Monday, May 28, 2012
May 28, 2012
The International Haws Family
So I am a day early, or several weeks late, depending on your point of view but thought that I would take a moment to tell you about our week and the happenings of our lives.
Really, nothing has changed. I am serious, nothing has really developed over the last couple of weeks.
Lucas is doing exceptionally well at soccer and if we are here he will be participating in a tournament hosted by a professional team in a professional stadium in Sao Paulo. It is a sort of try out/scouting arena. It is quite a privilege. I even had the chance to watch him play a bit and was impressed.
Felipe has had a rough couple of weeks. He decided to break up with a girl that he had liked for almost a year. It was a tough decision but he is certain that it is important for him. That has left him a bit lost, for what is the reason to facebook when you are tortured with pictures of the person you so loved and what is the purpose for life without facebook. Wait, news coming in ... new facebook romance has begun and life has resumed and all is beautiful again.
Derick is doing well. He has struggled lately as some of his friends do not have to go to school and he would like live the life of Huckleberry Finn as well. We had a fun evening last night as the two of us talked about when he was little and the fun things that we used to do together, like how I carried him on my shoulders to school everyday and how he loved Dallin Dalmatian (Renata gave Dallin away while I was gone and Derick has missed him almost as much as he missed me).
Renata is doing well. Busy as mother's tend to be. Renata has worked hard to make sure that I can work in peace while working from home. She has been trying to be more regular in her church going and has been very regular in her Bible study, she tells me that she is in Lucas and enjoying it very much.
As for myself I have been having far too much fun. When I came to Brazil I decided that I wanted to try a new operating system, I have always used Windows at work (as most workplaces do) and have used a Mac regularly for the last two year while working on iPhone/iPad development, now I wanted to get familiar with Linux. I decided to start with the easiest form of Linux to learn, Ubuntu. It has been fun and much easier than I had originally imagined. With this I have become closer to new programming languages and have started to learn Perl. The entire experience has been thrilling! The best part almost everything is free, that is amazing, I have not had to pay for a program yet. I won't even start my rant on the costs in programming environments on Windows or Apple policies for programmers, let's just say 'free' is not an option.
I hope that you are all well.
Love,
Jeff
The Jackson's of Albuquerque
The weeks seems to be flying by for Stacie, Kevin and Henry. Henry turned three months this week and is getting bigger, smarter, and cuter day by day. Kevin is very thankful for his opportunity to spend the last two weeks with his little guy and will miss him very much while he is taking his summer course over the next month. The three amigos are enjoying the long weekend together as a family. On Saturday they redeemed a Groupon for candy covered apples and they did some delicious grilling. They hope that the weather and air are nice on Monday so they can enjoy a walk in the bosque by the Rio Grande. On Sunday Stacie baked some homemade bread, which was lovely, and in the evening they enjoyed Skyping us here in Marshfield. It was neat to have Henry and Alex on Skype together.
The Colorado Haws Family
This week has seemed to fly by. On Monday Haley went on her field trip to an animal sanctuary. Her favorite part of the field trip was seeing the tigers. On Wednesday Haley had her Renaissance assembly and was her last day of school. She was sad to leave the first grade but is very excited to be in second grade next year. On Thursday we made it to Utah to visit family. I was so glad that the girls did very well on the trip, but I was surprised that they stayed up from 3:00 am (when we left) to 9:00 pm that night without even taking a nap! On Friday we were able to enjoy a barbeque at my dad’s house with some of my siblings and their families. I was also very glad that I was able to go to the temple that day with my mom. It is always a wonderful place to be. On Saturday morning, Haley and Kayla ran the first block of the 5k run that my mom was running, not by choice, but because they were with my mom when it started while I was parking the van. They were glad that they did not have to run all of it, but were excited to see Grandma Nancy cross the finish line. Later that morning we met up with Jessica, one of my really good friends that I have not seen in a couple of years. It was so wonderful to see her and her family even though we were getting blown away by the wind. We also were able to visit with my Grandma Keisel for a few minutes before we headed down to Paragonah. Sunday after church the weather was very beautiful so my mom let Haley and Kayla take the dogs for a walk, which Kayla has been begging my mom to do ever since we arrived here. Andy is doing very well because he is headed to Kuwait tomorrow and then is suppose to fly to Georgia on Saturday. We will hopefully be able to be together next Sunday, but if not next Monday for sure. Haley and Kayla still do not know he will be coming home. I have been telling them that they need to make posters for Lisa’s (my friend) friend. I hope that they will be surprised. This has been a long year but being around wonderful family and friends and being positive has made it a whole lot easier!
The Haws Family of Wisconsin
What an amazing week this has been. We saw Emily graduate from Marshfield High School. Logan became our family's newest teenager. Lanette had her nearly weekly visit to the Elmhorst family and finally Mom, Logan and I had a wonderful trip to the St Paul Temple. We were accompanied by Sister McSweeney for the temple trip which was extra special.
Today was a day of work around our place. Many of you will remember the unfinished fence around the fruit trees. Well today it was finished! Now the chicken coop has migrated out there which was no small feat. It looks good.
We enjoyed a wonderful dinner and family home evening planning tonight. Grant has encouraged us to make a list of activities to do this summer. We did it last year too but did not get many of the activities done. We hope to do better this year.
The most important news this week is Mom and my anniversary. We have been married 32 years ago as of May 30th. I have been blessed with the best friend I could every dream of. She is my confidant, my advisor, my friend and my encouragement. I hope you know what a wonderful mom you have been blessed with.
Dad
Monday, May 21, 2012
May 20, 2012
It is Logan's birthday this Sunday. Please give him a call or send a card.
Grant's News
May 13, 2012
Grant's work-week was painfully slow. Even Mother's Day, a pretty eventful day in the restaurant business was disappointing. On the upside some of his favorite work buddies, like Goalie, are back from college for the summer and work is a lot more fun with them there. Grant's days off have been spent doing a lot of gardening. Monday he planted willow trees, Wednesday after work he planted ferns, and then on Thursday Mom and him went and hit up Menards and he planted a bunch of new perennials in the garden. He is super excited because his pumpkins and sunflowers started sprouting this week. Grant also finished reading the epic novel Les Miserables this week and is starting on a biography of a woman that was a refugee from Somalia and became a political activist.
The Jackson's of Albuquerque
May 20, 2012
This week Stacie returned to work while Kevin enjoyed caring for Henry. Henry had some difficulties with the transition, refusing to eat much on Monday and crying through most of the day. However, by Friday he seemed to be much more adjusted to eating from a bottle and being apart from his mama. Although Stacie missed Henry very much, she is very grateful for the blessing of being employed, especially after receiving news that due to a lack of enrollment Kevin won't have a teaching job over the summer.
After a long week of being apart, Stacie, Kevin and Henry cherished a wonderful weekend. They caught up on lots of cuddling and re-planted their garden (which suffered from an accidental overnight watering). I the evening they went to a baseball game with some friends. It was lots of fun taking Henry out to his first ball game and Kevin really enjoyed watching his favorite sport. Stacie treasured being with her two best friends all day.
Tonight they look forward to watching the solar eclipse from the foothills of the mountain. But don't worry, they won't watch too closely.
May 13, 2012
This week Stacie cherished lots of snuggle time with Henry. She returns to work tomorrow and will be missing him very much. While Kevin was on campus working on finals, Stacie and Henry played at the park and their backyard whenever they could. Since there has been lots of stormy weather in Albuquerque they spent the rest of their time inside cuddling while listening to the severe wind outside. Today Kevin and Henry showered Stacie with love. They picked out some cute new clothes for Henry, a craft store gift card, and beautiful flowers for Stacie. They also made her a delicious dinner ending with chocolate covered strawberries. Needless to say that she feels like a queen.
The Haws Family of Colorado
May 20, 2012
This week Haley had her field day at school and Kayla her end of school celebration. Kayla was sad to leave her teachers Ms. Carrie and Ms. Angelika, but she is excited to move on to Kindergarten next year. I feel like we have been running around all week trying to get things ready for our trip to Utah. Earlier this week Andy received his end of tour awards, and is getting ready to pack up so he can come home. We are all excited because he should be home within the next two weeks!
May 13, 2012
This week seemed to be such a busy week that I don’t remember half of what we did. On Wednesday after Haley had her doctor’s appointment I took them to Coldstone Creamery to get an ice cream. The weather was so beautiful that we decided to eat the ice creams outside. As you can see Kayla very much enjoyed hers. Then they convinced me to let them run though the splash pad by the movie theater. On Friday, Haley was a little sad that her field day had to be rescheduled for Monday because of the weather. I was a little relieved because I had so many things I needed to get caught up on. On Saturday when we went to the commissary the girls were able to take a picture with a big olive and the Egglands Best egg. They thought it was pretty cool. Andy seems to stay busy. We have about 21 more days until he will be home! We are trying to have a surprise homecoming for Haley and Kayla, so they still think he will be coming in July. So please keep it a surprise if you talk to the girls.
The Haws Family of Wisconsin
Well it has been a interesting couple of weeks. Mom was hospitalized on May 11th with right sided weakness. I deeply appreciate your prayers including those of you that put Mom's name on the temple rolls of your temple district. Mom stayed for several days including Mother's Day but we are so happy that she came home with no evidence of a stroke. We have enjoyed time together as a family. We celebrated Mom's birthday as a family enjoying a special dinner together at El Mezcal. Last night we had the joy of having Julie and Jeff, Emily, Grant, Lanette, Logan and Mom and me for dinner. It was really nice. Mom joined me for hometeaching two of my very special hometeaching families last night. You have a wonderful Mom.
Logan has been busy with a school play. He did a very good job. He goofed up on one of his lines but I think everyone agrees that it may have been the funniest line of the whole play. Logan and I went camping together at the Eau Pleine flowage on Friday night. On Saturday Logan helped us get the lawn done which was sorely needed.
Lanette has finished her school year. She is very happy and has been making plans for a number of activities. Lanette has mastered the cellphone and the agenda. She will be spending several days this weekend with the Elmhorst and then attend a graduation party.
Emily will be graduating this week from Marshfield High School. She is working two jobs to make ends meet. She is planning to attend the University of Minnesota in one year after she has raised the needed finances. It was fun to have her over on Sunday and to listen to her piano talents once again.
This coming week will be Mom and my 32nd anniversary. It will be wonderful to celebrate such a wonderful experience. I cannot tell you how much it means to me to be married to Mom. She is awesome. She is a friend, a counselor, a confident and the love of my life.
Dad
Grant's News
May 13, 2012
Grant's work-week was painfully slow. Even Mother's Day, a pretty eventful day in the restaurant business was disappointing. On the upside some of his favorite work buddies, like Goalie, are back from college for the summer and work is a lot more fun with them there. Grant's days off have been spent doing a lot of gardening. Monday he planted willow trees, Wednesday after work he planted ferns, and then on Thursday Mom and him went and hit up Menards and he planted a bunch of new perennials in the garden. He is super excited because his pumpkins and sunflowers started sprouting this week. Grant also finished reading the epic novel Les Miserables this week and is starting on a biography of a woman that was a refugee from Somalia and became a political activist.
The Jackson's of Albuquerque
May 20, 2012
This week Stacie returned to work while Kevin enjoyed caring for Henry. Henry had some difficulties with the transition, refusing to eat much on Monday and crying through most of the day. However, by Friday he seemed to be much more adjusted to eating from a bottle and being apart from his mama. Although Stacie missed Henry very much, she is very grateful for the blessing of being employed, especially after receiving news that due to a lack of enrollment Kevin won't have a teaching job over the summer.
After a long week of being apart, Stacie, Kevin and Henry cherished a wonderful weekend. They caught up on lots of cuddling and re-planted their garden (which suffered from an accidental overnight watering). I the evening they went to a baseball game with some friends. It was lots of fun taking Henry out to his first ball game and Kevin really enjoyed watching his favorite sport. Stacie treasured being with her two best friends all day.
Tonight they look forward to watching the solar eclipse from the foothills of the mountain. But don't worry, they won't watch too closely.
May 13, 2012
This week Stacie cherished lots of snuggle time with Henry. She returns to work tomorrow and will be missing him very much. While Kevin was on campus working on finals, Stacie and Henry played at the park and their backyard whenever they could. Since there has been lots of stormy weather in Albuquerque they spent the rest of their time inside cuddling while listening to the severe wind outside. Today Kevin and Henry showered Stacie with love. They picked out some cute new clothes for Henry, a craft store gift card, and beautiful flowers for Stacie. They also made her a delicious dinner ending with chocolate covered strawberries. Needless to say that she feels like a queen.
The Haws Family of Colorado
May 20, 2012
This week Haley had her field day at school and Kayla her end of school celebration. Kayla was sad to leave her teachers Ms. Carrie and Ms. Angelika, but she is excited to move on to Kindergarten next year. I feel like we have been running around all week trying to get things ready for our trip to Utah. Earlier this week Andy received his end of tour awards, and is getting ready to pack up so he can come home. We are all excited because he should be home within the next two weeks!
May 13, 2012
This week seemed to be such a busy week that I don’t remember half of what we did. On Wednesday after Haley had her doctor’s appointment I took them to Coldstone Creamery to get an ice cream. The weather was so beautiful that we decided to eat the ice creams outside. As you can see Kayla very much enjoyed hers. Then they convinced me to let them run though the splash pad by the movie theater. On Friday, Haley was a little sad that her field day had to be rescheduled for Monday because of the weather. I was a little relieved because I had so many things I needed to get caught up on. On Saturday when we went to the commissary the girls were able to take a picture with a big olive and the Egglands Best egg. They thought it was pretty cool. Andy seems to stay busy. We have about 21 more days until he will be home! We are trying to have a surprise homecoming for Haley and Kayla, so they still think he will be coming in July. So please keep it a surprise if you talk to the girls.
The Haws Family of Wisconsin
Well it has been a interesting couple of weeks. Mom was hospitalized on May 11th with right sided weakness. I deeply appreciate your prayers including those of you that put Mom's name on the temple rolls of your temple district. Mom stayed for several days including Mother's Day but we are so happy that she came home with no evidence of a stroke. We have enjoyed time together as a family. We celebrated Mom's birthday as a family enjoying a special dinner together at El Mezcal. Last night we had the joy of having Julie and Jeff, Emily, Grant, Lanette, Logan and Mom and me for dinner. It was really nice. Mom joined me for hometeaching two of my very special hometeaching families last night. You have a wonderful Mom.
Logan has been busy with a school play. He did a very good job. He goofed up on one of his lines but I think everyone agrees that it may have been the funniest line of the whole play. Logan and I went camping together at the Eau Pleine flowage on Friday night. On Saturday Logan helped us get the lawn done which was sorely needed.
Lanette has finished her school year. She is very happy and has been making plans for a number of activities. Lanette has mastered the cellphone and the agenda. She will be spending several days this weekend with the Elmhorst and then attend a graduation party.
Emily will be graduating this week from Marshfield High School. She is working two jobs to make ends meet. She is planning to attend the University of Minnesota in one year after she has raised the needed finances. It was fun to have her over on Sunday and to listen to her piano talents once again.
This coming week will be Mom and my 32nd anniversary. It will be wonderful to celebrate such a wonderful experience. I cannot tell you how much it means to me to be married to Mom. She is awesome. She is a friend, a counselor, a confident and the love of my life.
Dad
Monday, May 7, 2012
May 7, 2012
This is a month of many birthdays- Andy, Jeff Lane, Haley, Logan and of course Mom, my sweetheart. I hope that everyone will have a wonderful birthday.
The Jackson's of Albuquerque
May 6, 2012
It has been a crazy week for the Jackson family. Unfortunately, on Monday Stacie became very ill again. She was prescribed an antibiotic for the infection she developed the week before and, like all antibiotics, it destroyed both the good and the bad bacteria in her body. Her symptoms worsened on Tuesday and Kevin decided to take her into the ER. They were very thankful for a good visiting teacher who was willing to take care of Henry while they were there. She was sent home a few hours later feeling much better.
Stacie spent the rest of her week enjoying lots of time with Henry. Kevin and Stacie took Henry to the pediatrician on Thursday. He weighed in at 11 lbs 7 oz! Afterwards they went out to a great hamburger restaurant and enjoyed a delicious meal. On Saturday Stacie had fun taking Henry to the park while Kevin played at a baptism. In the evening they went to a BBQ cook-off hosted by their Elder's Quorum.
This week was the last week of instruction for Kevin's courses. He has been working diligently on tests, presentations and papers this week, in addition to his grading duties for the courses he teaches. We wish him the best of luck for his exams next week. Kevin looks forward to the time he gets to spend with Henry before his summer course commences.
April 30, 2012
Last Tuesday Kevin and Stacie celebrated Henry's two month birthday. They are always amazed by how quickly he is growing and developing. They'll be going to the pediatrician soon to check on his status. Kevin finally cut off his long locks this past week. On Thursday Kevin, Stacie and Henry took tours around some nearby child care centers. They were thankful to find a lovely place near their chapel. On Friday they went disc golfing with their friends.
On Sunday Stacie enjoyed going to church with Henry for the first time in several weeks. She realized that she should soon become good friends with her new visiting teaching companion who had a baby a week after Henry; they often run into each other in the mother's lounge or in the foyer to comfort heir babies on the same schedule.
On Monday Stacie started to experience some severe side effects to some medication. On Tuesday the symptoms worsened and so she went to the ER for assistance. She was sent home with new medications and she is feeling much better; however, she is still experiencing some pain and discomfort. As it is the end of the semester, Kevin is very busy with school and is unable to help as much as he would like to. Please keep them in your prayers as Stacie continues to recover and as Kevin works extra hard this week to complete his work & help his family. Thank you!
The Haws Family of Colorado
Happy birthday this past week to Andy on Thursday, and to Haley a big 7 on Sunday! This week has been very busy for us, mainly running around. On Monday and Tuesday Kayla played with Emma. Wednesday after I helped in Haley’s class, Kayla and I was able to talk with Andy. Kayla let him know that he was getting really, really old because he turned 31. After talking with Andy, Kayla and I enjoyed playing outside in the beautiful weather. On Friday we surprised Haley by eating lunch outside with her at school. She was excited to give her classmates popsicles for her birthday treat. On Saturday I let Haley open up her birthday presents and eat her cake a day early, which she did not oppose. Later that morning we went to see Kayla’s water painting in the art fair at school. Her picture is the one right above her head. On Sunday Haley was very happy that she was able to give a talk in primary on her birthday. Her favorite gift that she received on her birthday was to be able to talk with her daddy twice! Andy is working nonstop, and is ready for his replacements. We are very excited because he will be making his way back to the states in a few weeks!
From Andy:
Dad,
It was great to hear from you, thank you for the email. Things have been going great out here, but I am so ready to re-deploy back home to Melanie and the girls. I am not sure if Melanie told you that GEN Dempsey stopped by and visited us out here(I attached a picture)? As well as, I will be receiving the HONORABLE SAINT CHRISTOPHER Award (I attached a copy of what it looks like)? Then additional I was selected for promotion to Sergeant First Class (SFC/E-7), which is great because I was in a secondary zone (harder to get selected in), with only 9 years time in service which most people do not get picked up for E7 till about 15-18 years.
Things have been going great as far as work, I really do enjoy my job out here, I think that this is the first job that I have ever done that I felt like I have been able to make some major impacts (positive) to an entire Combat Operations. I will have to tell you more of what I have been able to do when I get home, but it has really been a great deployment. That and I have not yet had to fire my weapon at people or have been blown up, like I have in my prior deployments; so that is an added plus. I am excited to get to be coming up to visit you and mom shortly after I redeploy. I think that will be fun going out to Nauvoo and spending time as a family. Well dad thank you again for everything. I love you.
The Haws Family of Wisconsin
I have not given you an update on our lives for the last two weeks. I was in Boston last week and did not post anything to the blog. Thank you Stacie for your contributions to the blog both weeks.
For Logan it has been a fun couple of weeks. He along with his friend Audry submitted a project to the school art and science fair. It was a replica of the Washington monument and part of the Washington Mall. It was pretty cool because as soon as you walked into the gym area you saw this huge white pillar towering over everything else. It was the landmark for the entire fair. It turned out great. Logan has made remarkable progress in his grades this last quarter but was disappointed not to be selected for the honors math program. He seems much more focused on doing well in school which makes Mom and me very happy. He has played in a soccer tournament this last Saturday after staying up all night for a school shut in. Needless to say it was probably not his best games ever played.
Emily has continued her soccer season. They are a great team but not with the record anyone one on the team would like. She will have two away games this week and a tournament out of town this weekend. I had the opportunity of going with her to the Solo & Ensemble State event this weekend in Stevens Point. Emily did exceptionally well including her solo. The judge told her that he had been a music teacher for 45 years and he had never heard a high school student play her selection better. I agreed with him despite my strong biases.
Lanette enjoyed the annual Elmhorst pancake breakfast in Neillsville. She had a great time and came home with some interesting stories. She is looking forward to school being out this coming week on May 18th. She continues to arrange visits to people in our branch. She loves to visit the Weiers and the Elmhorst with occasion visits to the McElderry family.
Mom has been keeping our family going with taxi driving and nurturing and loving each one of us by addressing our individual needs. She has been recovering from her relatively recent back surgery and I can tell she is particularly sore after a busy day of physical therapy.
I had the wonderful opportunity of traveling to Boston. It was for a convention called the Pediatric Academic Society which is the big meeting for us pediatric nephrologists. I met up with a number of colleagues and it was fun and stimulating. My greatest privilege was going to the Boston Temple. I rode in a taxi with a gentleman from the former Soviet Union. We had a delightful discussion about the gospel. In the temple I was impressed by the beauty and spirit there. After performing an endowment for one of our ancestors I walked out of the Celestial Room. I was greeted by a temple worker that looked to my eye just like President Monson. It was an amazing similarity. I felt this sudden overwhelming feeling of love exude from this man. He came up to me and asked if I would help with sealings. Of course I said "yes". It was an amazing sealing season. I felt a deep and wonderful spirit that evening and realized in new dimensions the power of the temple sealing. I came out of the temple a renewed man. I encourage each of you to go to the temple and do the work for our ancestors. They are anxious to help us as we make possible their eternal progression in a small but extremely critical way.
Well, Jeff is back with his family and things are going well. We hope that they will be in the States by this summer. Julie and Jeff celebrated Jeff Lane's birth last week with a special dinner at Royal Tokyo. His actual birthday is today, May 7th. They are getting into the swing of things here and Alex is adorable.
Grant is busy planting and replanting trees and bushes in our yard and it is really looking great. His work has varied from too slow to too fast. He is off tomorrow for a well deserved day of rest. He continues to enjoy the marsh next to our home, the yard and of course, teasing his sister, Lanette.
Love,
Dad
The Jackson's of Albuquerque
May 6, 2012
It has been a crazy week for the Jackson family. Unfortunately, on Monday Stacie became very ill again. She was prescribed an antibiotic for the infection she developed the week before and, like all antibiotics, it destroyed both the good and the bad bacteria in her body. Her symptoms worsened on Tuesday and Kevin decided to take her into the ER. They were very thankful for a good visiting teacher who was willing to take care of Henry while they were there. She was sent home a few hours later feeling much better.
Stacie spent the rest of her week enjoying lots of time with Henry. Kevin and Stacie took Henry to the pediatrician on Thursday. He weighed in at 11 lbs 7 oz! Afterwards they went out to a great hamburger restaurant and enjoyed a delicious meal. On Saturday Stacie had fun taking Henry to the park while Kevin played at a baptism. In the evening they went to a BBQ cook-off hosted by their Elder's Quorum.
This week was the last week of instruction for Kevin's courses. He has been working diligently on tests, presentations and papers this week, in addition to his grading duties for the courses he teaches. We wish him the best of luck for his exams next week. Kevin looks forward to the time he gets to spend with Henry before his summer course commences.
April 30, 2012
Last Tuesday Kevin and Stacie celebrated Henry's two month birthday. They are always amazed by how quickly he is growing and developing. They'll be going to the pediatrician soon to check on his status. Kevin finally cut off his long locks this past week. On Thursday Kevin, Stacie and Henry took tours around some nearby child care centers. They were thankful to find a lovely place near their chapel. On Friday they went disc golfing with their friends.
On Sunday Stacie enjoyed going to church with Henry for the first time in several weeks. She realized that she should soon become good friends with her new visiting teaching companion who had a baby a week after Henry; they often run into each other in the mother's lounge or in the foyer to comfort heir babies on the same schedule.
On Monday Stacie started to experience some severe side effects to some medication. On Tuesday the symptoms worsened and so she went to the ER for assistance. She was sent home with new medications and she is feeling much better; however, she is still experiencing some pain and discomfort. As it is the end of the semester, Kevin is very busy with school and is unable to help as much as he would like to. Please keep them in your prayers as Stacie continues to recover and as Kevin works extra hard this week to complete his work & help his family. Thank you!
The Haws Family of Colorado
Happy birthday this past week to Andy on Thursday, and to Haley a big 7 on Sunday! This week has been very busy for us, mainly running around. On Monday and Tuesday Kayla played with Emma. Wednesday after I helped in Haley’s class, Kayla and I was able to talk with Andy. Kayla let him know that he was getting really, really old because he turned 31. After talking with Andy, Kayla and I enjoyed playing outside in the beautiful weather. On Friday we surprised Haley by eating lunch outside with her at school. She was excited to give her classmates popsicles for her birthday treat. On Saturday I let Haley open up her birthday presents and eat her cake a day early, which she did not oppose. Later that morning we went to see Kayla’s water painting in the art fair at school. Her picture is the one right above her head. On Sunday Haley was very happy that she was able to give a talk in primary on her birthday. Her favorite gift that she received on her birthday was to be able to talk with her daddy twice! Andy is working nonstop, and is ready for his replacements. We are very excited because he will be making his way back to the states in a few weeks!
From Andy:
Dad,
It was great to hear from you, thank you for the email. Things have been going great out here, but I am so ready to re-deploy back home to Melanie and the girls. I am not sure if Melanie told you that GEN Dempsey stopped by and visited us out here(I attached a picture)? As well as, I will be receiving the HONORABLE SAINT CHRISTOPHER Award (I attached a copy of what it looks like)? Then additional I was selected for promotion to Sergeant First Class (SFC/E-7), which is great because I was in a secondary zone (harder to get selected in), with only 9 years time in service which most people do not get picked up for E7 till about 15-18 years.
Things have been going great as far as work, I really do enjoy my job out here, I think that this is the first job that I have ever done that I felt like I have been able to make some major impacts (positive) to an entire Combat Operations. I will have to tell you more of what I have been able to do when I get home, but it has really been a great deployment. That and I have not yet had to fire my weapon at people or have been blown up, like I have in my prior deployments; so that is an added plus. I am excited to get to be coming up to visit you and mom shortly after I redeploy. I think that will be fun going out to Nauvoo and spending time as a family. Well dad thank you again for everything. I love you.
The Haws Family of Wisconsin
I have not given you an update on our lives for the last two weeks. I was in Boston last week and did not post anything to the blog. Thank you Stacie for your contributions to the blog both weeks.
For Logan it has been a fun couple of weeks. He along with his friend Audry submitted a project to the school art and science fair. It was a replica of the Washington monument and part of the Washington Mall. It was pretty cool because as soon as you walked into the gym area you saw this huge white pillar towering over everything else. It was the landmark for the entire fair. It turned out great. Logan has made remarkable progress in his grades this last quarter but was disappointed not to be selected for the honors math program. He seems much more focused on doing well in school which makes Mom and me very happy. He has played in a soccer tournament this last Saturday after staying up all night for a school shut in. Needless to say it was probably not his best games ever played.
Emily has continued her soccer season. They are a great team but not with the record anyone one on the team would like. She will have two away games this week and a tournament out of town this weekend. I had the opportunity of going with her to the Solo & Ensemble State event this weekend in Stevens Point. Emily did exceptionally well including her solo. The judge told her that he had been a music teacher for 45 years and he had never heard a high school student play her selection better. I agreed with him despite my strong biases.
Lanette enjoyed the annual Elmhorst pancake breakfast in Neillsville. She had a great time and came home with some interesting stories. She is looking forward to school being out this coming week on May 18th. She continues to arrange visits to people in our branch. She loves to visit the Weiers and the Elmhorst with occasion visits to the McElderry family.
Mom has been keeping our family going with taxi driving and nurturing and loving each one of us by addressing our individual needs. She has been recovering from her relatively recent back surgery and I can tell she is particularly sore after a busy day of physical therapy.
I had the wonderful opportunity of traveling to Boston. It was for a convention called the Pediatric Academic Society which is the big meeting for us pediatric nephrologists. I met up with a number of colleagues and it was fun and stimulating. My greatest privilege was going to the Boston Temple. I rode in a taxi with a gentleman from the former Soviet Union. We had a delightful discussion about the gospel. In the temple I was impressed by the beauty and spirit there. After performing an endowment for one of our ancestors I walked out of the Celestial Room. I was greeted by a temple worker that looked to my eye just like President Monson. It was an amazing similarity. I felt this sudden overwhelming feeling of love exude from this man. He came up to me and asked if I would help with sealings. Of course I said "yes". It was an amazing sealing season. I felt a deep and wonderful spirit that evening and realized in new dimensions the power of the temple sealing. I came out of the temple a renewed man. I encourage each of you to go to the temple and do the work for our ancestors. They are anxious to help us as we make possible their eternal progression in a small but extremely critical way.
Well, Jeff is back with his family and things are going well. We hope that they will be in the States by this summer. Julie and Jeff celebrated Jeff Lane's birth last week with a special dinner at Royal Tokyo. His actual birthday is today, May 7th. They are getting into the swing of things here and Alex is adorable.
Grant is busy planting and replanting trees and bushes in our yard and it is really looking great. His work has varied from too slow to too fast. He is off tomorrow for a well deserved day of rest. He continues to enjoy the marsh next to our home, the yard and of course, teasing his sister, Lanette.
Love,
Dad
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