August 29, 2011

Please keep Jeff in your prayers. He is taking a difficult and very important exam on Tuesday.

The Lane's of Virginia

This week has mostly been filled with hours and hours of study.


There was an earthquake here, but the mountains shielded us quiet nicely. We did get to go camping on Friday. We left early due to the fact that we could not sleep and the toilets there we worse than going in the bushes. Luckily, it turned out to be a good call because Hurricane Irene's rain and wind hit us pretty hard. So we were fairly nice and dry all day long.


Tonight we had a spontaneous lasagna dinner outing at the park with some friends! That was quite nice!


Julie

News from Grant

It was a very slow week at work for Grant. With such nice weather and school starting next week, he suspects people are more interested in grilling at home than going out to eat. This coming weekend is the Central Wisconsin state fair and that will surely kill business as well. When at home Grant has been heckling the children about school starting. The pumpkins he grew this summer are starting to turn orange, which is perfect timing because the flowerpots on the front porch are dying down.


The Haws Family of Colorado and Afghanistan/Qatar

This week went by so fast that I can’t remember what we did besides a few things. Although it went by fast the best part of the week was being able to see Andy on Skype. He looks really good and is staying busy. The girls were very, very excited to talk to him. We are so grateful for modern technology. Haley had a few rough days at school, first losing her jacket which was found by her teacher, then the next day breaking her glasses on the playground. I am just thankful that we paid the extra $25 for insurance it was well worth it. The girls have been trying to beat the heat this week by playing in a tub full water (because it takes too long to blow up the swimming pool) and playing with water balloons. I also signed up Haley up for soccer which will be starting in the middle of September.

The Jackson's of Albuquerque

This week Kevin started off a new semester. He is already swamped with lots of homework, plus preparing for the classes he now teaches. However, he enjoys his students and the opportunity to work on campus. Stacie and Kevin started riding the bus to and from UNM. They are very happy to no longer pay the high prices for parking passes and gas. On Tuesday Stacie had to leave work because of the strong paint fumes in the building. She spent most of the afternoon getting paid to read Harry Potter in a nearby building. Needless to say that it was her favorite day of work yet.


On Thursday, Stacie volunteered to help judge for an event put on by her department called Olympiad. She enjoyed watching the on-campus residents play silly games, like one where they had to spin around with their foreheads on a bat which caused them to fall over repeatedly when trying to run back to their home bases. On Friday they completed some much needed grocery shopping and then returned home to watch some of their favorite television show, How I Met Your Mother. Late Friday night Stacie finished her summer reading of Harry Potter and started out on a highly recommended series, The Hunger Games. On Saturday Kevin worked on preparing a talk he was assigned to give in church about living a balanced, gospel-centered life while Stacie caught up on reading and sleep.

The Haws Family of Wisconsin

Everyone is excited for school to start. No one is more excited than Logan. Logan will have his first day on Tuesday. This coming week is Central Wisconsin Fair. Logan has entered one of his chickens in the fair. He has helped out set up pens and spread out hay. He has come to really love animals. He is also practicing for the soccer team. Practices start at 6:30 am so he is up early each day.

Emily has been having a lot of fun with friends as the summer comes to a close. She has been taking senior pictures this last week. Her friend, Mariah Kolts, has taken some really nice pictures that she has posted on Facebook.

Lanette had a great weekend at the Elmhorst family. She was able to participate in a birthday party for two of the Elmhorst grandchildren. She was able to go swimming and use a hottub as well. Needless to say she really enjoyed herself.

Mom has worked to get everything in order for the first school day. She is always looking for a way to make everyone's life better. Mom and I enjoyed putting up corn for the coming year. It was fun to work side-by-side with your mom. I was pretty proud of the corn in our garden. Tonight we enjoy corn on the cobb from our garden. That was great.

I was able to attend the temple on Tuesday night. I had an outreach clinic in Eau Claire which is about half way to the temple. After seeing my patients I drove to the Twin Cities. I arrived late to do an endowment session but even better than that, I was able to participate in the sealing of 7 of your ancestors to their parents. I love the promises of the temple. I frankly do not understand the power of those covenants but I sense in them a force that exceeds my most wonderful dreams.