September 12, 2010

From the Editor's Desk

Mom and I dropped off Lanette today. As were were coming through Stratford we witnessed a very classic Wisconsin moment. A man was out sitting on his tractor by an apple tree. In the tractor shovel was a tall ladder. On top of the ladder was the man's wife who was picking apples! That is one of the many unique moments that make Wisconsin...Wisconsin.

We hope that you have a great week. Please enjoy the update on family news.

The Wisconsin Haws Family

Logan had his first soccer game of the year. They tied 3-3. He has two games this week. He has enjoyed the first weeks of school at Columbus and is beginning to make some new friends. His chickens are growing nicely. They have been flying out of their enclosure so Logan and I had to clip their wing feathers. It is one more of the new experiences of life.

Emily enjoyed her 17th birthday. We went out to eat as a family at El Mezcal, a favorite restaurant here in Marshfield. She was able to go out with some of her friends to eat out on her actual birthday. She is working on a regular basis at Chips and carrying a solid load of classes.

Lanette has been reading the book "The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle" which is higher level book than she has been reading up until this point. She has a new daily living skills teacher which is a much needed instruction as Lanette works towards increased independence.

This week Grant has been on the road a lot due to his continued training at the Stevens Point store. The hour drive isn't too bad except for when he gets off work at two in the morning and has to drive home through the deer-infested woods. Grant is still there for another four weeks but often finds himself visiting his Marshfield Applebuddies on his days off. And he hasn't killed any deer with his car so this week is counting as a "win".

Mom and I hoped to attend the temple together yesterday but somehow mom's temple recommend was lost. I attended with President and Sister Smith. The time at the temple was relatively short but a much needed boost. The temple gives me a greater perspective on the "big picture". I have been working quite hard and trying to develop some projects including a data base for an orphan disease and resident research training. I was delighted this week that the 11 year old patient I have told you about had one more set of studies on Friday that show that his cancer has still not recurred. Eleven more months until he can be transplanted!


News from Newport News


On Monday we were able to attend Stake Temple Day at the Washington DC Temple. Andy and the girls stayed out and walked around the temple grounds while I went and did a session with the stake. The temple is so wonderful. The spirit one feels while just walking on the grounds is so strong. I am grateful that we were able to spend the day there. On Tuesday Haley started her first day of Kindergarten. She told me that she does not want me to take her in; she just wants to be dropped off. Kayla was also able to start “school” with Ms. Smalls her speech therapist. She was excited because she said that Ms. Smalls has her class outside and has lots of toys. Andy is enjoying his time trying to de-clutter the house and get things accomplished before he goes to school.


The International Haws Family


Our week went smoothly.

Unfortunately I do not have the camera with me to take a picture of Derick. He is growing so quickly that it is surprising.

Felipe and Lucas are well. Both continue with soccer and school but soccer tends to be their preferred priority;

Renata continues well in her school. It is an accelerated program for adults and while the thought of advancing two years in one may excite the consequence is inevitably also two years of homework in one brings a quick halt to the fun. Still she has been keeping pace and enjoying the learning opportunity.

Besides work with iPhone development I have also had weather related projects and confess that I never enjoyed weather as much as I do now. I tried to show images from a satellite to Renata and the boys, they did not show the same joy.


Love,

Jeff

The Jackson's of Albuquerque

Monday was a nice day for Stacie and Kevin since Stacie was able to stay home from work all day. They enjoyed talking to their friends, Mike and Shari Satko, who are now living in Washington and playing in a nearby park. For mutual on Tuesday, Stacie hiked up the mountain. Thankfully the young women's encounter with a snake ended without anyone getting hurt and they all enjoyed looking down at the beautiful city lights. On Wednesday Stacie was excited for the premiere of her favorite show, America's Next Top Model. In Provo Grant, Carolyn and Stacie would get together every week to watch it and beginning this new season makes Stacie miss them an awful lot.


On Friday Stacie and Kevin stayed up late watching the film, "Invictus," which they enjoyed. On Saturday Stacie headed off to a stake training meeting. Saturday afternoon Kevin and Stacie stopped by their local library, which is just down their road. Stacie checked out a book about sewing and is determined to start using her sewing machine. In the evening, Stacie and Kevin went out to Olive Garden and enjoyed spending the evening together.

The Lane's of Virginia

This week has been a busy week, plus Jeff has been putting in extra hours because his work has asked everyone to do so! It is the beginning of their busiest season! Jeff is working very hard!

Monday we went spelunking in Endless Caverns with Jeff's old roommate and his wife. It is a smaller cave then the one that we went to while many of you were visiting. There are a couple of the pictures we took of the cave markers that we really loved. There were a lot of Budda and Christmas themed formations. My favorite part was called "the fairy kingdom". They took us to a random part of the caverns that appeared to be a dead end.Then they turned off the lights and let us experience pure darkness. When they flipped on the switch we saw the view that is in the picture with the water. Everyone of us gasped. We only saw wall when we first came down, but then we saw the reflection pool and a crawl space that led deeper inside of the cave.

Later that night we went to see our kitty again. The kitty was starting to get comfortable playing in the field. We had to chase it down a few times. One time as we went to chase it, not two seconds had passed, when some older cats stole our cat toy. We had to chase them all the way under the house to get it back! It was funny. Ek Balam get more and more comfortable with us every time we visit. She will even come to us. She is sometimes a little hesitant because the family has some little kids and they ummm... love on those kitties to the point that they are being smothered.
Tuesday- we cannot remember???
Wednesday-Julie had a doctor's appointment- more bad news and more waiting and almost no progress :( I am starting to lose hope.
Jeff and I ran to use the last of our Coldstone gift cards to brighten the day a bit. Oh and it did! My doctor would hunt me down if she had the slightest inclination. She actually said that she was impressed with how healthy I ate and how proportionate! It is a good thing she did not see that ice cream!
Thursday- running errands
Friday- We planned to go see the kitty again. We called ahead to make sure that it was okay with the family. Then we made a cake that looked like a spooky ghost yard and a sign that said "The ghosts are coming out to say thanks!" Since they are letting us keep the kitties there until we move and they are even willing to train the kitties for us. We thought we would drop it off as we were going to go see the kitty. When we got there the family told us that we were going to stay for dinner and then the kids showed us the dogs and Jeff and I played with the kitties. Ek Balam and Princess crawled into my purse and would not come out for anything! We did however get them out. There is a picture of princess, the kitty with the gray eye patch and Ek Balam is the one with the gray top and oriental lines near its eyes, in my lap.
Saturday we went and helped the kitty family pick potatoes. The kitty family has one of my sunday school students in it and the whole time he was pointing out to me where all the good potatoes were as he sat high up in a tree. After that there was a baptism for one of Julie's other sunday school students, Mikayla. After that there was a TRI-ward Luau. We went for a little while and then we went to the new mother's house, the one that we brought food to last week, to hang out with her and her husband. We really like them and we are hoping to form a good friendship with them. They are pretty similar to us in some ways. The husband is really into sports like Jeff and the wife is into books, crafts and movies like Julie. They have a little boy,Konrad, and a three week year old daughter,Quinella.

Tonight Jeff had a priesthood meeting. He saw some old friends and some current friends.

We will be seeing Andy, Melanie, Haley and Kayla this week. I am soo excited we are already planning some Halloween activities since they are going to be busy moving this Holiday season. We will let you know