We're running... We're running... Where are we going?

I am nearly two weeks behind on my blog.  It wouldn’t be bad, except they were a good two weeks!

We had Rebecca and her brood and Miranda and her youngins staying with us.  It was fun to see them interact together.  Ethan kind of did his own thing, but Camden had lots of fun with his cousins—especially Ryle and Callie.

Tuesday we drove to Silver Dollar City.  I was surprised at the amount of fun even the young kids had on the rides.  We didn’t try to see any shows. It was bluegrass Festival… and I’m not that much of a fan of bluegrass.  I might have listened on my own… but with kids in tow, it would not have been fun for them.

The weather was wonderful and the kids had a great time. See Rebecca’s blog.

Thursday the kids took off to visit Jonathan and Kristy.  They went as far as Kansas City and went to the temple. Then they continued on to Iowa on Friday.  When I call, there’s lots of commotion there, but it’s fun noise… usually… I think.

Tom and I had gone to look at some houses.  One looked like it had possibilities, but not at the price they were asking.  It was a Chase bank repo.  Thursday I went in to make an offer.  We had to use the state form. Then Chase had its 10 page form that was pretty one-sided.  It only gave 5 days for inspections—and you had to notify them in writing 48 hours ahead of time that you wanted to inspect.  REALLY??  And the form didn’t guarantee you’d get clear title to the house.

Since I’ve been fighting about a title issue on one of our St. Louis houses, I was not about to deal with that.  The realtor is young, but very conscientious.  He went to his broker with every question. They went to their attorney to have him check out the contract.  He offered some workaround language that would give clear title and we asked for more time to inspect, too.  But I didn’t sign the documents until Monday.

With the St. Louis property, I also checked with an attorney as the title companies seemed to be at an impasse.  So, based on her suggestions, I filed a claim against the Title Insurer.  We’ll see what comes next. One thing that’s come out of it is an article on title insurance.

Friday night we went and cleaned part of the church.  We couldn’t do that Saturday as Tom had a race in the morning. It was thundering and raining…but they ran anyway.  Tom came in second in his division and felt pretty good about the run and about how he felt afterwards. It quit raining later in the morning and we went to the Gassville at the Park festival that accompanied the race.  There were many fewer booths set up.  I expect the rain chased them away.  But it was a fun stroll.

I had a clay image in my mind for weeks—since we went to the seed festival in Marshfield.  I wanted to make a crock.  So Saturday I took time and fashioned it.  I think I’m pleased with it. Although the grass seed impressions may not still be clear after glazing.

I’ve been busy with end of seminary things. We have new teachers called, old ones released.  We have final reports to do and summer training to plan.  And I had GRADUATION!  Last year I was totally stressed out about graduation.  This year I started planning earlier and things went pretty well.

I knew more what to expect.  I knew Bro. Lawson would take care of the diplomas.  I corrected the mistakes in the program from last year, and this time I asked lots of graduates to speak.  That turned out well.  Some were off the cuff, some polished, or earnest and sincere, or scripted and well read. While they were all different, they were all really sweet and powerful.

One boy spoke on “let your light so shine.”  He said he was valedictorian of his class. And spoke on the same subject.  He said, at the end, he kind of bore his testimony about the importance of us being a guide for others and doing good and helping others.  He said he forgot and ended his speech, “In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.” (That got laughter from the congregation.)  But he said that several people came up—including one really inactive member he had stopped even trying to talk about the gospel with—and told him how much his speech had touched them.

Bro. Lawson is always quick witted.  As he was talking about visiting seminary classes, he said he noticed that Zak spent a lot of time “studying Lehi’s dream” i.e. asleep.  I thought that was a cute way to put it.

All of Sunday was a really spiritual day.  While it was fast Sunday, and that’s sometimes draining, this time I felt I understood the scripture that equates fasting with joy.  It was just a great day from Sacrament to the end of Seminary graduation.

I posted a song that 6 of the youth sang at graduation. It’s in harmony and they chose the song, arranged it, practiced it and sang acapella, with no adult leadership.  It’s really amazing!  I think half the singers are children of Branson show families, but still. It was both skilled and mature to accomplish that.

Monday morning we went to the Maples to pick Strawberries. We got there at 6:30am and picked for an hour.  Got about 15 lbs.  Then Tom went to a court case.  A tenant wanted her deposit back after her dog wet the rugs and they had to be changed out.  The judge granted part of the payment of the rugs, but not all due to the age of the rugs.

Then Tom went on to work at Adam’s house.  The tenant moved out and it will need paint throughout and new doors.  The doors had been deteriorating… and were none too good when we bought the house.  So this was a good time to make the change.

I worked on copywriting for a while, and then tacked the strawberries.  We took a break to go to the Empty Nester’s Family Home Evening, then came back and made two batches of strawberry jam before we headed to bed after10pm.   The jam was sure tasty.

I froze some berries and I have been glutting myself on strawberries for the past two days.

Tuesday we went to Little Rock to see an agent about infinite banking.  We’ve been working with her over phone and computer, but wanted to meet her when we signed the documents.  This is a very interesting wealth preservation and growth system. It is how the Rothschild’s kept their money in the family.  It would be a good way to keep money in the family for perpetual reunions.  She’s willing to come and talk to the family about it, if we want. I’m going to try to send out a letter to determine interest.

It took all day, but we had a really nice visit with Rebecca Rice and her husband Bobby about investing and all the ways this vehicle can be used.

And now it’s Wednesday and I will post this… and pictures if I can find any.