Tom's Week

 The first week of June was filled with inspiration, travel and excitement.  Sunday evening we attended a Stake wide zone conference hosted by our mission president who will be returning home in July.  He and his wife are great and wonderful examples of Christ-like love and are well loved by missions and members.  We received simple but profound guidance on how we can be a disciple of Christ.  The mission president's wife shared an interesting story of how to share the gospel.  She does a lot of shopping at Sam's Club and usually has time to visit with people and obtain referrals; but on this particular day she was pressed for time and was literally running down the aisles.  As she was rushing out to the car to unload her purchases she felt prompted to say something to the man who was helping her; initially she felt time would not allow this interchange.  But the spirit won and she simply asked:  "Are you religious?"  Yes was his response.  "Do you attend a church?"  No, but I am looking.  "Would you like to come to my church?"  Yes.  So she got his contact info and passed that onto the missionaries.  This whole process was about 30 seconds.  And, the missionaries contacted the man that day, taught him, committed him to baptism and later baptized him.  30 seconds was all it took.

After the conference, Tom drove the truck to Mt Vernon, MO and spent the night at the Iowa Fox's new home.  The next morning he drove 25 miles to the middle of nowhere to pick up a borrowed stock trailer and proceeded to the old Iowa Fox home.  There he helped with the last minute items so the Budget rental truck could be loaded Tuesday evening.  That was an amazing feat of charity; over 10 people from church showed up to help load; we almost had more people than were needed; and Jonathan did a fantastic job of filling every space with something.  And when all was done, there was room for everything!

Wednesday morning we finalized the packing of last minute items and loaded the livestock; the four cows, two calves and eight lambs were packed into the borrowed stock trailer. The 10 chickens road in the bed of the pickup truck and one unhappy cat road in the cab with me and David.  Kristy had the remaining 4-5 lambs and the goat in their trailer, two dogs and three cats plus three children in her van.  We left Norwalk about 1pm and  and arrived in Mt Vernon about 7pm.  We were all happy to be there and the animals were most appreciative to be set free into a green pasture.  Jonathan remained behind with Miriam to help friends load all there farm equipment onto a flatbed trailer.  He did not leave until after 5pm with the 24 foot van towing his car (he arrived around midnight, but then I wasn't awake to greet him).

 

At the last minute Sandy decided to join us at Mt Vernon and arrived about the same time we did.  She brought dinner with her too, so we were especially happy to see her.  The children were excited to be in their new home and explore its newness.

Thursday was a down day getting ready for the help that was scheduled to unload the van on Friday.  But there was plenty to do.  Then around 10am Friday morning the help started to arrive.  10-12 people showed up and in less than 90 minutes the work was done.  I love wards with younger people!  If we have a work party like this in Mountain Home, the average age is about 60; here it was closer to 35.

Sandy and I helped get some items set up and then hit the road for home; with an Andy's Custard on the way you know where I took a short break.

I was up early Saturday to participate in a 5 k run in Gassville; this is the third year I have run this race.  It is a low budget event and this year had the most runners/walkers, about 35.  I was really impressed with my time of 30 minutes and 10 seconds and claimed 1st in my age bracket (over 50) - but then there were only two of us!  Then home to help clean the chapel and mow the lawn.  Life is never dull for the Foxes!

Helping Move

Sunday Tom drove over to Mt. Vernon and slept at Jonathan and Kristy's new house. The following morning he picked up a 16 foot stock trailer (with no brakes) and drove it to Iowa. Jon and Kristy had packed and staged much of the stuff in the garage. The goal was to pack it into a moving van on Tuesday and drive on Wednesday.

Some how or another, the rental company lost their reservation and didn't have a truck. But Jonathan called around and found another truck... although it was a bit smaller. It was a miracle that everything fit into the truck. Wednesday they loaded 4 cows, two calves, 9 lambs, one goat, a dozen chickens, three cats and two dogs into the 16' trailer, an 8' trailer Kristy pulled behind her van, and into the truck, truck bed and van.  The left about 1pm to drive south.

Jonathan and Miriam stayed behind to help load the farm equipment onto a flatbed truck. They worried about fitting everything into the moving van... and it all fit. They thought for sure they'd have enough room on the flatbed truck... and they ran out of space for a few things. Jonathan and Miriam left Iowa about 5pm and arrived about midnight. Tired pups!

They signed the closing papers on their Iowa house and it closed on Friday after they left.

I decided to drive over to Mt. Vernon to meet the group as they arrived. I'd bought a pork roast on Monday and decided to make barbecue pork on Tuesday. So it seemed sensible to take dinner over to the new move-in's on Wednesday. I stopped at Aldi's for a few things to stock their refrigerator- bread, milk, cereal, fruit.

Of course the Frig was on the truck Jonathan was bringing, so it had to stay in a cooler for the night.  Then, they didn't unload the truck Thursday. They'd arranged for help on Friday. It was probably a good thing. They mostly rested on Thursday and took care of getting the animals settled in.

The children are delighted with their house. They love their bedrooms. They tramped around the property and through the woods to the pond. The grass is tall. The thistles are blooming. They went on a thistle hunt and whacked some down, but the experts say you have to dig them up or use broad-leafed weed killer to get rid of them.

Friday about 11 men and boys showed up to unload and they did it all in about 1 1/2 hours! They brought in some Subway trays to feed them as thanks for their help. It was the hottest day of the year so far. It was nice to chat with the men over lunch. Several are farmers or ranchers, so Jon and Kristy enjoyed learning from them.

After lunch we got Jonathan and Kristy's bed set up and their bedroom furniture organized. The Internet man came to finally connect them with the world-- and Jonathan with his work. The truck with the farm implements was to to arrive on Saturday afternoon. Apparently they'll need a tow truck to get the tractor off of the flatbed truck. (they had BIG ramps in Iowa to get it on.)

Early Friday afternoon Tom and I headed home-- each in our separate car or truck. We were kinda tuckered when we got home and Tom wanted an early bed-time. He had to get up early for a Saturday race. And he also promised the boy scouts who where holding a yard sale Saturday that he'd bring the donuts. He won the race for his age division! Horray Tommy!

I battled the weeds in the garden and did a little work. A week ago I'd spoken to a financial newsletter company and the Copy chief said, "we do auto-renewals.  I can't see a need for your services."  I was feeling a little bummed. Had I entered a niche that didn't have enough work? Then this week a large established newsletter said, "Thanks so much for calling!  We'd like you to send us a proposal for retention and renewals for both our front end and back end-- about 12 newsletters! So that was encouraging. Putting that proposal together will be my goal for Mon-Wed next week as it's due on Wednesday.

Today was a good fast Sunday. Nice testimonies. Good lessons. I spent Sunday School in the family history center trying to find out why Pauline Koch-- theoretically sister to Louisa Koch (wife of Bernhard Donop) is about 40 years younger than she is. And Louisa's mother was born one year before Louisa was. Sigh. Sisters maybe? Not much luck with the time I spent looking for links.

Next week shapes up to be busy.  But I guess that's good.

Funeral #2

Monday Deborah and family left. It was so nice to have them come and visit us.

We “hot-sheeted” the beds. In military parlance, to “hot seat” means that one guy hops out of the pilot seat and another takes his place. Here, the Reck family moved out of downstairs and we opened the rooms for the children of Larry Baize who came for his funeral.

That early evening we watched “Meet the Mormons.” Tom had seen it… I think… but I had not. We now had the DVD and I think it’s on Netflix. Good movie. I just gives outsiders an inside look at how some Mormons live—A female kick boxer from Costa Rica,  A black bishop from Atlanta, an Indian philanthropist, an Annapolis football coach, and the Utah mother of a missionary.

I was still a little under the weather, so I kind of took it easy this week.

Tuesday was Larry Baize’s funeral. Tom officiated and he really spent a lot of time struggling with the right things to say. They played a video of pictures from his life. It was nice to see pictures of doing ordinary things. I wondered, do we have pictures like that?  Sad, sad for the widow and family.

Wednesday I had an eye exam. They dilated my eyes this time, ugh. Then I looked SO stylish in the sunglasses as we went to Home Depot for a light fixture. Tom was replacing one in the S. College house. He also refinished one if the bedroom floors. The hardwood now matches the rest of the house. (It had been carpeted.)

I did some Donop family history. It’s fun and rewarding to put in the names from Walter’s extensive family pedigree chart. I hope I’m reading the German names correctly. But when Family Search says there are duplicates, I seldom have enough information to know for sure if they are really the same person… or not.

We’ve had a tremendous amount of rain. Since we had parts of a dry day or two, I decided I’d better tackle the garden before it was a total weed patch.  Thursday I hacked down the going-to-seed green onion patch and removed some volunteers encroaching into the rest of the garden. Friday I rototilled. Did you know that when the tiller bounces, it can go high enough to grab the fence?

Amazingly, Tom loosened it without much damage to the fence… and it proceeded to rototill quite nicely again. I however, didn’t try to turn narrow corners near the fence again.

Thursday we visited our attorney. We need to decide to what degree we want to protect our assets from law suits or from loss if we go into nursing homes, and what kind of control are we willing to give up. Oh… and how much do we want to play for the “insurance.”

Friday Tom and I went to see the new Avenger movie. Lots if gratuitous destruction and violence against robots… of course the robots were trying to kill everyone. It was sort of like the bad dream where you never really kill the bad guy. He always resurrects and comes back. While we were in the theater we could hear the rain pounding down.

It cleared up enough for Tom to mow the yard. It needed it. Now it looks beautiful.

Today, Church was nice. Good speakers. Soon we’ll drive to West Plains for a zone conference for the missionaries and the stake. They are always good experiences. We’ll take two cars. Tom will leave with the truck and head to Jonathan and Kristy’s to help them with their last moving trip. I have a carful of people to take up.

A quieter week

This has been a quieter week.

I came home tired from the conference last week and mostly took Monday off.  Tom took me out for a Birthday lunch.  We were also going to do a movie... but the theater was closed on Monday.  We went to visit Larry Baize in hospice house.  He is declining.  It's hard to watch.

Tuesday and Wednesday I tried to follow up on the contacts I made at Clayton's event.  I hope good things come out of it.  On Wednesday afternoon I was able to install Ancestry.com and work on Bernhard Donop.  I sent a bunch of documents to Cousin Walt.

Thursday I finished an article for my business coach and sent that off.

Friday I just felt blah.  Achy, sore throat, headache and lethargic.  So I spent most of the day sleeping.  I felt a little better on Saturday and cleaned the house and got food ready for a picnic for that night.

Larry Baise died on Friday.  So hard for his sweet widow. We agreed to open our home to family members to stay.  But they'll have to wait until Monday to move in.  It had been scheduled for later next week.  But I suppose you can't schedule a death.  The funeral will be on Tuesday.

We'd invited Deborah and Ian over to visit with a couple (with two kids) from church. He works for HR and we thought Ian might enjoy learning more about that career.  It was a nice evening outside chatting.

Today-- lots of rain.  We sat in the suite for a little while when we had a tornado warning with chance of hail.  But it passed ups by with little rain and no damage.

For those of you who don't know, Andy and Kera received an offer on their house and put an offer in on a house in Russellville. They should close mid June.  Miranda and Dan had about decided to take their house off the market because it wasn't moving.  Then they got an offer... so it looks like they will be moving, too.

I had great hopes that with the Mission Office moving to Bentonville, they might be able to move closer.  Dan says no.  Sigh.  But we are happy they are as close as they are.

Clayton Makepeace Financial Intensive

Immediately after Saturday's Women's Conference, I needed to turn my attention to this week. I was to spend  4 days in Atlanta and then the next day attend Ward Conference in Ava and teach the lesson.

So on Monday and Tuesday I needed to prep my lesson for Sunday. I also had to pack and decide what clothes I needed at the financial workshop and what clothes I needed for Sunday. The ward Relief Society president had kindly invited me to stay at her house-- saving me three hours of driving.

I also really wanted to have written a financial spec assignment to take to the workshop. I had planned on writing it earlier, but other things kept getting in the way. I got it started... but that was all.

Saturday, Alyssa, a 13 year old in our ward, died of leukemia. It's been very hard on the family. The funeral was Tuesday evening. It was attended by many school friends and Tom turned time over for anyone who wanted to share a story about Alyssa. Many of the school friends spoke. It was amazing the number of lives Alyssa touched. It was also amazing the struggles and tough lives kids live.

One spoke about wanting to commit suicide, but Alyssa helped her feel better. Another spoke about hating the strange new school and how Alyssa welcomed her and wouldn't be put off by her standoffishness. They spoke of being bullied and supporting one another through the bullying. They spoke of depression and being able to feel better because of the kindness of Alyssa. And the school kids had made perhaps 30 posters saying goodbye to Alyssa.

I came home and finished packing. Wednesday I left a little after 7:30 for Springfield and the airport.  Delta had a direct flight to Atlanta.  I arrive there without problem and took a shuttle to the hotel. I could have taken the MARTA-- public transportation for about 1/10th of the price... but I was just a little leery.  So I shuttled it.

The conference was awesome! First, I've gotten to know people, so I knew perhaps 10% of the 70 or so people there. Then I networked and met other copywriters-- some starting out, some in the thick of things. And there were 9 publishing houses represented who were looking for copywriting talent.

I was happy that my book was published and I had received the order of books before I left. We had an evening of "speed-dating" where we got to spend 5 minutes with a company representative and I was able to give them my book. Many were receptive to the idea of needing someone to help with retention and renewal.

The last person I visited, said, "Sandy Fox!  I'm so glad to meet you!  I'm sorry I haven't responded to your emails. Can we talk?" So the next day, my roommate and I went out to lunch with her. Nice time. I think it will lead to work.

I wish I were like Rebecca and Savannah about taking pictures. I take a camera... and then never take it out.  I think I got one picture of the whole event.  It's of Clayton Makepeace on the right and Paris Lampropoulos-- another great copywriter-- on the left.

It was a bit like drinking out of a fire hose. We went into depth on the elements of a long form sales letter, video sales letter, or video. We learned how to get an increase in response by tweaking subject lines and other specific areas. We learned how to present numbers in a meaningful way and we heard from the publishers about their background and journey, about their companies, and about what it was like to work for them. I'm sure it sounds incredibly boring to you, but I found it very interesting.

They had great food. One morning our women's group, the Titanides went to breakfast together and learned more about some of our members and connected with job opportunities. All in all, it was a very enjoyable, informative, and encouraging event.

I had to duck out of the last class and good-byes to get to the airport on time. The shuttle driver was from Ethiopia so we had an interesting conversation before we picked up other passengers. There was a Five Guy's hamburger place there, so I grabbed one before my 7:15 flight.

When I arrived in Springfield, my luggage did not come to the baggage carousel. I'm thinking, AKK! Where can I buy a skirt at 9pm? Can I teach this lesson wearing pants? Can I borrow a skirt? Fortunately, after complaining to Delta, the bag appeared on the carousel by the time we got back over there.

I had a easy drive to Ava. I found the little road to the RS presidents house, had a lovely visit, and a good sleep-- except for the weather radio going off twice with a severe weather warning-- hail, not a tornado. And while we had strong rain and wind... I don't think we had hail either.

I taught Pres. Benson's lesson on Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon. It was a great lesson on the blessings of the book-- it's power and it's value for our time. I think how all those poor, clueless kids at the funeral would be blessed with peace and comfort if they could read and believe the Book of Mormon.

What a difference it makes in your life when you understand you are a son or daughter of God. That he loves you and wants to bless you.

I got home about 3:45-- just a few minutes after Tom left to go visit people at hospice, in the hospital, and those who lost their daughter.  We had a late dinner.

Busy Week

This week was a crazy busy week.

Tom left Monday to go to Jonathan’s new house to help Jonathan and Isabelle. They were doing some fixing and fencing. I guess some post hole digging went on along with mowing where the new fence needed to go and then laying out the fence and then lifting it, stretching it, and fastening it onto the T-posts.

It also involved conversations with plumbers, moving a HUGE refrigerator and something with a ladder in the middle of the living room floor.

On my side I spent much of the week gearing up for the Stake Relief Society Retreat that was held on Saturday from 10-2 in West Plains. Last Sunday I went to West Plains where my first Counselor was… a little unexpectedly… released. I knew she would soon be released because she was getting ready to move. But I had hoped she would be released AFTER the retreat instead of before. But it was not to be.

It was a little disappointing that I had finally printed the program. Ah well, we can make changes from the stand as needed. My second counselor really stepped up. She agreed to make ALL the chicken quinoa salad!!! I was so grateful. And to give the small part the first counselor was going to say.

I had the young women help me fold 150 of the 200 programs I made. Mom and I had found some wall paper that was yellow and flowery. I printed the program on plain paper and then put an outer cover of the wall paper over it and stapled them together. The wall paper curled just a little, so I taped the paper program to the wall paper and it worked out well. They were each a ½ sheet of 81/2x11 paper.

On Tuesday, I finally hit the published button on my book. I had ordered a proof copy and reviewed it again for errors. I hope it’s good to go. You can see the finished book on Amazon. It’s called Growing Customer Lifetime Value: Retention & Renewal. Clearly it’s written toward a specific audience. It’s for financial newsletter marketers and others who have a membership site who want to keep their members active, using their products, and renewing their continuity program.

I was able to delve into family history and try to eliminate some of the duplicate people in our line. I worked mostly in the Donop direction. I was able to get some names of ancestors for Nathan and Katie to take to the temple and some for Tom to take when he took the youth on Saturday (yesterday.)

I had two quick jobs for Newsmax. They are getting a little easier to do. I also wanted to write some spec copy for the Financial Intensive I’m going to in Atlanta next week. But it kept getting pushed back each day by other events. I finally did a little research on Thursday, but that’s all.

Friday Tom left early from Mt. Vernon and drove back home. He got here about 10:30 and unpacked the truck. Then we re-loaded it with all the things I needed to take to the Women’s Retreat. I was on the road by 12:50. I needed the truck so I could bring the tables we loaned to the event back to Mountain Home after we were done. My counselor and Secretary and I decorated from 2-6. The men had kindly put up all the tables and chairs. We arranged the rooms where teachers would do the break-out groups. My counselor decorated the chapel. She had the brilliant idea to cut a colorful plastic tablecloth in thirds and use it as a table runner. It added a lot of color to the white tablecloths. My counselor and I went out to dinner and then the Stake President and his wife put us up for the night. She is such a lovely lady. We really enjoyed visiting with her.

Then we had colored cups to put on and the napkins and silverware. We had painted baskets for the rolls and we put a cloth covered journal at each place. The wonderful priesthood from West Plains volunteered to finish fixing the food and serve it. They created pudding cups—“dirt cups” with chocolate pudding on the bottom covered with a layer of crumbled Oreo cookies (that looked like dirt) with a flower on a toothpick and a gummy worm coming out of the “dirt.”  They looked cute and festive. Rolls went into the baskets, and each plate had a piece of lettuce with Chicken Quinoa salad, 5 bean salad, and some carrots and dip. It looked festive.

We had lovely music, speakers and classes. My favorite was “From Seed to Sequoia” that talked about growing your testimony and becoming converted. She used great analogies. I hadn’t realized how small a sequoia seed is. And that they need fire to propagate. The seeds need fire to open the cones and to clear away the underbrush, and they like an ashy soil. It tied in well that we need adversity to become strong and grow.

I spoke about setting an example and helping other find joy and peace. After the event we needed to clean up quickly. There was a funeral set for 3pm and a baptism at 5. A busy day for the chapel.

I think I left about 3:30. I stopped on the way home to give some leftover chicken salad to a friend whose husband is dying of cancer. We visited for a while. I then unpacked my things from the truck and drove it to the church so when Tom returned from the temple trip he could unload the tables.

All in all it was a long day. That evening I finished preparing my talk for Sunday. I’d volunteered to speak on Mother’s Day. Tom always struggles with how to do that best. This time he had all the men and children and youth sing for the women. It was very nice.

After church I went to the hospital to visit with the sister with the sick husband. He was back in the ER. It doesn’t look good for him and it’s a hard time for her.

Tom was sweet today. He fixed me breakfast and a chocolate cake. We invited the missionaries over to be able to Skype their families for Mother’s Day. We fed them leftover chicken salad and grilled cheese sandwiches. It was nice to get to know them. They were both new to the ward as of about 3 days ago.

All my children called on Mother’s Day. It was so nice to talk to them.

Mud Anyone?

This past Saturday there was a Warrior Dash just across the Oklahoma border.  This of course meant a visit to Dan and Miranda's house for the night.  Two of the youth from Mountain Home joined us for this exciting adventure; unfortunately Dan was not able to run so we were a foursome.  The pictures hopefully tell the story.