Another six months has flown by as we again approach general conference. We talked tonight about the prophecy of Isaiah in Isaiah 2:2-3. Isaiah prophesied of the day that many people would gather from all over the world to be taught of the Lord's ways and to walk in His paths. What a blessed time we have been honored to live out our mortal period.
The Wisconsin Haws Family
Logan's games have been rained out this week. We really had quite a storm. He has helped me a great deal with building an attic storage space this weekend. He also had some time to play with friends.
Emily has began to do some serious research on universities and scholarships. She attended a college fair this week and came home with a number of pamphlets. She is working and saving money and learning from the great examples of her older siblings on the value of hard work to achieve a goal.
Lanette's IEP is this week. We are looking for ways to help her transition from school setting into a work and self reliance setting. There are some big steps ahead of her. She is a bit disconcerted that she may not be able to work in a daycare setting. We will be looking into available programs for her. Thankfully Wisconsin has resources not available in Arizona. In all of this I have seen some hidden blessings to our move here.
Grant has been working horendous hours this week. He is still working on management training in Stevens Point. That is about one hour from here. His deer damaged car is in the shop so he has been driving a rental. Grant has done so much with the yard, planting trees, spreading seeds and cultivating all sorts of things. A favorite plant was the pumpkins out by the compost pile. It was pretty amazing how a package of very old seeds turn into a huge plant that engulfed the compost pile. An especially picturesque pumpkin was Grant's pride and joy. With Grant gone so much this week Mom and I decided to play a joke on Grant. We got a giant pumpkin from a friend down the road and transported it to the backyard. That was no small feat. We harvested his pumpkin and replaced it with this giant pumpkin arranging the stems to look like the original plant. We anxiously awaited Grant coming home and checking on his pumpkin. Unfortunately he has been leaving before dawn and arriving home after dusk. I had hidden his pumpkin in the garage but accidentally left it out on Saturday night. When he came home he asked about his pumpkin by the garage. I tried to lie and tell him that was not his pumpkin. "I just got it from someone else". Grant didn't buy it and I am a lousy liar. Well, he did go out to check "his pumpkin patch" with a flashlight. He got a good laugh over our prank and Mom and I had fun telling him of our efforts.
As for Mom and I besides trying to pull pranks on our kids we have had a good week. We are trying to de-clutter. We have enjoyed the fall season with all its color and welcomed cool nights.
News from Newport News
This week we were working on de-cluttering the house and taking things apart to get ready for our move. It is amazing how much stuff one holds on to and uses the excuse, “...this might come in handy someday.” We were able to pass on a lot of our things to the thrift shop and some good families in church. On Saturday we took the girls on a row boat at the Newport News Park. The girls had fun but we were only on the water for a half-an-hour before the girls started complaining that they were hungry, so we had to cut our “hour” on the lake short.
The International Haws Family
Mom and Dad,
Our week went well in general.
The greatest amount of excitement arose from the cracking of our water box. For general information one must understand that everything in Brazil is done in the most backward way possible. Knowing that you may remember that our water storage is not underground as in the USA rather on top of our roof.
Toward the end of the week the box, which had previously cracked a bit and was repaired, cracked further causing water to puddle on the cement roof over the bathroom. Puddling over cement is not great as the water tends to permeate down through and finally drip inside the house. Finally deciding that enough was enough we purchased a new water box and began the process of replacing.
Replacing the water box was generally a good decision. The old box was made of asbestos, water storage in asbestos is not very healthy. Still the box was very heavy, significantly more than the fiber-glass replacement. Removing the old box caused quite a headache. Then to make matter worse the new box is not actually a box as it is not square or rectangle, but circular. That does not sound bad at first but try to seal the pipes on a rounded surface, they just don’t seal well. Thus the dripping continued.
I worsened the problem as I suspected that I could place a plastic tarp beneath the box to help avoid the direct water on the roof. This did not work as water that managed to get under the tarp had no way to escape and the heat of the sun best evaporates only the water over the tarp and not under.
So we finish our week with the same dripping from different causes. On the bright side we were able to finally seal off the pipes to and from the box before the rain started and when the rain stops we will likely cover the cement roof with the same roofing we use over the rest of the house.
Besides that fun all else is pretty normal. School and soccer occupy most of the boys’ time, Renata always has a busy schedule and I have enjoyed work and my opportunities to learn about some new file types this week and their possible usage for future data transfer.
Love,
Jeff
The Lane's of Harrisonburg
Jeff and I wanted to mention how very grateful we are that we decided to move when we did - there was a murder in the parking lot behind our building. The saddest part is that it was a woman whom was pregnant with twins. It was very sad! We have had many problems with that complex and so we are grateful that we will be leaving this environment soon.
This week we have spent some more time with our kittens that grow more and more each time. Princess and Ek Balam are so cute. Princess fits her name and gets quite grumpy if you do not comply. Ek Balam is very curious, but very cuddly. Jeff is very good with the kittens.He sure loves them.
The apartment is covered in boxes and the remains to be packed. We decided to form the bed room into a packing area, so we would not have to trip over everything. As you can tell we are basically all packed.
I have had a few relief society events; including, the conference and enrichment. Then we had young marrieds institute. Tonight Jeff had a youth fireside. At church today the primary gave me a mood pencil that says"I know Jesus Loves Me" since it was her last Sunday in the ward. I love primary and I love my class this and some of our new friends are going to be the hardest not to see as often. Especially the Hartmans. The Hartmans are an older couple who have been extremely kind to us. The have become some very good friends!
Julie
The Jackson's of Albuquerque
This week was a rainy week in Albuquerque, but enjoyable for Stacie & Kevin. On Monday Stacie and Kevin enjoyed playing their favorite vintage car racing video game and baked dinosaur shaped cookies. On Tuesday Kevin hung out at the laundry mat as Stacie headed off to mutual. For mutual the leaders held a series of games to practice effective communication. On Wednesday Stacie and Kevin had the opportunity to attend the temple. They were happy to finally finish the names Dad found.
On Friday Stacie and Kevin headed to their cub scout Pack Meeting. Kevin did a great job leading an activity focused on flag etiquette. The cubs did a great job and were very funny to watch when they got the answer correct. Afterwards they visited the YMCA and spent some time creating signs for an upcoming campaign and talking with their neighbor and friend, Cesar. Late in the evening they decided to finally eat dinner only to discover that most restaurants in Albuquerque close at 9pm. So instead they spent most of the evening driving around town.
On Saturday Stacie and Kevin ran a 5k on the other side of town. Kevin won some brownie points by deciding to stick next to Stacie throughout the race. After the race they went on a hunt to find the only Chik-fil-A restaurant in Albuquerque. It took them a lot of searching, but they were very excited when they finally found it. In the evening, Stacie headed over to the Relief Society Broadcast. It was great getting to know the other ladies in her ward and listening to the prophet's words.
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