Dining Room Curtains

Lily and Sophie on one of our many morning walks with Olive.

Fred has spent the summer (once again) building me a fence. We tore down our 4 foot side fence (that did not contain our beloved Olive), put up a 6 foot side fence, and then Fred took all the 4 foot panels and made these 6 foot height sections to replace the back chain link fence that borders the canal. We are hoping that Olive will finally be restrained without a rope. I continue to be amazed that after 3-1/2 years people are still bringing Olive back at least 3 times a week and not once have we met anyone who was anything but kind and understanding (including police officers and animal control). It has been a great testimony to me that the world is full of good people!

This is the children's treasured pumpkin patch. These little sprouts started in our compost pit this spring, and the children, wanting to tend their own plants asked if they could have a "piece of earth" to plant them. None of us even knew what they were, but this ground by Olive's "calf shed" wasn't being used so Mikayla and Eden planted one sprout and Abe planted a sprout and they "turned" into a beautiful pumpkin patch with all kinds of colors and shapes of "fruit", and have turned some ugly, barren ground into a little garden of Eden.