January 30, 2011- STACIE'S BIRTHDAY!!

The Jackson's of Albuquerque

Although this week as busy, Stacie and Kevin enjoyed the time they spent together. On Monday Kevin was excited to begin a new shift. Instead of opening the YMCA at 5:30am, he will be working the mid-day shift. On Friday Stacie and Kevin went out to Tucanos after work with their friends Nick and Amanda. On Saturday Kevin helped
their friends, the Thuns, move. Kevin and Stacie are sad to see their friends move so soon. Afterwards Kevin headed to work while Stacie made her way to the Scout office to pick up some awards for the Pinewood Derby. After Kevin got off work they headed over to the church to set up for the derby. They were happy to see that the cub scouts really enjoyed racing their cars.

Of course, today was Stacie's birthday. After eating some waffles and opening some presents, Stacie and Kevin packed up their car to drive up to the Bandelier National monument. They enjoyed walking around the beautiful area and climbing into some old Native American cave dwellings. Stacie would like to thank all of you who called her to wish happy birthday! She looks forward to being the old age of 23.


The Virginia Lanes

The VA Lanes do not have a lot of to report this week, but we did keep our weekly goals AGAIN!!! WHOOOO!

Jeff had never dyed his hair so we did that this week. It looks nice and he likes it because he feels that it makes him look younger. Julie used the leftover dye and did low tones on the bottom half of her hair and it looks good too.

There really is not too much else this week besides teaching our kittens to fly and climb on the ceiling-haha That was fun. We stuck a kitty on the top part of the door frame and found that it was able to imitate a monkey by suspending it self on the frame.

Julie is having some bad pelvic/abdominal pain from time to time-we are asking everyone to keep her in your prayers and especially your fast this Sunday.

Julie


The Haws family of Colorado

This past weekend was so beautiful. We had about 65 degree weather and sunshine (which is what I love) but unfortunately all good things must come to an end, it is predicted that we will be getting snow on Monday until Wednesday. This week Kayla had a pizza and pajama day at school for the letter "p". She was so excited to show everyone her Dora pajamas that Nana gave her. Kayla also gave her first scripture and prayer in primary, which Andy was able to help her. Haley and I discovered this week that Sydney, one of her friends from school lives just a few houses down the street from ours. She was so excited to play with Sydney on Saturday that she woke up at 6:00 am and asked if we could go get her and bring her to our house; Haley was patient enough that she was able to waited until 10:00 am instead. This Sunday was Melanie's first time teaching the 12-13 year old Sunday School class (her new calling in church). She was very nervous, but found out that she has a very good class with students that like to participate and are well behaved, which she is very grateful. Andy's exciting news this week is that his concealed weapons permit finally came.

The International Haws Family

Mom and Dad,

Our week was hot. It was certainly the hottest week of the season. Felipe and Lucas spend most of their time at beaches and rivers.

This will be the last official week of summer break. Though the de facto end is not for another month the kids are beginning to feel the pressures of responsibility return.

Lucas had a particularly good week at soccer. He was selected to play for one of the best local teams and called to be their team captain right away. Felipe too continues to play well.

On several occasions this summer Felipe has gone to beaches with larger waves. On these trips he has been trying to learn how to surf and has decided that he wants to dive into this activity. He asked if we could look at surfboards and help him to get one. I am searching for the kindest way to tell him that I want to make all his dreams come true, but surfing may be limited in PA. Luckily I think Matthew knows a thing or two about snowboarding and I think he might make a smooth transition.

Derick felt quite a bit of curiosity this week. Early in the week I had to replace the tower case of my computer he was interested in watching as I removed the internal components and moved them to the new tower. After completing he asked if he could have the old case which he then spent many hours trying to discover what to do with the wires and how to screw down the sides. I was impressed at his interest.

Last night he then caught me shaving. Over the past couple of weeks I have been trying to learn how to use a safety razor and he found it interesting to see me shave with a bit more care than when using one of the more common blades. I was a bit worried with his interest in razors but have had the theory that I can set some dangerous curiosities at bay by showing how the pieces work and why they are dangerous. Upon finishing we went to the bedroom where I took the razor apart to show him the pieces and what a blade is and how it works. To my dismay this only increased his interests. We spoke about he could not play with it without me and went on to let him shave my arms with a duller bic razor that I had on hand. After a few cuts I think he got the idea that razors are better to use on someone else than on himself and hope that the safety lesson was learned. In the end I only reinforced to myself how painful parenting can be.

Renata is doing well and looking forward to the return of school. She is working hard to ensure that all children get into afternoon classes so that she can sleep in, she also comments that afternoon classes allow for afternoon naps. We have been discussing her return to school which she is very interested in doing. I have my concerns as I will not be here to take care of the kids and also that she will need to be focused on getting documents prepared. She confirms that she can juggle her responsibilities in ways that only mothers can and that a man would never understand. I suppose that means she is going whether I like it or not and am glad to have found someone as stubborn as myself in life.

As to myself it was a busy week. Matthew and Steven were in Europe and the main computer in the office ran an error and was shut down. Without that computer I had to do some extra work without the assistance of the routines that I had prepared to run automatically. Amidst the changes and challenges I have enjoyed the opportunities to take on responsibilities that I had not expected to be ready to handle just a short time ago.

I hope that your week went well and love you very much.

Jeff

Grant's News

This has been yet another long week of work for Grant. Especially Saturday...Grant started his day at the restaurant at 9:30 am and got done at 1:30 am. However, work has taken a new twist now that Grant has been offered a bartending job at another restaurant in town. He has yet to decide what to do because the allure of a more balanced life is competing with leaving the restaurant he has worked in the entire time he has lived in Marshfield. Otherwise, Grant was able to spend time with a friend on Sunday. He is also planning the new additions to the flower beds now that seeds are on sale.

News from Wisconsin

We had plans to go to the Twin Cities this last weekend. We had planned to take Stephanie out to dinner and stay close to her place on Friday night. On Saturday we had hoped to go to the temple and then return. Unfortunately the snow was coming down pretty hard as we started to leave Marshfield so we ended up turning around. As I consider the situation we made the right decision to come back home.

Emily started her new semester classes. She is especially happy with psychology and is sure this is an area that she would like to focus her college education. Her career interests are in social work and music therapy.

Logan has really taken to ping pong. He is improving each time I play him. It is becoming a real challenge to stay ahead of him but so far I can... I am not sure how much longer that will last.

Lanette had a really good time at the Elmhorst birthday party. She was able to speak with one of the sisters of the her former daily living skills teacher. She found that very meaningful.

Mom has been ill with some type of respiratory virus. She hopefully will be back to full strength soon. I have been busy with work but like Grant I am beginning to plan my summer gardening adventures.

I hope that each of you know of Mom and my love for you. Please join us in fasting for Julie's health this Fast Sunday. I know the power of fasting and prayer has amazing effects.

Love Dad