Let’s see, what have we been up to………maybe I’ll start with the most recent, in hopes that a few more memories from the last 3-4 months will be conjured up. Today is Monday evening, and since Friday we’ve had a couple large de-humidifiers and 8-10 high velocity fans set up on the main floor to dry up after a bit of washing machine-caused flooding. Because of the noise, it’s not easy to hold a conversation in the front part of the house, and we’ve got to keep the house warmer than usual to facilitate drying. We just bought a new washing machine 5 months ago, and apparently the sensor that stops the water from flowing when the machine is full, stopped working. Angie wasn’t near the washer at the time, and when she discovered the problem, quite a bit of water got out. I couldn’t believe the service company wanted over $2,000 for 3 days of drying, mainly for equipment rental charges. Made me think about getting into a new line of business. Anyway, after thinking about all the needful things we could have used that money on, I began to think about how truly blessed I and my family are. I also thought of friends and family who have endured much greater trials recently than this small thing, so I guess we need a little rain to fall in our lives to appreciate the sunshine. I enjoyed a hot date with Angie at the Laundromat this evening, so everyone at least has clean underwear and towels to get us through the next couple days until the spare part comes in.
Another thing we spent some of our money on was getting a dog (yet another sign of the apocalypse, for those keeping score). Angie swore for years that no animals larger than a guinea pig would ever darken the doors of our home, but a few weeks ago she either came to her senses or “lost it,” (depending on your perspective) and decided that Grant really needed a dog to take responsibility for and to satisfy his love of animals. So we went to PetSmart a couple Saturdays ago when the local Humane Society was having their monthly adopt-a-pet dog rescue event. Grant and Angie know the HS people since Grant use to volunteer on Fridays to help with the dogs. We found the “one” among several rescued dogs, a 2-year old Corgi mix named Winnie (who since has changed her name to Penny). Angie, Grant and I all liked Winnie, but we almost passed up on her in deference to the principle “don’t just settle for the first dog that comes along.” I really didn’t want to drag out the courting process, however, and Angie agreed to move forward. The best news is that Penny appears to be housebroken, with no accidents inside the house. Yeaaaa! For the first week and a half, we also thought she didn’t know how to bark (yeaaa!), but have since realized that she was just being “proper” until the return period expired. She doesn’t bark too much, and she’s very cute, so now it’s on to the training part. I know next to nothing about dog behavior, but Angie’s sister Teresa sent us a couple DVDs and we’re going to sign Grant up for the beginning dog training class at PetSmart. On the DVD, I learned that 3 priorities to keep in mind are exercise, discipline and affection (in that order). Not all that different from raising kids, when you think about it (not really). We’ll let you know how it goes.
Paulette is still working her two jobs, and has a very active social life with friends in the singles ward. In fact, I hardly ever see her. By the time I get home from my commute at 6:30 or so, she’s often gone for the evening’s activity. She has a new departure date for her mission (same place – Phoenix, AZ Spanish-speaking), April 23rd. That’s good news and we’re all looking forward to her being in the mission field, where I know she’ll do great. She’s also been singing a lot with a couple other girls from her ward, preparing for a sacrament meeting number.
Speaking of sacrament meeting numbers, Angie and I were the only ones who showed up for choir practice yesterday (usually there are 10 or 12 people, but apparently everyone was tied up or out of town). The choir director said she had committed to provide a musical number for next Sunday, and she was worried about what to do since no one seemed to be around. She asked Angie if our family would sing next week, so Angie dusted off a number she taught us a couple years ago in Connecticut (“Consider the Lillies of the Field”). We’re letting Grant off the hook this time, but in the unlikely event this ever happens again, hopefully he will consent to participate.
Angie and Marina are again singing with Voices of Flower Mound, a community choir in our town. They have practice every Tuesday, Angie has always enjoyed it, and I think Marina has learned to like it, although at first she seemed apprehensive about spending an evening with “old people.” She has taken voice lessons periodically from a sister in our Ward, and over Christmas break we had a little recital get-together at the teacher’s home to have Marina showcase some of the songs she had worked on.
Marina participates in an education club TAFE (Texas Assoc. of Future Educators), and took part in local and state competitions in giving presentations about various aspects of education, like disabilities awareness, lesson preparation, etc. She enjoyed a recent trip to San Antonio with her fellow TAFE members for the state competition.
Grant participated in a Merit Badge college activity for scouts last Saturday, taking four merit badge classes (Citizenship in the Nation, Traffic Safety, Salesmanship, and Coin Collecting). On Saturday 3/29 they hold the second half of the event (same classes), when the boys are expected to complete the merit badges. Grant also went on a (relatively) cold weather overnight camp a few weeks ago. He’s thrilled with Penny the dog, and so far has been very responsible in caring for her. Grant has also been asked by a couple different ward families to look after their dogs while they were out of town.
I’m sure there’s more I could say if I hadn’t let myself get backed against the family letter deadline, and it would have helped if I hadn’t just stayed up to watch the BYU basketball team beat University of San Fransisco by 2 points, in overtime (yeaaa!). I had thought the game was Thursday until earlier this evening when I called my CT friend Rich Frost from the Laundromat, and he saved me from missing a great game. It’s now 1 AM, and I know I wouldn’t be a happy camper if we had lost (“whaddya mean we,” says Tyler Haws).
We love you all so very much, and look forward to seeing some of you at Ann’s wedding in June, and even more of you in Nauvoo next year!
Till next month.
Love,
Rob, Angie, Paulette, Marina and Grant
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