I just talked to the kind Bro Godfrey from the mission department, having called him because we needed to change our address from Chris's to Rye Court, Anacortes.
He said, funny thing you should have called - I have just talked to your stake president....
It turns out that they had processed our papers, and knew that I was probably related to John, an astronomer...
But they couldn't send us our call because of our photo.
!!!!!!
What was wrong with our photo?
The MUSTACHE! One has a choice: mustache or mission.
He said if I would cross my heart and hope to die, he would go ahead and send our call along with the others for processing, and that it would go out in the mail next Tuesday. He laughed and said it could not go out today no matter what.
But I had to promise to provide a new photo with no mustache!
I said I would but that it would take a few days while we were in transit. He was ok w/ that.
So next Thursday or so, we should get our call. We are having it sent to our home address so we don't have to hang out at the post office. It has been cleared by the Apostles already.
The actual mustache-bearer is not overjoyed, but will comply. Right before we do the photo, I think...
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
An Hour Later...
The mail just came!
The spirit of prophecy is upon me.
Did I mention yesterday at this time that ...
I didn't think it would come today? Actually, I was pretty sure it wouldn't come today.
Of course we're talking here about our MISSION CALL!
Well....
It didn't come today.
The mail comes at 10 am tomorrow....
:)
Actually, I don't think it's going to come then, either. :-
The spirit of prophecy is upon me.
Did I mention yesterday at this time that ...
I didn't think it would come today? Actually, I was pretty sure it wouldn't come today.
Of course we're talking here about our MISSION CALL!
Well....
It didn't come today.
The mail comes at 10 am tomorrow....
:)
Actually, I don't think it's going to come then, either. :-
Mail Comes at 10 am MT...
...and right now it is...10:04!
And it hasn't come yet.
Just thought you'd like to know...
And it hasn't come yet.
Just thought you'd like to know...
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Sealings
After much planning and careful coordination with Chris and the Romneys, today we had our long-planned family sealing session. Much thanks to our special friends!
It was a spirit-filled event, with many happy family members in attendance, too many to count. Humility, hope, and repentance filled some hearts, and also relief.
Babies (Leslie, William Edward, Teresa, Charles H, Chauncey) were made part of their forever-families, and parents were joined to receive them. Couples greeted each other with open arms.
The work is just beginning, and we know we'll have ever so many more helpers for future searches.
We'd like to schedule another sealing in SLC when everyone can make it. We'll know better what dates might work in another day or two, when we learn whether we will be in Mongolia at this time next year, or Salt Lake, or Milwaukee or Atlanta or Yellowknife. Once we know, the planning will begin in earnest.
Already Chris and the girls will do baptisms this Saturday, with 18 scheduled so far. If you'd like to do some of the work for these loved ones, please let me know.
It was a spirit-filled event, with many happy family members in attendance, too many to count. Humility, hope, and repentance filled some hearts, and also relief.
Babies (Leslie, William Edward, Teresa, Charles H, Chauncey) were made part of their forever-families, and parents were joined to receive them. Couples greeted each other with open arms.
The work is just beginning, and we know we'll have ever so many more helpers for future searches.
We'd like to schedule another sealing in SLC when everyone can make it. We'll know better what dates might work in another day or two, when we learn whether we will be in Mongolia at this time next year, or Salt Lake, or Milwaukee or Atlanta or Yellowknife. Once we know, the planning will begin in earnest.
Already Chris and the girls will do baptisms this Saturday, with 18 scheduled so far. If you'd like to do some of the work for these loved ones, please let me know.
Checking the Mailbox, Wed 28 May 2008
It's a beautiful day here in Salt Lake City, about 72, sunny with some fluffy white clouds. We had a wonderful sealing session at the temple this morning. Afterwards it was time to check the mailbox.
Actually, when we got back, Andrya had already brought the mail in, but I didn't know that. The mailbox was empty...
But inside the mail was on the counter in the kitchen. AND!!!!
Our call envelope was not there. It didn't come today.
Sigh!
So now we have ONE MORE CHANCE - tomorrow. After that, we'll have left.
Or actually, we don't have to leave till Fri afternoon, so that is actually the last chance. Stay tuned!
Actually, when we got back, Andrya had already brought the mail in, but I didn't know that. The mailbox was empty...
But inside the mail was on the counter in the kitchen. AND!!!!
Our call envelope was not there. It didn't come today.
Sigh!
So now we have ONE MORE CHANCE - tomorrow. After that, we'll have left.
Or actually, we don't have to leave till Fri afternoon, so that is actually the last chance. Stay tuned!
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Peace
Here we are in Boulder UT. If you haven't been, you might want to make the effort to come. The scenery alone would make it worthwhile, and there's no describing it. Red, yellow, rugged, wet, cold...
Down the street from where we're being hosted, Navajo sheep graze in a field next to Belgian draft horses. These churro sheep are great to eat, but even more valuable as a source of the finest wool, or maybe mohair.
Back toward town, cattle appear and disappear again as they are moved from one field to another. These are grass-fed, mostly Black Angus (so probably corn-finished). Across the street is our friend's famous restaurant, Hell's Backbone Grill (named after a well-known nearby land formation).
We ate at the grill last night as guests of the establishment. We had, variously, trout, trout, chicken enchiladas, and meat loaf. But these are not the usual presentations of these standard foods. They were exceptional, but again, indescribable. Save your pennies and come taste these novel combinations. One clue: my trout came with quinoa mixed with lots of pine nuts and other things, and worked perfectly with the trout.
Everything at the restaurant comes from nearby, or as nearby as possible. It also comes with Buddhist prayer flags. One of the owners is Buddhist and practices the doctrine of extreme friendliness and kindness and caring.
So this has been a great stopover on our way north. First, the unseasonably cold weather has prepared us to some degree for the transition from Tucson. We drove in snow yesterday when we were out trying to see the sights. Next, we have been treated very well by our hostess. And third, we have enjoyed the company of three of our granddaughters and their father, our eldest son.
Tomorrow we go to church in this small Mormon community with half the town likely to be in attendance. Because we are friends with the owner of the biggest commercial establishment in town - the restaurant - we will be somewhat famous when we get there.
Then tomorrow afternoon we get to tour the organic farm that supplies the produce for the restaurant. It's 6.1 acres and they use everything they grow for the restaurant.
This is a neat place. The wetness comes as drainage from the surrounding mountains. It's delightfully damp and makes gardening and farming doable.
Come see!
Down the street from where we're being hosted, Navajo sheep graze in a field next to Belgian draft horses. These churro sheep are great to eat, but even more valuable as a source of the finest wool, or maybe mohair.
Back toward town, cattle appear and disappear again as they are moved from one field to another. These are grass-fed, mostly Black Angus (so probably corn-finished). Across the street is our friend's famous restaurant, Hell's Backbone Grill (named after a well-known nearby land formation).
We ate at the grill last night as guests of the establishment. We had, variously, trout, trout, chicken enchiladas, and meat loaf. But these are not the usual presentations of these standard foods. They were exceptional, but again, indescribable. Save your pennies and come taste these novel combinations. One clue: my trout came with quinoa mixed with lots of pine nuts and other things, and worked perfectly with the trout.
Everything at the restaurant comes from nearby, or as nearby as possible. It also comes with Buddhist prayer flags. One of the owners is Buddhist and practices the doctrine of extreme friendliness and kindness and caring.
So this has been a great stopover on our way north. First, the unseasonably cold weather has prepared us to some degree for the transition from Tucson. We drove in snow yesterday when we were out trying to see the sights. Next, we have been treated very well by our hostess. And third, we have enjoyed the company of three of our granddaughters and their father, our eldest son.
Tomorrow we go to church in this small Mormon community with half the town likely to be in attendance. Because we are friends with the owner of the biggest commercial establishment in town - the restaurant - we will be somewhat famous when we get there.
Then tomorrow afternoon we get to tour the organic farm that supplies the produce for the restaurant. It's 6.1 acres and they use everything they grow for the restaurant.
This is a neat place. The wetness comes as drainage from the surrounding mountains. It's delightfully damp and makes gardening and farming doable.
Come see!
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Still Sitting In The Closet..
When all your stuff is in boxes (except for your computer) it's hard to be productive, helpful, creative, or anything else.
So I'm still sitting in the closet. The movers have been here for just under 9 hours. They still have boxes to put in the truck, and haven't started on the ones from the garage. They are doing a beautiful job - a knife couldn't be inserted between the boxes. That's because the estimate was too low, the cu ft too skimpy, and the truck too small.
It may be another hour. We've changed plans several times today, as the promised finish time of 3:30 came and went. It's 7 pm now, actually 7:10. We had to cancel taking Madi and Sam out for dinner, all dressed up, for one thing, and I'm very sad about that.
I am fairly certain this will be behind us tomorrow. Then we take a rest day, attend to a few last-minute details, and prepare to head out early Thurs to see Van and the girls in Boulder UT at 6 pm MT. Lots to look forward to! That's why we want to get a little rest. We hope NOT to get up at 4:xx tomorrow morning!
We're grateful to the Pershings for housing us, and to the Paulls and then the Lemburgs for feeding us.
And you all for your tacit support.
I think I'm glad the mission call isn't coming this week after all. We want to savor the experience and be spiritually prepared when it happens, and right now - we're just too tired!
But next week we'll be ready! Don't forget to keep an eye on this blog and then call our conference line that night at 6:30 PT to hear all about it: 308-344-6400 pin 887953#.
Love you all!
So I'm still sitting in the closet. The movers have been here for just under 9 hours. They still have boxes to put in the truck, and haven't started on the ones from the garage. They are doing a beautiful job - a knife couldn't be inserted between the boxes. That's because the estimate was too low, the cu ft too skimpy, and the truck too small.
It may be another hour. We've changed plans several times today, as the promised finish time of 3:30 came and went. It's 7 pm now, actually 7:10. We had to cancel taking Madi and Sam out for dinner, all dressed up, for one thing, and I'm very sad about that.
I am fairly certain this will be behind us tomorrow. Then we take a rest day, attend to a few last-minute details, and prepare to head out early Thurs to see Van and the girls in Boulder UT at 6 pm MT. Lots to look forward to! That's why we want to get a little rest. We hope NOT to get up at 4:xx tomorrow morning!
We're grateful to the Pershings for housing us, and to the Paulls and then the Lemburgs for feeding us.
And you all for your tacit support.
I think I'm glad the mission call isn't coming this week after all. We want to savor the experience and be spiritually prepared when it happens, and right now - we're just too tired!
But next week we'll be ready! Don't forget to keep an eye on this blog and then call our conference line that night at 6:30 PT to hear all about it: 308-344-6400 pin 887953#.
Love you all!
Sitting In My Closet
Here I am, an hour after the movers were to have been done, sitting in my closet. They have progressed to the stage where they are carrying things out to the van. They have been here 6 hours, and our belongs are wrapped in miles and miles of plastic tape. It is an environmental nightmare.
I am in my closet because there is no furniture in here. An electrical outlet in the bathroom just outside the closet door is keeping the two laptops happy. I am sitting on the floor. Just a few minutes ago I woke up from a fitful 10 min nap with my head on a computer case.
Moving is the pits. STUFF is an abomination - until you don't have a chair to sit on or a bed or pillow for your weary head.
The movers are Russian, or rather Khazk or Kazakh or Kazahk or one of those. One is kind of Mongolian or Hun type, oriental plus Slavic. The other is strictly Turkic or Altaic. They are from the same unnamed city; the former has been in the US for 4 years (and his wife is back home). They drove 10 hours to get here from LA, then got to work. Tonight they go to drop things off in Phoenix, then may head back to LA. I guess it doesn't pay to sleep. I treated them to Bianchi's meatball grinders for lunch, and cokes. They ate while standing at the counter, half of the sub each so they wouldn't fall asleep, then went and sat on the front 'porch' for a smoke.
I have decided to sit in the closet rather than develop the relationship further. I know I would be closing the door each time they go through it, so it's better that I have taken myself out of the action.
The whole process has been annoying: packed drawers were unpacked - POLICY! (and fills up more boxes). A lot of baloney. But it's almost done.
Maybe another hour. We're ready to be done.
Now for the big shocker that we finally figured out: we had thought that the blankets would be draped onto the furniture. We didn't know everything would be taped on in multiple layers and twists and turns. The problem is that they will need their blankets back when they deliver the furniture to the storage facility, so it will be stored - and moved, when we have a place for it - without the blankets that they have spent 6 hours putting on. What about the next move?
Too much to contemplate! It's not likely to happen till 2 years for 2.5 years from now, I think. Unless we go on another mission, and then even longer.
Moral: I have no idea. We have lovely furniture we bought in 1969, and there's not much like it out there today. I guess we could have ditched it and started over. Or not moved, ever. That would mean living in a 3 /1 1200 sf house in Lexington MA, the first home of some of these pieces. No move to Wellesley, South Natick, Sweetwater, a storage unit, or Sallee Pl.
Or else you just put up w/ moving day from time to time. We hope that after today there's only one more time .
I am in my closet because there is no furniture in here. An electrical outlet in the bathroom just outside the closet door is keeping the two laptops happy. I am sitting on the floor. Just a few minutes ago I woke up from a fitful 10 min nap with my head on a computer case.
Moving is the pits. STUFF is an abomination - until you don't have a chair to sit on or a bed or pillow for your weary head.
The movers are Russian, or rather Khazk or Kazakh or Kazahk or one of those. One is kind of Mongolian or Hun type, oriental plus Slavic. The other is strictly Turkic or Altaic. They are from the same unnamed city; the former has been in the US for 4 years (and his wife is back home). They drove 10 hours to get here from LA, then got to work. Tonight they go to drop things off in Phoenix, then may head back to LA. I guess it doesn't pay to sleep. I treated them to Bianchi's meatball grinders for lunch, and cokes. They ate while standing at the counter, half of the sub each so they wouldn't fall asleep, then went and sat on the front 'porch' for a smoke.
I have decided to sit in the closet rather than develop the relationship further. I know I would be closing the door each time they go through it, so it's better that I have taken myself out of the action.
The whole process has been annoying: packed drawers were unpacked - POLICY! (and fills up more boxes). A lot of baloney. But it's almost done.
Maybe another hour. We're ready to be done.
Now for the big shocker that we finally figured out: we had thought that the blankets would be draped onto the furniture. We didn't know everything would be taped on in multiple layers and twists and turns. The problem is that they will need their blankets back when they deliver the furniture to the storage facility, so it will be stored - and moved, when we have a place for it - without the blankets that they have spent 6 hours putting on. What about the next move?
Too much to contemplate! It's not likely to happen till 2 years for 2.5 years from now, I think. Unless we go on another mission, and then even longer.
Moral: I have no idea. We have lovely furniture we bought in 1969, and there's not much like it out there today. I guess we could have ditched it and started over. Or not moved, ever. That would mean living in a 3 /1 1200 sf house in Lexington MA, the first home of some of these pieces. No move to Wellesley, South Natick, Sweetwater, a storage unit, or Sallee Pl.
Or else you just put up w/ moving day from time to time. We hope that after today there's only one more time .
Monday, May 19, 2008
Leaving Tucson
In a day and a half, we leave Tucson.
How does that feel? Well, half the story is already written: we love where we are going.
The other half made us feel pretty good, too: the temp in Tucson hit 103 degrees today (65 in Anacortes).
I don't want to hide in an air-conditioned house, but that's what I end up doing here. Part of it's the heat, and part is the pollen. The valley is filled with blooming trees that are stunning and viciously itch-inducing. My eyes seem to be the major complainers.
Even so, it is hard to leave the home we have had, at least part time but mostly full time, for the past nearly 27 years.
Of course it's mostly the people. We know many people here, have some friends, have even more family.
But we have friends and family in many communities, in many states, and have learned to live without being in physical contact with them.
So we think this won't be any different: we will miss them, but it seems that in this modern world we can't have them - not all of them.
None of these observations will keep me from trying to get everyone permanently together in a microcosmic universe. We may be apart, but we don't have to like it, and we don't have to tolerate it. So now it's time for some serious plotting. Hehe.
How does that feel? Well, half the story is already written: we love where we are going.
The other half made us feel pretty good, too: the temp in Tucson hit 103 degrees today (65 in Anacortes).
I don't want to hide in an air-conditioned house, but that's what I end up doing here. Part of it's the heat, and part is the pollen. The valley is filled with blooming trees that are stunning and viciously itch-inducing. My eyes seem to be the major complainers.
Even so, it is hard to leave the home we have had, at least part time but mostly full time, for the past nearly 27 years.
Of course it's mostly the people. We know many people here, have some friends, have even more family.
But we have friends and family in many communities, in many states, and have learned to live without being in physical contact with them.
So we think this won't be any different: we will miss them, but it seems that in this modern world we can't have them - not all of them.
None of these observations will keep me from trying to get everyone permanently together in a microcosmic universe. We may be apart, but we don't have to like it, and we don't have to tolerate it. So now it's time for some serious plotting. Hehe.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Progress On Move
These cute grandkids keep coming over and that doesn't make moving any easier!
But as for our infinite quantity of belongings, we are continuing to close doors, literally: both front bedrooms are CLOSED. Their bathroom is CLOSED. The supply closet is CLOSED as of 30 minutes ago...
The living room is lined w/ boxes and has furniture awaiting their ride north, but otherwise it is done.
That leaves the kitchen (needs to be used for another day and a half), family room (an hour's work needed from me), D's office (needs furniture moved out, closet needs an hour's attention from me), our room's closet is CLOSED, bathroom almost, bedroom almost... Clothes are all sorted and packed, and that was the biggest deal in the bedroom.
We'll make it. Monday is another day, not without its challenges (103 degrees, for example). That's the day we load the car and U-Haul trailer. Everything else goes in the moving van on Tuesday morning (104 degrees forecast). That night we have a date, then Wed morning I have an appt, then Wed noon we have a date, then Wed afternoon we leave and go as far as N AZ.
On Thurs we meet up w/ Van and the girls...
But as for our infinite quantity of belongings, we are continuing to close doors, literally: both front bedrooms are CLOSED. Their bathroom is CLOSED. The supply closet is CLOSED as of 30 minutes ago...
The living room is lined w/ boxes and has furniture awaiting their ride north, but otherwise it is done.
That leaves the kitchen (needs to be used for another day and a half), family room (an hour's work needed from me), D's office (needs furniture moved out, closet needs an hour's attention from me), our room's closet is CLOSED, bathroom almost, bedroom almost... Clothes are all sorted and packed, and that was the biggest deal in the bedroom.
We'll make it. Monday is another day, not without its challenges (103 degrees, for example). That's the day we load the car and U-Haul trailer. Everything else goes in the moving van on Tuesday morning (104 degrees forecast). That night we have a date, then Wed morning I have an appt, then Wed noon we have a date, then Wed afternoon we leave and go as far as N AZ.
On Thurs we meet up w/ Van and the girls...
Sis Baty Called Back...
I was asleep when she called, and later I almost forgot about it.
She said she had a message from me on her answering machine. I reminded her about our conversation, that the message I left predated that. This was yesterday.
It was kind of funny. We've had a new call from SLC every day this week, or just about. This one was NOTHING. But the others were all potential roadblocks. So this was just one of those teasers.
But so far so good, and we may make it to the committee this week!
She said she had a message from me on her answering machine. I reminded her about our conversation, that the message I left predated that. This was yesterday.
It was kind of funny. We've had a new call from SLC every day this week, or just about. This one was NOTHING. But the others were all potential roadblocks. So this was just one of those teasers.
But so far so good, and we may make it to the committee this week!
Friday, May 16, 2008
Blue Suit
Today as I was finishing the last of my mother's boxes, I encountered an item that brought back a lot of memories.
Actually, as I have been doing these 10 final boxes of hers, I have been steeped in memories, plus items that predate me, plus a lot of junk. It's lovely to have a place like Deseret Industries to donate unwanted stuff to!
And before I start about the blue suit, I want to make this categorical statement: storing precious things in a box for 60 or more years does not add to their beauty. Moth doth corrupt, etc.
But about the blue suit:
It turns out that Nana had some items that I would not have associated with her. For example, she had probably 50 handkerchiefs, all pristine (except for the 60 years) and most quite lovely. I know she was fond of textiles and this was part of that love, I suspect. Another example is her collection of gloves.
I never saw my mother wear gloves! Or maybe on Easter. But she had many many lovely pairs. I have given a lot of them to DI, because they are too small for me, and still in beautiful shape. I have saved a more exotic dress-uppy sort of pair for a granddaughter. Among them all I found a pair of my own gloves.
They are in perfect condition. I know I had gloves as a child (beyond the ones for playing in the snow) and then I had these, and one other pair. (Come to think of it, I had to wear white gloves to dancing school, but these were a different sort, a lighter weight, purely decorative.)
These gloves I found today are white. I recognized them immediately. They are for a middle-school sized girl. I wore them with the blue suit I made for Easter when I was in Grade 8 or 9.
This blue suit was one of the fanciest things I had made at that point. It had a relatively straight skirt, calf-length, of medium blue wool. The jacket was of the same fabric, short, with big blue buttons up the front. What made the sewing a challenge is that it had a 'waistband' at the bottom (of the jacket), so all the fullness of the jacket needed to be captured smoothly into the waistband. Then to complicate matters, the back had a huge pleat in it from yoke to waistband that gave the jacket some fulness in the back. Whether the jacket had a collar I don't remember.
I have a photo somewhere of me wearing it. I had on a white blouse and the white gloves I found today. I thought I'd hold onto the gloves. The suit is no doubt long-gone.
I don't remember the clothes we bought, but I do remember the ones I made. I just wanted to share the joy I had in creating that suit. That's why I'm keeping the gloves.
Actually, as I have been doing these 10 final boxes of hers, I have been steeped in memories, plus items that predate me, plus a lot of junk. It's lovely to have a place like Deseret Industries to donate unwanted stuff to!
And before I start about the blue suit, I want to make this categorical statement: storing precious things in a box for 60 or more years does not add to their beauty. Moth doth corrupt, etc.
But about the blue suit:
It turns out that Nana had some items that I would not have associated with her. For example, she had probably 50 handkerchiefs, all pristine (except for the 60 years) and most quite lovely. I know she was fond of textiles and this was part of that love, I suspect. Another example is her collection of gloves.
I never saw my mother wear gloves! Or maybe on Easter. But she had many many lovely pairs. I have given a lot of them to DI, because they are too small for me, and still in beautiful shape. I have saved a more exotic dress-uppy sort of pair for a granddaughter. Among them all I found a pair of my own gloves.
They are in perfect condition. I know I had gloves as a child (beyond the ones for playing in the snow) and then I had these, and one other pair. (Come to think of it, I had to wear white gloves to dancing school, but these were a different sort, a lighter weight, purely decorative.)
These gloves I found today are white. I recognized them immediately. They are for a middle-school sized girl. I wore them with the blue suit I made for Easter when I was in Grade 8 or 9.
This blue suit was one of the fanciest things I had made at that point. It had a relatively straight skirt, calf-length, of medium blue wool. The jacket was of the same fabric, short, with big blue buttons up the front. What made the sewing a challenge is that it had a 'waistband' at the bottom (of the jacket), so all the fullness of the jacket needed to be captured smoothly into the waistband. Then to complicate matters, the back had a huge pleat in it from yoke to waistband that gave the jacket some fulness in the back. Whether the jacket had a collar I don't remember.
I have a photo somewhere of me wearing it. I had on a white blouse and the white gloves I found today. I thought I'd hold onto the gloves. The suit is no doubt long-gone.
I don't remember the clothes we bought, but I do remember the ones I made. I just wanted to share the joy I had in creating that suit. That's why I'm keeping the gloves.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Mission Update 5/15/08
We just got a call from the Missionary Dept. They would like to send us on a mission but Bro Lewis's blood pressure is too high.
Sis Lewis: Oh, Sis Baty called about that last week and wouldn't release our papers to you until we could give her a good report.
Bro Evans: Oh she already did that!
Sis Lewis: Yes, would you like to know what the numbers were?
Bro Evans: Oh yes, certainly.
Sis Lewis: (reports the three days of good numbers)
Bro Evans: Sounds like you folks should go on a mission! Congratulations on the good blood pressure! You've missed the committee rotation for this week but they will go to the committee next week, and you should get a letter from us, oh, in about 2 weeks.
Sis Lewis: hmm, we'll be in Salt Lake by then!
Bro Evans: Let me ck the address, oh yes, Quail Run Sandy, very good.
Sis Lewis (w/ a sigh): Thank you!
Bro Evans: Bye
So...about Wed May 28 or Thurs May 29, at Chris's, just as he and Andrya had hoped. Unless someone else would like to know something else! :)
Sis Lewis: Oh, Sis Baty called about that last week and wouldn't release our papers to you until we could give her a good report.
Bro Evans: Oh she already did that!
Sis Lewis: Yes, would you like to know what the numbers were?
Bro Evans: Oh yes, certainly.
Sis Lewis: (reports the three days of good numbers)
Bro Evans: Sounds like you folks should go on a mission! Congratulations on the good blood pressure! You've missed the committee rotation for this week but they will go to the committee next week, and you should get a letter from us, oh, in about 2 weeks.
Sis Lewis: hmm, we'll be in Salt Lake by then!
Bro Evans: Let me ck the address, oh yes, Quail Run Sandy, very good.
Sis Lewis (w/ a sigh): Thank you!
Bro Evans: Bye
So...about Wed May 28 or Thurs May 29, at Chris's, just as he and Andrya had hoped. Unless someone else would like to know something else! :)
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Other mtDNA - A Wish List
For MY lineage, since I don't have a Y chromosome, I can only get mtDNA. It's an interesting thought about how to do this since my father is dead and my brother has the same as mine.
So first, how to get my father's. Well, that would come from his mother, and she is dead and had no daughters. But she did have a sister, who is also dead. Her sister, I just found out, had daughters. One of them lived in CA until 15 years ago or so! Did she have any daughters? I haven't been able to find out. But if she did, or if her sisters did (and I don't know what happened to them - yet) then they have the same mtDNA as my father and his mother and that whole maternal line.
What about my maternal grandfather? He had sisters. Where are their female offspring? I'll have to ask Dot...
And my paternal grandfather? That would be his sisters' daughters' daughters. I met one of those daughters once, one of Aunt Ella's daughters. In 1980, before mtDNA testing. I wonder if she had daughters...I wonder if she's still alive. Someone w/ her name is alive in the right part of Stamford.... That would give us Margaret Fagan's maternal line.
The question is, does it matter? I think so! Genetics has a lot to do with temperament and tendencies, and populations have characteristics that differentiate them from other populations. The implications for understanding are enormous! What do you think?
Obviously this is just an example from my own results. Whose samples do you need before it's too late?
So first, how to get my father's. Well, that would come from his mother, and she is dead and had no daughters. But she did have a sister, who is also dead. Her sister, I just found out, had daughters. One of them lived in CA until 15 years ago or so! Did she have any daughters? I haven't been able to find out. But if she did, or if her sisters did (and I don't know what happened to them - yet) then they have the same mtDNA as my father and his mother and that whole maternal line.
What about my maternal grandfather? He had sisters. Where are their female offspring? I'll have to ask Dot...
And my paternal grandfather? That would be his sisters' daughters' daughters. I met one of those daughters once, one of Aunt Ella's daughters. In 1980, before mtDNA testing. I wonder if she had daughters...I wonder if she's still alive. Someone w/ her name is alive in the right part of Stamford.... That would give us Margaret Fagan's maternal line.
The question is, does it matter? I think so! Genetics has a lot to do with temperament and tendencies, and populations have characteristics that differentiate them from other populations. The implications for understanding are enormous! What do you think?
Obviously this is just an example from my own results. Whose samples do you need before it's too late?
Haplotype Results
I have my Sorenson Molecular Genetic haplotype results for my mtDNA.
I belong to haplotype U5a1 with an additional detail that I haven't been able to track down.
This group entered Europe very early, possibly from the Near East, about 50,000 years ago. It followed the retreating glaciers closely, and arrived before agriculture.
(This is interestingly the same pattern that we discovered when I was investigating wheat sensitivity: predating agriculture, following the glaciers - ie hunter-gathers.)
This group inhabited the periphery of northwestern Europe, though apparently were not Celtic and did not occupy the British Isles at this time.
The mtDNA is passed from mother to daughter down through the ages. Sons get it from their mothers but can't pass it on.
So our mtDNA came from my mother, my grandmother Teresa Clark, her mother Mary Quigley from County Monaghan in Ireland ...and that's about all we know. Looking at a surname map of the British Isles, we see Quigley is not Irish but British, as is Clark. My guess is that the Quigleys and Clarks were part of garrisons in Ireland, married locally, and found their offspring marrying locally also. I have to figure out the generations and timing and see if this works.
The part of England where the Quigleys and Clarks are found are the northern parts on the east coast, with the Clarks distributed much more widely in England than the Quigleys. The northern part of the east coast is a good place for northern mainlanders to wander to and stay, and that notion is compatible with the mtDNA results.
It's a tall tale with some possibilities behind it. Does anyone want to help find out more?
I belong to haplotype U5a1 with an additional detail that I haven't been able to track down.
This group entered Europe very early, possibly from the Near East, about 50,000 years ago. It followed the retreating glaciers closely, and arrived before agriculture.
(This is interestingly the same pattern that we discovered when I was investigating wheat sensitivity: predating agriculture, following the glaciers - ie hunter-gathers.)
This group inhabited the periphery of northwestern Europe, though apparently were not Celtic and did not occupy the British Isles at this time.
The mtDNA is passed from mother to daughter down through the ages. Sons get it from their mothers but can't pass it on.
So our mtDNA came from my mother, my grandmother Teresa Clark, her mother Mary Quigley from County Monaghan in Ireland ...and that's about all we know. Looking at a surname map of the British Isles, we see Quigley is not Irish but British, as is Clark. My guess is that the Quigleys and Clarks were part of garrisons in Ireland, married locally, and found their offspring marrying locally also. I have to figure out the generations and timing and see if this works.
The part of England where the Quigleys and Clarks are found are the northern parts on the east coast, with the Clarks distributed much more widely in England than the Quigleys. The northern part of the east coast is a good place for northern mainlanders to wander to and stay, and that notion is compatible with the mtDNA results.
It's a tall tale with some possibilities behind it. Does anyone want to help find out more?
The Best Of The Best
Thanks to Martie, who put this together. It brought such joy that it can't be expressed. I am posting it here so you can partake and enjoy, too - and also so that I'll always have it. I found last night at a moment of regret at having eaten something not so good that it had great therapeutic value.
Happy Mother's Day and Father's Day, Grammy and Grampy
We can't take credit for all the cuteness. We just got things started. What I especially love is the mixing of families, so many connections between family members who don't see each other very often or know each other very well. May they always turn to each other for comfort, support, and fun - as they do here.
We are appreciative of our own children and also very much so of our in-law children, who add so much to the family. We love them, we love their parents.
We are blessed.
Happy Mother's Day and Father's Day, Grammy and Grampy
We can't take credit for all the cuteness. We just got things started. What I especially love is the mixing of families, so many connections between family members who don't see each other very often or know each other very well. May they always turn to each other for comfort, support, and fun - as they do here.
We are appreciative of our own children and also very much so of our in-law children, who add so much to the family. We love them, we love their parents.
We are blessed.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Reunion 2008
This is based on a lot of BIG IFs.
IF we are in SLC for our mission, and IF the SLC family members could handle another reunion (same or different), we could have a reunion over Thanksgiving, because we are scheduled to report on Nov 7 IF we have a SLC mission and IF it begins in Nov (right after our availability date of Nov 1).
IF that plan doesn't appeal, this would be a good time to suggest another one!
I am with Manda. (See Meg's blog.) We need another reunion! Some of those kids are growing awfully fast!
(In another 10 years we're going to have to have color-coded tee shirts so everyone can keep track of whose cousin-kids they're looking at.)
Thanks to MTLM for putting together such a glorious slideshow for Grampy and Grammy, and to Chub for the dubbing!
IF we are in SLC for our mission, and IF the SLC family members could handle another reunion (same or different), we could have a reunion over Thanksgiving, because we are scheduled to report on Nov 7 IF we have a SLC mission and IF it begins in Nov (right after our availability date of Nov 1).
IF that plan doesn't appeal, this would be a good time to suggest another one!
I am with Manda. (See Meg's blog.) We need another reunion! Some of those kids are growing awfully fast!
(In another 10 years we're going to have to have color-coded tee shirts so everyone can keep track of whose cousin-kids they're looking at.)
Thanks to MTLM for putting together such a glorious slideshow for Grampy and Grammy, and to Chub for the dubbing!
Sis Baty Called Back, and...
Sis Baty called back, and asked for D's blood pressure numbers and my blood iron numbers. I gave them to her. She asked what mine had been. I told her. She was delighted in the change. She asked if I was going to keep on taking iron. I told her I certainly was. She asked if I had more energy already...I was agreeable about that.
Then she said...ok, then, I will pass these papers on (said with many exclamation points). !!!!!
So I said THANK YOU (with many more exclamation points). !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And she sounded pleased at that and said a buoyant goodbye.
So that's that. The papers have made it through the first Church Headquarters filter.
(Since I didn't know there was one at this stage, I couldn't venture to guess how many more there might be.)
But...it is possible they will go to the Brethren now.
:)
Then she said...ok, then, I will pass these papers on (said with many exclamation points). !!!!!
So I said THANK YOU (with many more exclamation points). !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And she sounded pleased at that and said a buoyant goodbye.
So that's that. The papers have made it through the first Church Headquarters filter.
(Since I didn't know there was one at this stage, I couldn't venture to guess how many more there might be.)
But...it is possible they will go to the Brethren now.
:)
Impatience And Attitude
I know that any minute now Sis Baty from Church Headquarters could call back.
And I know that she could say, ok, I'll send your papers to the Brethren before lunch.
Or she could say, not yet, keep working on it and call back in 3 months.
I also know she might not call back today.
So I am working on getting myself ready for all these possibilities.
I'll work on that easy, flexible attitude. I might even go get some breakfast instead of sitting here by the phone waiting and talking about waiting and wondering and...
Oh never mind. It's no big deal.
Sigh.
And I know that she could say, ok, I'll send your papers to the Brethren before lunch.
Or she could say, not yet, keep working on it and call back in 3 months.
I also know she might not call back today.
So I am working on getting myself ready for all these possibilities.
I'll work on that easy, flexible attitude. I might even go get some breakfast instead of sitting here by the phone waiting and talking about waiting and wondering and...
Oh never mind. It's no big deal.
Sigh.
Thoughts On Anemia
My iron has been pretty low. Two docs have said, it's not THAT bad. I agree. I am able to walk several miles at a good pace, go up and down stairs without fainting, and keep active.
However, when I see the reference ranges for normal blood iron and see how low mine are, all sorts new possibilities for enjoying physical activity come to mind.
(I will give the reference ranges below so you can see what I mean.)
The realization that I might walk faster, hike longer, hike higher, be more active - these are the enjoyable thoughts I've been having since yesterday.
Whereas walking the mailboxes in our neighborhood has a certain amount of appeal in that I feel I'm progressing when I go farther or faster, I believe it will pale to blah compared to being able to walk for a couple of hours on a trail in the Cascades. Or the length of Long Beach on Vancouver Island. Or down to the shore (and up again!) in a steep and rugged patch of coast.
My heart is normal, so I'm limited in activity only by my oxygen-carrying capacity. And that is fixable.
I was an outdoors kid. I rode my bike (hey, that's another thing I will be able to do better!) all over our part of town. I rode home for lunch from school. I explored on foot, too. I swam for hours at a time. I sailed and rowed. I clammed and fished. I love the outdoors!
This is what I want to transform myself into again, an active outdoors wind-burned red-cheeked vigorous grandma who joyously explores new terrain and walks 10 or 15 miles a day most days. Heaven knows Washington lends itself to the outdoor life year round and why would I want to hang back from all that? The geology alone is worth the move!
So I'm working on building up those iron stores to see how I feel and what I can do when I am 'normal'. (Don't worry - we're only talking about blood iron here. I'll still be me in all the other ways.)
So here are the reference ranges for 'normal' blood iron and my reading of last week:
Hemoglobin 11.5-16.0 g/dL mine: 10.6
Hematocrit 35.0-48.0 percent mine: 33.5
Iron 35-175 ug/dL mine: 21
TIBC 250-400 mine: 383 (ability to absorb)
Saturation 15-50 percent mine: 5
Ferritin 11-307 ng/mL mine: 8 (doc says 11 is not normal - normal is about 250)
So isn't that cool? So much room for improvement and being able to do more. I find this quite exciting.
However, when I see the reference ranges for normal blood iron and see how low mine are, all sorts new possibilities for enjoying physical activity come to mind.
(I will give the reference ranges below so you can see what I mean.)
The realization that I might walk faster, hike longer, hike higher, be more active - these are the enjoyable thoughts I've been having since yesterday.
Whereas walking the mailboxes in our neighborhood has a certain amount of appeal in that I feel I'm progressing when I go farther or faster, I believe it will pale to blah compared to being able to walk for a couple of hours on a trail in the Cascades. Or the length of Long Beach on Vancouver Island. Or down to the shore (and up again!) in a steep and rugged patch of coast.
My heart is normal, so I'm limited in activity only by my oxygen-carrying capacity. And that is fixable.
I was an outdoors kid. I rode my bike (hey, that's another thing I will be able to do better!) all over our part of town. I rode home for lunch from school. I explored on foot, too. I swam for hours at a time. I sailed and rowed. I clammed and fished. I love the outdoors!
This is what I want to transform myself into again, an active outdoors wind-burned red-cheeked vigorous grandma who joyously explores new terrain and walks 10 or 15 miles a day most days. Heaven knows Washington lends itself to the outdoor life year round and why would I want to hang back from all that? The geology alone is worth the move!
So I'm working on building up those iron stores to see how I feel and what I can do when I am 'normal'. (Don't worry - we're only talking about blood iron here. I'll still be me in all the other ways.)
So here are the reference ranges for 'normal' blood iron and my reading of last week:
Hemoglobin 11.5-16.0 g/dL mine: 10.6
Hematocrit 35.0-48.0 percent mine: 33.5
Iron 35-175 ug/dL mine: 21
TIBC 250-400 mine: 383 (ability to absorb)
Saturation 15-50 percent mine: 5
Ferritin 11-307 ng/mL mine: 8 (doc says 11 is not normal - normal is about 250)
So isn't that cool? So much room for improvement and being able to do more. I find this quite exciting.
Update on Papers 5/12/08
I was hoping to have a bit more to tell, but here are the facts. What happens with them will have to wait for a call back from Church Headquarters.
D's bp passed the test. He had 3 days in a row of good readings, the middle one by his doctor, and that is exactly what was required. So - CHECK!
I had my bloodwork done last week as I was already scheduled to do, and received the results yesterday. My anemia is lessened: the hemoglobin has gone from 9.4 to 10.6 (an increase the doc didn't think was possible). The hematocrit went from 30.1 to 33.5.
Neither of these is in the normal range, nor were the other iron-related numbers. What was normal was the test that showed my ability to absorb iron. So it's all a matter of the iron budget, and that is obviously responding positively to the changes I've made.
The question is whether it is enough for Sis Baty from Church Headquarters to pass the papers on to the Brethren or not.
I called this morning at 9 am SLC time, and got her message machine. Now I am waiting for her call back.
I'll let you know...
D's bp passed the test. He had 3 days in a row of good readings, the middle one by his doctor, and that is exactly what was required. So - CHECK!
I had my bloodwork done last week as I was already scheduled to do, and received the results yesterday. My anemia is lessened: the hemoglobin has gone from 9.4 to 10.6 (an increase the doc didn't think was possible). The hematocrit went from 30.1 to 33.5.
Neither of these is in the normal range, nor were the other iron-related numbers. What was normal was the test that showed my ability to absorb iron. So it's all a matter of the iron budget, and that is obviously responding positively to the changes I've made.
The question is whether it is enough for Sis Baty from Church Headquarters to pass the papers on to the Brethren or not.
I called this morning at 9 am SLC time, and got her message machine. Now I am waiting for her call back.
I'll let you know...
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Just Plain Weird
As we ooze along toward our final day here, now 9 days away, and spend our next-to-last Sunday with members of our Tucson ward with whom we've attended church in some cases for 27 years, and have visits from our local kids, and surprise our local grandkids with the nearness of our departure date, and not know the fate of our papers, we are feeling just plain weird.
One thing is definite: the moving van comes on May 20.
And another: we are spending the last two nights we're in town, May 21 and 22, at the Pershings'. So nice of them! (By then our stuff will be on its way.)
And speaking of stuff: I am now down to the last several boxes of Nana's. It's strange to see things from my babyhood mixed with a schoolpaper of Peter's and photos of her with the people she lived with at Sin Vacas. With some fortitude and luck I will be done tomorrow.
Mother's Day meant contact with just about everyone in the family - very nice. It also meant a simultaneous happy birthday to Bu. Back in her birth year Mother's Day was on the 10th, not the 11th, so I spent it in labor but didn't get the baby till the next day. Happy Birthday, Bu!
And thanks, all, for the flowers or calls or messages or ...
The Tucson valley is still yellow w/ blooming palos verdes, intermingled with lavender blooming ironwoods. When we went out the door to church today, at 2:20, it felt like it was 100 degrees (and dry). The car thermometer said 100 degrees and didn't change in the two miles or so to church. On the way home it was 95, at 6 pm. So I think it was actually 100! (The official temperature was only 94, though. Given that nearly every year we have 100 degrees by May 15, it's surprisingly 'cool'.)
So this next to last Sabbath is winding to a close. Tomorrow it's back to work, back to the last boxes, the packing of clothes into suitcases, and probably the purchasing of a bit more food to tide us over. It's tempting just to keep emptying out the pantry and not adding anything more BUT it won't take us long to go through three more kimchi dry soups and 6 more cans of baked beans, and maybe we will supplement them with a dozen eggs and a few other things. We do have 9 more days after all, and then 2 at the Pershings', and then...
One thing is definite: the moving van comes on May 20.
And another: we are spending the last two nights we're in town, May 21 and 22, at the Pershings'. So nice of them! (By then our stuff will be on its way.)
And speaking of stuff: I am now down to the last several boxes of Nana's. It's strange to see things from my babyhood mixed with a schoolpaper of Peter's and photos of her with the people she lived with at Sin Vacas. With some fortitude and luck I will be done tomorrow.
Mother's Day meant contact with just about everyone in the family - very nice. It also meant a simultaneous happy birthday to Bu. Back in her birth year Mother's Day was on the 10th, not the 11th, so I spent it in labor but didn't get the baby till the next day. Happy Birthday, Bu!
And thanks, all, for the flowers or calls or messages or ...
The Tucson valley is still yellow w/ blooming palos verdes, intermingled with lavender blooming ironwoods. When we went out the door to church today, at 2:20, it felt like it was 100 degrees (and dry). The car thermometer said 100 degrees and didn't change in the two miles or so to church. On the way home it was 95, at 6 pm. So I think it was actually 100! (The official temperature was only 94, though. Given that nearly every year we have 100 degrees by May 15, it's surprisingly 'cool'.)
So this next to last Sabbath is winding to a close. Tomorrow it's back to work, back to the last boxes, the packing of clothes into suitcases, and probably the purchasing of a bit more food to tide us over. It's tempting just to keep emptying out the pantry and not adding anything more BUT it won't take us long to go through three more kimchi dry soups and 6 more cans of baked beans, and maybe we will supplement them with a dozen eggs and a few other things. We do have 9 more days after all, and then 2 at the Pershings', and then...
Friday, May 9, 2008
Report May 9
11 Days till the moving van comes.
D has normal blood pressure and the doc expects it to remain that way if he keeps walking/running. We thought running on various beaches and hiking on various trails would be the best way to do this. And to think: no bursage stuck to the laces!
And I have my anemia-checkup appt on Monday.
On Tuesday we call SLC back and report in.
Then possibly the papers will move out of the medical-screening process and we can begin to wait.
But as D says, now there is no urgency - no urgency because we are healthy and likely to remain so and if we don't go now, we'll go later. It's entirely out of our hands. Nice!
D has normal blood pressure and the doc expects it to remain that way if he keeps walking/running. We thought running on various beaches and hiking on various trails would be the best way to do this. And to think: no bursage stuck to the laces!
And I have my anemia-checkup appt on Monday.
On Tuesday we call SLC back and report in.
Then possibly the papers will move out of the medical-screening process and we can begin to wait.
But as D says, now there is no urgency - no urgency because we are healthy and likely to remain so and if we don't go now, we'll go later. It's entirely out of our hands. Nice!
An Odd Change of Perception
To put this in perspective, I just LOVE it when this happens: something comes along that causes an inner change that gives a whole new perspective on things.
The something in this case is the possible postponement of our mission, or at least the increase in hoops to jump through before our papers will be processed. We're making progress to some degree on this, but we won't know till next week how successful we might ultimately be.
But that's not the change in perspective. The change came about because of this but is only peripherally related. Here it is:
Old perception: Details of move, details of trip, details of arrival in Anacortes, timetable for summer, timetable for fall, including trip to East Coast, possibly to England and Ireland, landing in SLC in very early November. Mission.
New perception: Details of move and trip and arrival, build new life in Anacortes. Travel from time to time. Go on a mission or two.
This second is a great gift! It means that instead of being in Anacortes temporarily once again, the only difference from previous years being that our stuff is sitting in a storage area down the street instead of in a house in Tucson, we are now NOT temporary, we are permanent and make life-choices from that homebase.
The externals of our activities would probably not appear to be that different. But inside, it's a huge transformation. Can you get the drift of it? The mission is not LIFE, it is a service project that we have chosen to undertake in the context of the rest of our lives.
It's healthier this way. We both feel much more settled now. It's cool. PL
The something in this case is the possible postponement of our mission, or at least the increase in hoops to jump through before our papers will be processed. We're making progress to some degree on this, but we won't know till next week how successful we might ultimately be.
But that's not the change in perspective. The change came about because of this but is only peripherally related. Here it is:
Old perception: Details of move, details of trip, details of arrival in Anacortes, timetable for summer, timetable for fall, including trip to East Coast, possibly to England and Ireland, landing in SLC in very early November. Mission.
New perception: Details of move and trip and arrival, build new life in Anacortes. Travel from time to time. Go on a mission or two.
This second is a great gift! It means that instead of being in Anacortes temporarily once again, the only difference from previous years being that our stuff is sitting in a storage area down the street instead of in a house in Tucson, we are now NOT temporary, we are permanent and make life-choices from that homebase.
The externals of our activities would probably not appear to be that different. But inside, it's a huge transformation. Can you get the drift of it? The mission is not LIFE, it is a service project that we have chosen to undertake in the context of the rest of our lives.
It's healthier this way. We both feel much more settled now. It's cool. PL
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Children
"Children do not see themselves as apprentice adults. They are trying to be good at being children, which means trying to find a niche within groups of peers - conforming, but also differentiating themselves; competing, but also collaborating. They get their language and their accents largely from their peers, not their parents." Ridley, p 256.
"Ancestral human beings reared their children in groups, with women engaged in what zoologists called 'cooperative breeding'. The natural habitat of the child was therefore a mixed nursery of children of all ages - almost certainly self-segregated by sex for much of the time. It is here, not in the nuclear family or the relation w/ parents, that we should look for the environmental causes of personality." Ridley 256.
"Ancestral human beings reared their children in groups, with women engaged in what zoologists called 'cooperative breeding'. The natural habitat of the child was therefore a mixed nursery of children of all ages - almost certainly self-segregated by sex for much of the time. It is here, not in the nuclear family or the relation w/ parents, that we should look for the environmental causes of personality." Ridley 256.
Revelation II - About Education
"Parents' most important job, therefore, is to provide support and opportunities, not to try to shape children's enduring characteristics." Sandra Scarr, quoted in Ridley, p 254. From Psychology, Public Policy, and the Law (1956).
Revelation!
"Parenting is a revelation to most people. Having assumed you would now be the chief coach and sculptor of a human personality, you find yourself reduced to the role of little more than a helpless spectator cum chauffeur." Matt Ridley, The Agile Gene, page 254.
YES!
YES!
Found In A Box
This poem, from my grad-student days, was in a box of all sorts of other things. This is as good a place as any to store it:
From gossy ruin silv'ry
Streaking skyward, spinning
A chilly dawn of rose, golden
Spears appearing, searing
Somber spheres of slumber,
Rising, glowing gold
Across the rusty hold
Seem soon to ransom gloom.
But then--
A rose surrenders bloom.
It is untitled and sent to a teacher, unsigned.
Does anyone know it? Or did I really write it, as it appears? In any case, I have to say I rather like it!
From gossy ruin silv'ry
Streaking skyward, spinning
A chilly dawn of rose, golden
Spears appearing, searing
Somber spheres of slumber,
Rising, glowing gold
Across the rusty hold
Seem soon to ransom gloom.
But then--
A rose surrenders bloom.
It is untitled and sent to a teacher, unsigned.
Does anyone know it? Or did I really write it, as it appears? In any case, I have to say I rather like it!
Call On Hold - Need Prayers
We just got a call from church headquarters from a sister who apparently goes over the medical stuff with a fine-toothed comb. She found that JSL's blood pressure was high. And that my hemoglobin was low. Here's the story:
JSL has elevated blood pressure (actually up, then down) when he is getting measured in a doctor's office. (Not an unknown phenomenon - called 'white-coat syndrome'.) So they fitted him w/ a cuff and monitor for 24 hours. It pumps your arm up to about 200 every 15 minutes except at night when it's every 1 hour. He came to hate it. His bp was 141/91. His doc wanted him to go on drugs.
The church needs him to have below 140/90 three days in a row.
I don't think that will be hard at all, once he's not in a aggravating setting. Plus he's been walking or running an hour a day and that's the best way to get it down. He is definitely under stress to get us moved and this is the worst it gets. We have no intention for him to go on drugs for 1 point over the standard, esp since they don't address the root cause.
Now for me. This one is trickier and may make it so that we can't go on a mission at all, though as D says, it's just another thing to push against. (We find a lots of barriers, but we have learned just to push against them...)
Context for me: I have just been declared healthy, above average health: normal heart, everything else great too. I walk vigorously for an hour a day when it's not too hot out.
But I do have irritable bowel, managed except when aggravated by some food. One of the real aggravations for it is iron in large quantity.
And when something irritates me, it makes my intestines inflamed. And they bleed, and stop as soon as the irritating substance is out of my system. So with enough aggravation I get anemic.
Plus I've always been anemic. This walking vigorously an hour a day is done w/ low hemoglobin numbers (9.4).
The lady at the church said 'we want you healthy enough to serve'. I'm trying to tell her I am but I have to get my hemoglobin up to 12. It has never been 12.
I need to take more iron. But it is very aggravating, if I take more than a certain amount. It will make me bleed. The last time I increased my iron to overcome 'anemia' I bled enough to take me to the next lower level!
I can eat iron-rich foods, but that takes a long, long time to build up iron levels to 'normal' (which is not normal for me at all).
The way we left it is, when D has his blood pressure behaving (3 days in a row under 140 / 90) then I go get a hemoglobin, and then they will look at our papers.
It is probable that his bp will be ok 3 days from now and that my hemoglobin will never be ok.
So that's why we need prayers. We need a way to show the church that I am healthy and capable without meeting a certain standard of 'average' hemoglobin levels.
I was scheduled to get my hemoglobin done today anyway. I doubt if I've made headway in the past 6 weeks since it was measured before - it's just too soon, plus taking extra iron made me bleed. We'll see shortly.
So we are in a difficult position right now. I suppose we could just unpack and go back to life as we've known it. It's so strange to have come this far and to have an 11th hour challenge.
We will push against it and see if it's real. But don't count on a call any time soon. We need prayers and insights into what to do. Do we stop by the missionary department when we are in SLC and let them see me run up and down the stairs several times? I'll do it...
Your suggestions are welcome, and certainly prayers. Love to all...
JSL has elevated blood pressure (actually up, then down) when he is getting measured in a doctor's office. (Not an unknown phenomenon - called 'white-coat syndrome'.) So they fitted him w/ a cuff and monitor for 24 hours. It pumps your arm up to about 200 every 15 minutes except at night when it's every 1 hour. He came to hate it. His bp was 141/91. His doc wanted him to go on drugs.
The church needs him to have below 140/90 three days in a row.
I don't think that will be hard at all, once he's not in a aggravating setting. Plus he's been walking or running an hour a day and that's the best way to get it down. He is definitely under stress to get us moved and this is the worst it gets. We have no intention for him to go on drugs for 1 point over the standard, esp since they don't address the root cause.
Now for me. This one is trickier and may make it so that we can't go on a mission at all, though as D says, it's just another thing to push against. (We find a lots of barriers, but we have learned just to push against them...)
Context for me: I have just been declared healthy, above average health: normal heart, everything else great too. I walk vigorously for an hour a day when it's not too hot out.
But I do have irritable bowel, managed except when aggravated by some food. One of the real aggravations for it is iron in large quantity.
And when something irritates me, it makes my intestines inflamed. And they bleed, and stop as soon as the irritating substance is out of my system. So with enough aggravation I get anemic.
Plus I've always been anemic. This walking vigorously an hour a day is done w/ low hemoglobin numbers (9.4).
The lady at the church said 'we want you healthy enough to serve'. I'm trying to tell her I am but I have to get my hemoglobin up to 12. It has never been 12.
I need to take more iron. But it is very aggravating, if I take more than a certain amount. It will make me bleed. The last time I increased my iron to overcome 'anemia' I bled enough to take me to the next lower level!
I can eat iron-rich foods, but that takes a long, long time to build up iron levels to 'normal' (which is not normal for me at all).
The way we left it is, when D has his blood pressure behaving (3 days in a row under 140 / 90) then I go get a hemoglobin, and then they will look at our papers.
It is probable that his bp will be ok 3 days from now and that my hemoglobin will never be ok.
So that's why we need prayers. We need a way to show the church that I am healthy and capable without meeting a certain standard of 'average' hemoglobin levels.
I was scheduled to get my hemoglobin done today anyway. I doubt if I've made headway in the past 6 weeks since it was measured before - it's just too soon, plus taking extra iron made me bleed. We'll see shortly.
So we are in a difficult position right now. I suppose we could just unpack and go back to life as we've known it. It's so strange to have come this far and to have an 11th hour challenge.
We will push against it and see if it's real. But don't count on a call any time soon. We need prayers and insights into what to do. Do we stop by the missionary department when we are in SLC and let them see me run up and down the stairs several times? I'll do it...
Your suggestions are welcome, and certainly prayers. Love to all...
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Papers Update 5/6/08
OK, just got a message from our awesome go-the-extra-mile bishop. And it said, when he opened our file it disclosed that...
Our papers are now at Church Headquarters!
OH MY!
It brought tears to my eyes and a pitter-pat to my heart. It looks like this is really going to happen!
We could hear next week I suppose, but it's much more likely that we'll hear the week after. Or the week after that, maybe? What do you think?
How 'bout everyone who reads this vote on 1) when you think they will come, and 2) where you think we will go. Spouses vote separately... (we need lots of votes to make it fun - please vote! Just submit a comment here.)
Anyway, the send-call-to address is still Chris's, just in case we're on the road. So I'd still like to do the conference-call opening, if anyone is game. Not everyone has to be there. See earlier post about this. And let me know in your comment whether you want to be there...or at least be informed that it's happening.
OK, I can't prolong this message any more. I've got to go sort Nana's stuff for the move. 10 boxes left to go. Etc.
WHEEEEEEEE!
Our papers are now at Church Headquarters!
OH MY!
It brought tears to my eyes and a pitter-pat to my heart. It looks like this is really going to happen!
We could hear next week I suppose, but it's much more likely that we'll hear the week after. Or the week after that, maybe? What do you think?
How 'bout everyone who reads this vote on 1) when you think they will come, and 2) where you think we will go. Spouses vote separately... (we need lots of votes to make it fun - please vote! Just submit a comment here.)
Anyway, the send-call-to address is still Chris's, just in case we're on the road. So I'd still like to do the conference-call opening, if anyone is game. Not everyone has to be there. See earlier post about this. And let me know in your comment whether you want to be there...or at least be informed that it's happening.
OK, I can't prolong this message any more. I've got to go sort Nana's stuff for the move. 10 boxes left to go. Etc.
WHEEEEEEEE!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
A Snippet From The Life Of Teresa Horan
If I don't record this while I'm thinking of it, it will never be remembered. This was told to me by my mother but also by Dot, I think:
When my grandmother was pregnant with her 5th child, a year after having lost her baby boy at 3 days of age, she had a stroke. It was July when it happened. The only thing to be done with her was to put her to bed. She was 36, and the year was 1920.
A month later, a little girl was born, 2 months premature. She lived for 5 minutes.
My grandmother spent a year in bed recovering from the stroke. I believe Aunt Mar stayed home from work to care for her. At the end of the year she got up and put her life back together. From then on she walked with a cane and had a 'withered' left hand - something I remember vividly from my toddlerhood.
So that's the background. The story I want to record is what happened shortly after she was on her feet again:
A young girl, maybe 12, a neighbor from up the street, got appendicitis. My mother, who was about 10 (or possibly Dot, who would have been about 5 or 6), came home and said to her mother, Anne Boyle (or whatever her name was) died last night.
My grandmother was aghast! Just the day before the girl had been fine, and all this, the attack and the infection and death, had occurred overnight.
So my grandmother put on her black coat and her black hat. I know she had on black tie-up shoes because she always did - ones with a bit of a heel, a rather blocky heel. Then she took her cane, and made her way out the door, across the wide front porch (where I sat years later playing Hearts with Aunt Mar and Cousin Bobby Strauss), down the front steps, down the concrete walk, down the step at the end, and up the sidewalk to the home of this young girl to console the mother, her friend.
It was not easy for her to make the short walk, but it was in her character to go and do what she could. I wanted you to know that.
When my grandmother was pregnant with her 5th child, a year after having lost her baby boy at 3 days of age, she had a stroke. It was July when it happened. The only thing to be done with her was to put her to bed. She was 36, and the year was 1920.
A month later, a little girl was born, 2 months premature. She lived for 5 minutes.
My grandmother spent a year in bed recovering from the stroke. I believe Aunt Mar stayed home from work to care for her. At the end of the year she got up and put her life back together. From then on she walked with a cane and had a 'withered' left hand - something I remember vividly from my toddlerhood.
So that's the background. The story I want to record is what happened shortly after she was on her feet again:
A young girl, maybe 12, a neighbor from up the street, got appendicitis. My mother, who was about 10 (or possibly Dot, who would have been about 5 or 6), came home and said to her mother, Anne Boyle (or whatever her name was) died last night.
My grandmother was aghast! Just the day before the girl had been fine, and all this, the attack and the infection and death, had occurred overnight.
So my grandmother put on her black coat and her black hat. I know she had on black tie-up shoes because she always did - ones with a bit of a heel, a rather blocky heel. Then she took her cane, and made her way out the door, across the wide front porch (where I sat years later playing Hearts with Aunt Mar and Cousin Bobby Strauss), down the front steps, down the concrete walk, down the step at the end, and up the sidewalk to the home of this young girl to console the mother, her friend.
It was not easy for her to make the short walk, but it was in her character to go and do what she could. I wanted you to know that.
Getting Around To Things And Us
The list of possible things we could do in Tucson before leaving 'permanently' is long enough that we've started to ignore part of it. One of those things is placing a pin on the timeline of life with regard to 'the boys'.
In other words, having a good time with them in some meaningful way as a way of 'finding our way back' when we see them again.
(Metaphors seem to be the only way to say this.)
Theresa and I have vaguely tried to make plans, but something has interfered: Nick and Nariana coming for Sunday dinner, for example. So it has happened. Today provided the opportunity. I think it was a gift, of sorts.
What happened was that Gilbert, poor lad, collapsed and went into convulsions at church. He was 'guarding' the door during Sacrament, and suddenly went down. I, sitting toward the back and directly behind the Paulls where we usually sit, must have heard him going because I turned around just as he landed - hard - and started twitching.
Many people went to his aid. They called 911, who came discreetly. Mike went to be with him at the back of the chapel and was there when they got him up. They took him out and that's all we knew for a while. Then Mike came back in and got Theresa, who asked me to make sure the boys were behaving themselves.
They were. They were quite sobered. Eric wanted to know what was going on, Jose was crying, Keenan kept an eye on the door, Gabe, when he was finished passing Sacrament, sat down and looked sad. It was a tender moment. I told them what little I knew (minus the convulsions). Mike and Theresa didn't return. The boys remained exemplary.
After Sacrament Mtg we went out in the hall and saw Gilbert sitting, obviously sorely afflicted, in a classroom, with several attendants (but not the EMTs). Mike came out and told us he had knocked out 3 or 4 teeth when he went down, but otherwise he was ok. They were hoping to get to an oral surgeon to have the one intact one put back in. I asked about the convulsions. It turned out no one had seen those. So whoever was in attendance decided it would be a good idea for Gilbert to go to the hospital and get checked out. Mike handed me his Sunday School lesson (well prepared and as it turned out, very easy to use) and he and Theresa took Gilbert to the hospital. On their way out one of them asked us to bring the boys home.
When church was over, I collected the boys, who wanted to know what was going on. We didn't know much. Then Theresa called and told us that Gilbert had a lot of anti-anxiety meds being dripped into him, plus a fair amount of IV, and was having various analyses done. But despite the drug he was still convulsing intermittently. She told us that if we got the boys home, Mike would be at the house by the time they got there (since they can't be left alone). So we arranged for Bro and Sis Claridge to take Jose and Gabe, and we took Eric and Keenan.
That gave us time for some great conversation, which I thoroughly enjoyed. For one thing I found out that Keenan had gotten and tremendously enjoyed his special box from the Martells.
It took us a while to get to their house and Mike was there to meet them. A few minutes later the Claridges arrived with the other two. We spent a few minutes chatting and left for home. An hour or so after we arrived Mike called to say that Gilbert's tests were all negative and that he'd be coming home in an hour.
An hour later or so Theresa called to report that they were home. The Ritalin that Gilbert takes has a side effect of convulsions, and it had gotten too concentrated in his body because he had become dehydrated during his fast.
Because of the convulsions they were not able to put the 'good' tooth back in, so now he's ok from the fall but has to have 3 tooth implants. Poor kid!
There may be easier ways for us to find ourselves taking the time we need to get around to what should be done before we leave. As I looked across the lobby and saw the four lined up and waiting for us, I thought, these are my boys. I love them. They - and all the Paulls - are family. Maybe we will be separated but we need to take the time to link ourselves up for the gap in time when we won't be in physical proximity. I hope we can heed this lesson during these next couple of weeks.
In other words, having a good time with them in some meaningful way as a way of 'finding our way back' when we see them again.
(Metaphors seem to be the only way to say this.)
Theresa and I have vaguely tried to make plans, but something has interfered: Nick and Nariana coming for Sunday dinner, for example. So it has happened. Today provided the opportunity. I think it was a gift, of sorts.
What happened was that Gilbert, poor lad, collapsed and went into convulsions at church. He was 'guarding' the door during Sacrament, and suddenly went down. I, sitting toward the back and directly behind the Paulls where we usually sit, must have heard him going because I turned around just as he landed - hard - and started twitching.
Many people went to his aid. They called 911, who came discreetly. Mike went to be with him at the back of the chapel and was there when they got him up. They took him out and that's all we knew for a while. Then Mike came back in and got Theresa, who asked me to make sure the boys were behaving themselves.
They were. They were quite sobered. Eric wanted to know what was going on, Jose was crying, Keenan kept an eye on the door, Gabe, when he was finished passing Sacrament, sat down and looked sad. It was a tender moment. I told them what little I knew (minus the convulsions). Mike and Theresa didn't return. The boys remained exemplary.
After Sacrament Mtg we went out in the hall and saw Gilbert sitting, obviously sorely afflicted, in a classroom, with several attendants (but not the EMTs). Mike came out and told us he had knocked out 3 or 4 teeth when he went down, but otherwise he was ok. They were hoping to get to an oral surgeon to have the one intact one put back in. I asked about the convulsions. It turned out no one had seen those. So whoever was in attendance decided it would be a good idea for Gilbert to go to the hospital and get checked out. Mike handed me his Sunday School lesson (well prepared and as it turned out, very easy to use) and he and Theresa took Gilbert to the hospital. On their way out one of them asked us to bring the boys home.
When church was over, I collected the boys, who wanted to know what was going on. We didn't know much. Then Theresa called and told us that Gilbert had a lot of anti-anxiety meds being dripped into him, plus a fair amount of IV, and was having various analyses done. But despite the drug he was still convulsing intermittently. She told us that if we got the boys home, Mike would be at the house by the time they got there (since they can't be left alone). So we arranged for Bro and Sis Claridge to take Jose and Gabe, and we took Eric and Keenan.
That gave us time for some great conversation, which I thoroughly enjoyed. For one thing I found out that Keenan had gotten and tremendously enjoyed his special box from the Martells.
It took us a while to get to their house and Mike was there to meet them. A few minutes later the Claridges arrived with the other two. We spent a few minutes chatting and left for home. An hour or so after we arrived Mike called to say that Gilbert's tests were all negative and that he'd be coming home in an hour.
An hour later or so Theresa called to report that they were home. The Ritalin that Gilbert takes has a side effect of convulsions, and it had gotten too concentrated in his body because he had become dehydrated during his fast.
Because of the convulsions they were not able to put the 'good' tooth back in, so now he's ok from the fall but has to have 3 tooth implants. Poor kid!
There may be easier ways for us to find ourselves taking the time we need to get around to what should be done before we leave. As I looked across the lobby and saw the four lined up and waiting for us, I thought, these are my boys. I love them. They - and all the Paulls - are family. Maybe we will be separated but we need to take the time to link ourselves up for the gap in time when we won't be in physical proximity. I hope we can heed this lesson during these next couple of weeks.
Paper Update 5/4/08
As of this morning, our papers were still at the stake offices, according to Bishop B Anderson, who is kind enough to look at his bishop's screen once in a while for us.
Impolite!
I intend to stop being so polite. Out the door with it also goes being constrained and disciplined and 'correct'. All these things are the veneer of an insincere civilization designed to make sure the others in one's life are comfy and never upset. But there's too much to heed to let niceties prevail, and too much difference that could be made by rocking the boat.
For example, food. Market manipulation, government protections, US subsidies affecting global food production. Makes me MAD!
What makes me mad is my ignorance about such things. BUT NO MORE! I intend to dig deep and learn what's really going on, then reinstate my status as a hot-head and do a least some little things to chip away at all this.
I can't run for Congress because I wouldn't play the game the right way. Whatever it is.
But I can investigate and report.
We're only 230 years old as a nation. That's not much. I'm afraid this great concept is going to fail because of greed and manipulation.
I have a great belief in free markets, but what we have now are not free markets and the US is leading the way in manipulating them, for the benefit of a few tolerated by the ignorance of the many. At least I don't have to be one of those!
I'm concerned about education (as always), about food, and energy.
I'm also excited about the possibilities for these things, the solutions that are beginning to emerge.
I'm concerned about global cooling, but I can't figure out how to do anything about that except to be prepared.
Back 230 years a bunch of regular folks with a concept got together and challenged one of the great nations of the world, one with which they had close ties. That was pretty awesome, and a good example of what can be done. And not necessarily through public office.
The thing is, none of them lived to see if it was going to last. It was a huge experiment that they began and then had to let perk along on its own.
I think we need a restoration. The Gospel needed restoring - it needed returning to its beginnings to start over. I kind of think that's what we need to do w/ the US government also.
But I don't know! I haven't been paying attention. I've been leaving these things to others and allowing my ignorance and inattention to accumulate.
Now it's time to activate myself.
Yesterday I wrote a piece, a very delicate and gently and mildly informative piece, about hunger in Haiti. One of my Shaklee people saw it and was offended. Oy! So what's the point of being delicate and mild?
Right now all I can say is, No More Ignorance For Me! (relatively speaking...)
You can think of this as a slow awakening.
For example, food. Market manipulation, government protections, US subsidies affecting global food production. Makes me MAD!
What makes me mad is my ignorance about such things. BUT NO MORE! I intend to dig deep and learn what's really going on, then reinstate my status as a hot-head and do a least some little things to chip away at all this.
I can't run for Congress because I wouldn't play the game the right way. Whatever it is.
But I can investigate and report.
We're only 230 years old as a nation. That's not much. I'm afraid this great concept is going to fail because of greed and manipulation.
I have a great belief in free markets, but what we have now are not free markets and the US is leading the way in manipulating them, for the benefit of a few tolerated by the ignorance of the many. At least I don't have to be one of those!
I'm concerned about education (as always), about food, and energy.
I'm also excited about the possibilities for these things, the solutions that are beginning to emerge.
I'm concerned about global cooling, but I can't figure out how to do anything about that except to be prepared.
Back 230 years a bunch of regular folks with a concept got together and challenged one of the great nations of the world, one with which they had close ties. That was pretty awesome, and a good example of what can be done. And not necessarily through public office.
The thing is, none of them lived to see if it was going to last. It was a huge experiment that they began and then had to let perk along on its own.
I think we need a restoration. The Gospel needed restoring - it needed returning to its beginnings to start over. I kind of think that's what we need to do w/ the US government also.
But I don't know! I haven't been paying attention. I've been leaving these things to others and allowing my ignorance and inattention to accumulate.
Now it's time to activate myself.
Yesterday I wrote a piece, a very delicate and gently and mildly informative piece, about hunger in Haiti. One of my Shaklee people saw it and was offended. Oy! So what's the point of being delicate and mild?
Right now all I can say is, No More Ignorance For Me! (relatively speaking...)
You can think of this as a slow awakening.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Papers
As of last night at 8 pm the papers were still in the Stake President's office. We await word.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Receiving the Call - A Plan, plus calendar
Some of you may want to be 'present' when we open our call letter. Here's what I have in mind.
The call is being sent to Chris's. This is because we don't know enough to be certain it would arrive in Tucson before we leave. We think it would, but if it didn't, it would delay our getting the letter for 10 days. So we have asked Chris to receive it, and he has agreed.
So when he does receive it, presuming that we will not yet have arrived at his house (see calendar below), he will gather his family around, and then open it and read it to us.
If any of you would like to be there, we have a conference line we can use. You dial in to the conference line, and it's like a big phone call with everyone able to talk and listen. I will give the details below.
The biggest question then becomes, how do we let you know that the call has arrived and that we will be opening it at a particular time?
Right now I would like to propose that we read it at 6:30 pm PT, which includes Tucson; 7:30 for Utah and Montana. This way most children would be awake and most adults would be home. This time also allows me to avoid conference calls I am committed to each week.
The best way I know how to communicate quickly is email. I would put the message that the call has arrived in lewfamzoo, regular email addresses, and this blog. I would also have to call Katie to include them.
If you can think of a better way, let me know. (I think we need a family phone tree, where the initiation of a communication can be done by any one family member and reach everyone within a few minutes. It would serve us well beyond this mission call. But we don't have to do this now - it would be for emergency communications.)
If you don't care about being there when the call papers are opened, just let me know. You'll certainly find out soon, anyway. This is just for those who like to be in on the whole experience, such as their parents swooning or whatever the case.
Here's the calendar as we know it:
May 20 - moving company picks up furniture
May 22 - we drive out of Tucson, go to Phoenix for a temple day and speaking event
May 23 - drive to Boulder UT to meet Van and girls
May 26 - drive to SLC to stay w/ Chris and family
May 28 - sealing day - we spend the morning at the SLC temple doing sealings
May 30 - Happy birthday, Chris - we leave for Anacortes
May 30 or 31 - we arrive Anacortes
June 1 - church in Anacortes
June 2 - moving van arrives, things put into storage
The call could arrive as early as May 15. If not then, it is likely to arrive on May 22, just after we leave for Phoenix. It is possible it will arrive a week later than that. Of course it might not arrive on a Thursday at all: Chris, being in SLC, could receive it a day earlier.
Conference line info: dial 1-308-344-6400 pin 887953# (enter pin when prompted). Dial in a few minutes ahead, and if you have trouble entering the pin, hang up and start over. Some phone systems require that the pin be entered rather slowly.
I'd love to know if you and your family would like to be included in the opening of the call. Meanwhile we solicit everyone's prayers that the Spirit will prevail during the call process and at the time we receive the call. Thanks!
The call is being sent to Chris's. This is because we don't know enough to be certain it would arrive in Tucson before we leave. We think it would, but if it didn't, it would delay our getting the letter for 10 days. So we have asked Chris to receive it, and he has agreed.
So when he does receive it, presuming that we will not yet have arrived at his house (see calendar below), he will gather his family around, and then open it and read it to us.
If any of you would like to be there, we have a conference line we can use. You dial in to the conference line, and it's like a big phone call with everyone able to talk and listen. I will give the details below.
The biggest question then becomes, how do we let you know that the call has arrived and that we will be opening it at a particular time?
Right now I would like to propose that we read it at 6:30 pm PT, which includes Tucson; 7:30 for Utah and Montana. This way most children would be awake and most adults would be home. This time also allows me to avoid conference calls I am committed to each week.
The best way I know how to communicate quickly is email. I would put the message that the call has arrived in lewfamzoo, regular email addresses, and this blog. I would also have to call Katie to include them.
If you can think of a better way, let me know. (I think we need a family phone tree, where the initiation of a communication can be done by any one family member and reach everyone within a few minutes. It would serve us well beyond this mission call. But we don't have to do this now - it would be for emergency communications.)
If you don't care about being there when the call papers are opened, just let me know. You'll certainly find out soon, anyway. This is just for those who like to be in on the whole experience, such as their parents swooning or whatever the case.
Here's the calendar as we know it:
May 20 - moving company picks up furniture
May 22 - we drive out of Tucson, go to Phoenix for a temple day and speaking event
May 23 - drive to Boulder UT to meet Van and girls
May 26 - drive to SLC to stay w/ Chris and family
May 28 - sealing day - we spend the morning at the SLC temple doing sealings
May 30 - Happy birthday, Chris - we leave for Anacortes
May 30 or 31 - we arrive Anacortes
June 1 - church in Anacortes
June 2 - moving van arrives, things put into storage
The call could arrive as early as May 15. If not then, it is likely to arrive on May 22, just after we leave for Phoenix. It is possible it will arrive a week later than that. Of course it might not arrive on a Thursday at all: Chris, being in SLC, could receive it a day earlier.
Conference line info: dial 1-308-344-6400 pin 887953# (enter pin when prompted). Dial in a few minutes ahead, and if you have trouble entering the pin, hang up and start over. Some phone systems require that the pin be entered rather slowly.
I'd love to know if you and your family would like to be included in the opening of the call. Meanwhile we solicit everyone's prayers that the Spirit will prevail during the call process and at the time we receive the call. Thanks!
Meeting w/ Stake President
Last night we had our meeting with the Stake President. It was uneventful in particulars. He passed our papers to the Stake Clerk for final data entry and for pushing the button. We think the button will be pushed tonight. We HOPE!
The papers go instantly to SLC, where they are processed quickly. We could receive our call in two weeks, or it could take longer. See the next post for details about that.
We are happy to have come this far, on schedule and with an increase in faith. If preparation for a mission can be this fruitful, then the mission itself must be most enlightening.
The papers go instantly to SLC, where they are processed quickly. We could receive our call in two weeks, or it could take longer. See the next post for details about that.
We are happy to have come this far, on schedule and with an increase in faith. If preparation for a mission can be this fruitful, then the mission itself must be most enlightening.
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