From Chaos to Quiet

We had such a fun week. Andy left on Sunday afternoon to be back in time to work. So Miranda and I had all of Miranda’s kids, plus all of Andy’s but Nathan, plus Miriam (one of Jonathan’s kids.) They all did a really good job of playing together.

They’d go off to the fort or the treehouse or zipline. They jumped on the trampoline and visited the kittens in the barn. Poor cats certainly expanded their territory as they were carted all over the place. We did stop them from going down the zipline or on the trampoline.

Monday afternoon Deborah and children arrived to visit. It was so nice to see them. They joined the throng of playing children. It was interesting to contrast the size and intensity of Simon (Deborah’s youngest) with Alex (Miranda’s youngest) as they are just a few weeks apart. Alex is actually chunkier, I think. Simon, more relaxed and laid back.

Tuesday early morning most of Miranda’s and Deborah’s families went to pick blueberries. Tom stayed with the late sleepers. The children were really very good. They played “detective” and searched for the elusive blueberries. We probably got a couple of quarts plus some “on the job eating.” I came home and showered in time for my 9am mastermind call. It lasted until about 10am.

Then Tom and I headed out to the temple, via Ft. Leonard Wood. A few days earlier, I’d checked my Military ID card and discovered it expired in April. So we detoured to Ft. Leonard Wood to get a new ID card. We took back roads to the back side of the base, wondering if they’d let me in with an expired card. They did. But the GPS didn’t work on base and so we wandered around a bit before we found the right building. I couldn’t make a reservation, so we waited about a half hour. Not bad. And now I have a new ID card.

The GPS did take us out the front gate and onto I44 to St. Louis. Why did we choose this time to go to the temple, when we had a house full of kids?  Lacey Arndt, a childhood friend of our kids from Okinawa, was going to the temple to take out her endowments and be married. She’d been engaged a year to this young man after he’d been baptized. Now they were getting married, and getting her young son sealed to them as a family. It was very sweet to see this little freckle-faced red-head come into the sealing room and be remarkably reverent there.

Also, one of our newly baptized sisters was going to do baptisms at the temple for the first time. So on Wednesday, before the sealing, Tom and I went to the baptismal font to be a support to her. If I’d prepared better, I could have brought some names to be baptized. After the sealing and some pictures, Tom and I hot-footed it back home to get there in time for Tom’s 6pm meeting. We had the Miranda order pizza which we picked up on the way into town, along with some ice cream as an early celebration for Emma’s birthday.

Deborah left Wednesday before we arrived home but they still managed to scarf up 3 large pizzas!  Thursday everyone moved out. Miranda left first with her group. Then Kera left about noon with her children. The house went from chaos to quiet. They did a good job of returning toys to the proper places and getting sheets and towels to the laundry.

Even Tom left on Thursday to go to youth conference. So I had the house to myself. I had met with my “whale” client on Monday and needed to refine my proposal. So I took the quiet time to do that. I also had a promotion I was revising for my HVAC guy and an article to write for my business coach.

Friday, my friend Gerry Rasmussen was in town, so she came over to visit for a while. At 5pm the Arndt/Day wedding was having a ring ceremony rehearsal at church. Tom asked me to go and stand in for him and tell him what he needed to do, since he was at youth conference. I did and had a nice visit with the groom- Nathan. Then we went to dinner at Sean’s and I got to know his parents and grandmothers better as I sat by them. Nice people.

Saturday I weeded some in the garden and visited my neighbor. Andy and Katie came up to return the truck and get his car back. Tom came home, tired from the youth conference but pleased with the kid’s participation. That evening we went to the official ring ceremony and reception of Lacey and Nathan. It was beautifully decorated and had good food. The theme was the Great Gatsby and so the music for most of it—until the dancing—was quite enjoyable. I wanted to go to the Red White and Blue fireworks, but it didn’t start until 9:30 and Tom was bushed. So we ducked out of the reception and just came home. The problem with these Mormon weddings is they go on all week!

Today was a bit more relaxed for me. Good lessons at church. For Sunday school, I’ve been going to the family history center. But it’s been frustrating to look for people and not find them. It’s unrewarding work at times. I guess with all that’s on line, I just expect it to be easier.

Hope you all have a great week!

Family Comes!

Dear Family-

This has been a fun week. It’s been crazy busy in a variety of ways. Friday I committed to write an article that would be completed by Monday. So I worked in that, sent it off for review, got minimal revisions and got it completed. The client was pleased so that was nice.

In copywriting terms, the goal is to land a “whale”—a really big client who brings in a lot of money. If you have one or two “whales” that’s all you need to keep you busy and profitable. I think I might have landed my first “whale.”  I submitted a proposal and have a meeting with them on Monday. I had submitted the proposal over a week ago and had not heard back. I worried…had I charged too much?  I didn’t think so. It turned out I didn’t get her first email suggesting a meeting. So I followed up and her concerns were totally unrelated to price.

I finally got a new counselor called to complete my Stake Relief Society presidency. I visited with her on Sunday evening, and we scheduled a meeting for all of us on the following Saturday.

Tuesday I got my hair cut… finally!  I’d planned on getting it cut for two weeks and my barber/beautician was not there either Tuesday. Today she was!  Kera and family was scheduled to come up on Tuesday, but after getting everything packed, the car wouldn’t start. Also they were to have left later because they needed to get Nathan’s passport application in. In the evening I went to a relief society activity. They’d planned it at for the park, but after about 2 inches of rain that day, they decided to move it back to the church. Better than rain or “mugged” with humidity at the park, I think.

I had wanted to get Tom’s truck seat repaired or find a seat cover for it. The hole right where you sit keeps getting bigger and bigger. The seat is not a simple bucket seat. It’s a split 60/40 seat and they don’t seem to make good covers for them. To actually get it recovered is half a fortune. I’m thinkin’ about an Arkansas fix. Duct tape anyone?

Kera and family, sans father and two oldest arrived on Wednesday afternoon. The children fanned out to explore the fort, play with the kittens, ride the zip line and bounce on the trampoline. They are very self-entertaining.

Thursday Tom volunteered to take the missionaries to their exchange. Since it’s in Mt. Vernon, they’re only a few miles from Jonathan and Kristy’s. So after the exchange (we got a greenie) they went to visit for an hour or so and brought back Miriam to visit with cousins. Kera and I went out early to pick blueberries in the drizzle. Then we took Matthew to Cub Scout camp at the church. Late in the evening Andy and Katie and truck arrived. The house was all packed up and cleaned. All is done in Vicksburg… except Nathan is there sort of working. He is working for a construction crew, when they have work he can do. Because of the rain, he has not worked as much as he wanted to or expected.

Friday Miranda and family drove over. They met Kera in Springfield and she and Dan M headed north to their father’s house in Chicago area to help him pack up. His house has sold. He’s put in an offer on a house in the Russellville area and they needed to get him all ready to move. I hear they have made great progress and the ward has helped them put stuff into trucks. The kittens had even more little ones who wanted to hold them… and we had a few more scratches to wash and band aid.

The Stake RS is responsible for feeding the leadership on Saturday of Stake Conference between training sessions and the 7pm general adult session. It had been assigned to Houston ward, but Bishop Openshaw’s son, wife and 3 children were involved in a small plane accident and all but the 5 year old boy were killed in the crash. Two older children were on a mission or a foreign exchange student. A difficult time for the family and ward. So West Plains took over the food and did a marvelous job.

I had my training session from 4-6 and got to know my new counselor better. We had a great evening session of stake conference. Before I left, I’d tried to work with Miranda to get food ready for Father’s Day. We made lasagna and Miranda made tasty cupcakes. Then we learned Tom really wanted cherry chocolate cake… so today (Sunday) we made that, too.

Sunday Stake Conference was held at Dunbar Auditorium in Mountain Home. It was delightful not to have to travel to stake conference!  I made lunches for the Mission President and wife and the Temple President and wife who were speaking at the conference. I thought my secretary and her daughter were going to come and spend Saturday night at our house and help with that… but she ended up with a sick daughter. I was glad I had most of the stuff for the lunches. They just didn’t get into the cute bags she always provides.

Saturday evening we learned about ward and family councils. Today we learned about temple work and missionary work.

It’s been fun to have 9 grandchildren and a few children with us!  I love my family.

Life's Getting Busy!

Things are so exciting with everyone moving!  We’ve tried to keep tabs on Miranda and Dan as they’ve been out house hunting and offering all kinds of (likely) unwanted advice. Kera and Andy are moving forward with their move-- as evidenced by Andy coming up on Thursday to borrow our truck for the next two weeks.

Sunday, in a moment of a “perfect storm” thinking about mice in the chicken coop and friendships—I agreed to take two kittens as barn cats. They delivered them on Monday. These little things could fit in your hand. We put them in a stall in the barn. This stall had rolled up carpet from the garden, the mower, stacked chairs and other odd things. The kittens would hide in a different spot each time I went to check. After a few days, they’d come out when I called and be reasonably happy to be picked up.

Last week I had a very nice conversation with the vice president of a large financial newsletter. She asked me to send her a proposal for projects for both retention and renewal on their entry level newsletters and back end trading programs. It could be very lucrative. I said I’d get the proposal to her in a week. Then I headed off to Jonathan and Kristy’s for the next few days.

So that meant I really needed to be active getting this done at the beginning of this week. I spent the majority of Monday working on it. Then I spent several more hours on Tuesday and finally got it sent off late Tuesday night.

Tuesday I’d wanted to get my hair cut. She’d been closed last Tuesday (the walk in day) and when I drove there Tuesday, she was on vacation for the week! Gaah!  My hair looks like a tumble weed!

One of my friends is an inactive member of the church. He said he’d like to believe. It made him happy when he believed. But he can’t. I went to visit him and share a way I thought might help him to regain his testimony. I told him belief was a choice. He could choose to believe and try it, or not. When I asked if he’d try it…. he said no. He said miracles are like magic. You see it happen, but you know there has to be a rational, scientific explanation. There is no god. No miracles. Nothing after death. I felt sad for him to feel so confident in his unhappy state he could not risk trying to believe and be happy.

Wednesday I had my Mastermind call for my copywriting and then a Circle of Success (writing) training call. Then Tom and I packed up and went to Girl’s Camp. We brought the fixings for ice cream sundaes. We had foil wrapped meals for dinner, a devotional, and then Tom spoke to the girls for a while. We left Girl’s Camp about 10pm and drove north to Rolla and spent the night.

Thursday we got up early and drove the rest of the way to the temple. We had a couple from our ward whose son and wife were getting sealed in the temple. They asked us to attend, so we juggled things to go. After the session and the sealing, we went out to lunch with our friends, the Drakes, who had also attended the sealing. On the way home we stopped to shop at Aldi’s. We would have shopped at the feed store, too… but we arrived at 7:02 and they closed at 7. We got home about 8 pm and Andy arrived at 8:30.

I finally succumbed and had Adam buy me a smart phone-- A Samsung Galaxy 4-- same as Tom's.  It arrived on Monday.  But I waited until we were in St. Louis (where Sprint has service-- instead of here where we are on roaming) to activate it. Now I need to put in contacts.  But I've started taking pictures! Alas... they are not very good ones...  Here are the kitties.  They just wouldn't hold still!

We had a nice visit with Andy. Friday Tom and Andy cleaned out the truck. Andy also spent time on the phone trying to find out if the movers would move his 1000 pound piece of heavy furniture and investigating alternatives.

Friday I finished writing a heating and air conditioning promo. I also had a call with my Living Benefits Insurance agent and another agent. They’d been asked to write an article for real estate investors on how to use the policy to accomplish that. And also on Rebecca for breaking the glass ceiling and becoming the first woman to be top producing agent in the 175 year history of Mass Mutual. Since an article needs to have one main focus… this was a little tricky.

Friday night Tom and I went to see the movie San Andreus. It’s about a huge California earthquake—from LA to San Francisco… oh yeah, Nevada too. We got to see Hoover Dam collapse, a tsunami devastate San Francisco and some spectacular rescues. It was a pretty good movie.

I decided I need to find out what kinds of shots the kittens needed and what it would cost to neuter them. I don’t want more than TWO cats. Akk!  Free kittens aren’t free! It cost a fortune to do all this medical stuff. But they purr so nicely when they are held. The calico cat has long soft fur and a small black beard. So cute!  And the ginger and white one is fiercely independent. It’s so fun to watch them play and pounce on one another.

Saturday I sent off the Heating & Air Conditioning promo and got the first draft done on the Rice article. I called those I visit teach and checked on food preparations needed for next week’s Stake Conference.

Today I heard my Stake Relief Society counselor was called. I need to touch base with her and set up a meeting for next Saturday to visit together. My sweet grieving widow was at church today. So nice to see her there.

After church we went to a nursing home to visit a choir member who has been in failing health. We took a portion of the choir and some hymn books and went in to have a “choir practice” or at least sing songs together. I knew he had MRSA, but I didn’t realize we’d have to gown up and wear gloves to go into his room. Since we had a nurse as a choir member, she got us all robed up and in. I’ll include a picture of us. It was fun to sing and he was really touched by it.

Next week starts the ramp up to Andy and Kera moving… and Kera and Dan M. helping their Dad pack his house and move down to Russellville area as well. Miranda and Dan made an offer on a house and it was accepted. The house is in Broken Arrow… and even in their same ward. They should close on both houses on the same day—July 17—JUST before the reunion.

Andy and Kera held a farewell party for all their friends on Saturday. That was the time Nathan’s mission call arrived in the mail. So he was able to open it in front of all his friends. He will be serving in the Iquitos, Peru Mission and will report to the Peru MTC on September 22. We are so excited for him and know he will have a marvelous experience.

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.