Men at Home

"Are you home?", JL Greenwood asked when he called us last Sunday.  JL, a good friend from our Fremont days, happened to be here in Idaho and came to visit us.  His wife, Janice, recently died and he is redefining his life without her.  How hard it must be to lose an eternal partner.  JL is a dear man and one we love having in our lives.  Our Sunday visit was sweet.  Here's JL with Layne.

Isaiah is into his third week with us.  He carefully paces himself to balance out his days between school work and yard work.  Oh yes, and naps.  I find him to be hard working, organized, helpful and generally fun to have around.  On Monday his older brother, Chase, came to visit for 5 days.  He and Chase did just about everything together during his visit.  They studied, worked out, gamed, worked and talked the days away.  Together.  Brothers in spirit and in fact.  Chase is into family, so we spent some sweet time with him as well.  We were sad to see him go on Saturday.

Here's Chase doing school work, or so he claims.  Perhaps there is a game or two sandwiched in between!

Brothers Isaiah and Chase.

Friday night my nephew, Brent Berrett, stopped by on his way to Oregon.  We talked until midnight. Having him to myself Friday night reminds me of how lovely it is to have one-on-one time, without interruptions.  Much good conversation resulted.  Brent is at least 20 pounds skinnier and he looks quite handsome.  Love that man.  He left Saturday morning.

Here's a skinnier Brent with me on Saturday morning.  Notice the abundance of beards with these men?  It seems to be the thing to do for lots of men these days.

So our week has been full of men.  I liked it!

We are about to get into our new Church assignment as Addiction Coordinators for the Church program here.  My limited exposure to what we are supposed to do has me less than excited.  I have an absolute passion, after working with pornography addiction, to concentrate on preventative measures ahead of treatment but our calling is strictly recovery.  Bummer.  There appears to be no organized approach to preventing addiction, which almost always begins in childhood.  I want so much to do something about that!  Perhaps a window of opportunity will open.  Perhaps it is not as grim as it now appears.  Meetings and assignments are cropping up.  I guess our Church calling vacation is about over.  The good news is that we are doing something that we haven't done before, and that is stimulating and challenging.  I'm happy to be an older woman with a Church purpose that is not a retread of something I have done so often before.  This is new ground.

So our "man week" is past and a new week



awaits.

Isaiah

I opened my phone a couple of days ago and found this happy image on the screen.  Isaiah's selfie is worth keeping, don't you think?  It makes me smile.  He is here with us for the month, working in our yard for mission money.  He graduates from high school this year and plans to go soon after that.  He is so easy to have around; he is pleasant, picks up after himself and is a self-starter.  I could keep him forever!  But he probably wouldn't go for that.

Layne and I are singing and singing some more these days.  My community group is practicing a fun collection of songs, which includes a duet by Layne and me.  We'll do, "Singing in the Rain" and add some moves to make it fun.  At least I hope it'll be fun.  I'm assigned by our leader to do the group's blog and to do the choreography so It is quite demanding at the moment.  I am sort of a "jack of all trades" so I'm not too confident about my abilities, especially in the music department.  Layne and I are singing with several others at Church today.  That scares me much more than the community singing.  I'll be glad when today is over.

I recently listened to one of President Benson's talks about the troubles that are coming in the future.  He makes it sound pretty alarming and scary.  I'm trying to balance that out with President Hinckley's frequent comments about the wonders of the future and the optimism we should have.  Hum.  I wonder if both can co-exist.  Perhaps we are in the best and worst of times, depending upon our place and personal condition in the world.

Our addiction calling is ramping up.  We continue to give talks about it and the meetings involved with our new assignment are picking up.  So I guess we need to gear up.  Layne is tired of addiction, but the Lord must want us here so we will give it our best shot.

Spring is in the air.  I worked with Isaiah in the yard on Saturday and it was pleasant and fun.  Nature is nurturing; I suppose I should spend more time in it.  

Eight Kids for Ten Days

Remember you are 73, my sister told me when I announced that I was going to babysit son Ben's 8 children for 10 days.  His Jessica flew to Taiwan to check out the possibility of taking the whole family there for the summer.  Jessica is a very high energy girl.  I"m not.  So I determined that it would be necessary for Layne to accompany me on this babysitting adventure.  Perhaps the two of us older kids could cover for one very energetic daughter-in-law.  We headed to California on Tuesday the 16th, arriving that evening.  It was a pleasant flight and offered a dazzling view of the San Francisco Bay Area as we flew in for a landing.  The whole area glowed in amber light, looking something like a treasure chest filled with gold jewels.

Everyone was awake when we arrived and greeted us with great enthusiasm.  Jessica left the next day and, suddenly, we were in charge of 8 children, ranging in age from 13 down to almost 1.  Three of the children were pre-school; the rest were school bound every weekday morning.  Afternoons were filled with lessons of all sorts for all the school kids.  There was soccer, tennis, basketball, drums, piano, violin, art.  With all of that going on I think it was smart of me to suggest to Layne that he be the delivery guy.  He filled every afternoon with driving the various kids to their various lessons.  They were hardly home!  The pre-schoolers, on the other hand, were always home.  With me.  And they all wanted me, just about all of the time.  So while Layne was on the road, I was home, hardly leaving the house.  Sigh.  It was a very demanding 10 days!

Here's one of my preschool playmates, Jonathan, in the back yard.  He was jumping his energy back so we could continue our game of super heroes.

I planned meals and snacks, washed clothes and organized various places to make my job a little easier.  Ben and Jessica had cleaners come in every week day, which helped.  I found myself on my feet all day long.  Bedtime every night found us falling into bed and sleeping soundly in spite of a less than ideal bed.  In spite of all the demands and work, I loved being with the children.  Spending time with them was so rewarding.  The baby, still nursing, bonded with me from the start.  In fact she wanted me to hold her just about every waking hour.  I sang her to sleep for her naps and at night time.  She loved it.  She became my baby.  In fact, when Jessica returned home, the baby, Olivia, wasn't at all sure she wanted to go to her.  But once the opportunity to nurse presented itself, she was all about her mommy.

Here's Olivia playing in the family room and looking at me hoping for a lift onto my lap.  

Victoria (Tia) is my spark plug girl, always running around full of giggles, and tears when things didn't quite go her way.  "Grandma, I don't sleep when the sun is up," she told me.  So, no naps for this girl. 

Having 8 children is intense!  But we made it through the 10 days and even had some time with Ben, in the evenings.  Jessica enjoyed Taiwan for the most part and thinks it would be a great place to take all the family for some extended time.  She is up for great adventures with their large family.  I so admire it but think myself incapable of such grand adventures with so many children to look out for.  I found the children loving and cooperative though, and under our watch they all seemed to do fine.

On our last day we snapped this picture of Jacqueline (13), me (do I look tired?), Alexis (12), and Abigail (7) in front.

We headed for home on Friday morning and felt so grateful that we got the last two seats on the early flight.  By the time we got home we were exhausted!  We napped the rest of the day away and the next one as well.  This Sunday I'm feeling almost normal again.  It is sweet to be back in our quiet home, with everything just where I want it to be.  The simple life.  I've become used to it.

A Utah Trip

My sister Maryanne has Parkinson's Disease.  It has affected her movements and has provided her with a tremor in her left hand.  It is a disease that progresses although it has been somewhat gentle with her so far.  The medications that treat the symptoms of the disease cause side effects for her that are unacceptable.  That became something of a blessing as it made her a candidate for a brain surgery that has a very high success rate for stopping most of the symptoms of the disease.  She had the first phase of the surgery week before last.  I so wanted to be there for that surgery, so, after 4 days home from our Taiwan trip, I drove to Draper, Utah, to be with her and Bob.

The surgery inserted wires in her head which will be connected to a battery in her chest which will be programmed to stimulate the part of her brain that is needed to stop the tremors and increase her muscle coordination.  It is an amazing procedure.  She will receive a remote, which she can use to turn the battery on and off.  We are so excited to see how it works for her.  The last part of this procedure will take place in March.  I'll have a full report then!

Here's a lovely view of the mountains outside of Maryanne's hospital window.

It was a lovely drive to Draper.  I worried about the weather but, while the roads were surrounded by snow, the roads themselves were clear.  I enjoyed the drive and felt enveloped with peace and safety, driving both directions.  It was so enjoyable to spend time with Bob and Maryanne.  She came through the surgery very well and appears to  be healing quickly.  The front half of her hair was shaved, giving her quite a unique look!  What a blessing that hair grows!

Here's a snap of post-surgery Maryanne with her panama hat to cover her bald top.

While staying with the Berretts, I took a little time to connect with our foster daughters, Laura White and her sister, Lesly Carter. We met for a Jamba Juice and had a fun visit.  Both are currently single, but doing well and seem happy.  Meeting up with people I love is so rewarding.  So I wonder why I don't do more of it.  I think I need to put myself out a bit more in that regard.  So I'm going to try.

Here are my girls, Laura on the left and Lesly on the right.  It's a selfie so its a bit goofy.

On this Valentine's Day I'm so grateful to have a love in my life.  Over the years it seems that Layne and I have worked out most of our angst.  We are both strong-willed and, could I say, stubborn people.  But time softens things and I find myself quite content with this man of mine.  He is strong, intelligent, capable, unselfish, pure-hearted and loving.  I don't know how long it will last, but for now, I'm enjoying this time of my life very much.  

Taiwan

I never imagined that I would have a Chinese family.  But I do, and they all live in Taiwan. So we went there this month.  Son Gerald, his Frances and their two children, Seth and Angelica have been settled there for some 13 years now.  It has been our goal to visit there each year. But we have missed some.  We were overdue for a visit, so we chose the time they suggested for us and left for our journey there on Tuesday, January 19th (the day after my birthday!).  Our flight to San Francisco was cancelled, making our connection to Taiwan impossible to make.  So our trip there was postponed until the following Wednesday.  We flew to Taiwan on standby, making the possibility of traveling first class open to us, if there were any open seats.  There was one!  Layne gave it to me and he took a seat in Business; that's almost as good.  So the 14 hour flight was filled with comforts, movies and delicious food.  But even with the comforts, not much sleep took place.

We had a wonderful time in Taiwan.  Gerald and Frances live in Feng Yuan, about a 1 1/2 hour drive from Taipai.  Feng Yuan was once a country town but is now a city, filled with buildings and people, and noise.  There is no zoning so homes and businesses are all gathered together in the crowded streets.  Sidewalks come and go and when they are present they are often full of parked scooters, the preferred method of transportation for most of the citizens.   The people tend to stare at us lighter-haired visitors, but they are very friendly and helpful.  Gerald and Frances live on what was once the family rice paddy.  It is now filled with homes and businesses, once all belonging to the Chang family.  Their home is one of several built by Frances' father to house his family.  He and his wife live right next to them.  Their homes are lovely even though they stand in very crowded spaces.

Frances' uncle Tony painted this picture of the family rice paddy when they first arrived, 100 years ago.  That rice paddy is now filled with buildings, many belonging to the Chang family.

The open space to the right of the painting above, now holds the home you can see below, where the senior Changs live.  It is lovely inside and even includes an elevator, installed after the Changs visited us in Sunol and saw the elevator we had in that home.

Right next door to the Chang home stands this lovely place, where Frances and Gerald live.  It is four stories high with marble throughout.  The coolness of it is great in the summer but quite chilling in winter!

Just inside Gerald and Frances' home is this living room.  The metal screen you see above the window is lowered at night for security.  Seth is walking toward the camers.

Ger and Fran's kitchen.  In most Taiwanese kitchens there is no oven; everything is cooked on the stove top.  Baking is provided by bakeries.  The Changs, however, have an oven so Gerald and the kids can bake American goodies in their oven.

Gerald and Frances run an English school.  One of their campuses is located directly across from their home; pretty convenient!  They have developed their own program for teaching language which appears to be very successful as they do no advertising; all students find them from word of mouth.  They both love the school and the whole system they have developed for teaching language.  Gerald says. however, that they plan to move to the US sometime soon.  He has been saying that for awhile but it appears that it will actually happen within the next year or two.  Frances says she is willing to make the move.  I have worried that she would not want to leave her parents, but, in Taiwanese culture, it is her two brothers who are responsible for caring for the parents and she is invested in that idea.  Frances was raised by her rather stern and unkind grandmother so she isn't particularly close to her parents.

The senior Changs are a delightful couple however.  We ate dinner with them almost every night and enjoyed the delicious selection of Taiwanese vegetables, fish and meats served over rice and followed by soup.  Dessert is fruit.  They eat nothing raw but cook their vegetables until they are barely done.  It is all very good.  In fact, I've come home with a desire to eat more like them.  Of course Layne is longing for a steak after all that low-flesh food at the Changs.  Affection is mostly hidden in Taiwan, but the senior Changs always embrace us.  Even without a language to share, we manage to communicate some ideas back and forth.  Simple ones.  These lovely people gave us matching gold rings for our 50th anniversary.  We were quite overwhelmed that they would do such a lovely thing for us!  They also treated us to their shoe factory and invited us to choose as many shoes as we wanted.  None were big enough for Layne, but I found four pair!

Here is our Taiwanese family.  From left to right, Gerald, Papa Chang, Mama Chang, Angelica, me, Layne, Seth and Frances.  The picture is taken in the small front yard of Ger and Fran's home, with the Chang home in the background.  Note how tall Papa Chang is; just an inch shorter than Layne.  That's very unusual for a Taiwanese man.

It was cold in Taiwan.  In fact, it was cold enough to break their records for cold.  It even snowed one day.  It fell but didn't stay.  Still, Taiwanese don't know what to do with cold.  They are in their winter jackets when the temperature falls to the 60s.  So you may imagine how hard it was for them to adjust to freezing weather.  It didn't last long however.  It was soon back to the 50s or so.

We managed to get a good visit in with everyone.  Seth and Angelica are lovely kids; very bright and open.  We talked and played games.  We loved hearing about all of Gerald's ideas about education and all sorts of other things.  That man is a thinker!  In all, our trip was quite wonderful.

We returned home on Friday.  No first class this time but the trip was pleasant just the same.  Except that Layne started feeling the symptoms of a cold and was generally a little grumpy.  Of course I may have added to that by a couple of little problems I created.  Taiwanese security wouldn't let me carry the small scissors I always have in my purse so I had to check them.  Picking them up at baggage claim took a very long time as they were the very last thing to appear on the luggage ramp.  Layne and his sniffles waited rather impatiently for that.  Then I got in trouble for including a piece of very unique fruit in my bag.  I was fascinated with it and, since it was not yet ripe for eating, decided to put it in my suitcase.  Mistake!  We had to wait in yet another line for it to be checked, and confiscated!  By this time Layne was totally disgusted.  But we were in plenty of time for our connecting flight to Boise.  Early enough in fact to take an earlier one.  We arrived home on Friday, early in the afternoon.  Layne collapsed in bed. He was in a much better mood when he awoke several hours later.

Here I am with that devil fruit.  You must admit, it is interesting!  I never knew such a thing existed so was fascinated to see how it tasted.  I guess I'll never know.

After a soggy weekend, we spent this sabbath giving two pornography talks and relaxing.  It is so good to be home!

The Quiet Part of January

This first half of January has been quite lovely.  We are both home, organizing our lives for the new year.  I have an absolute thing about being organized despite the problem I have with big pockets of chaos.  I've been reorganizing my desk, files and family history shelves.  It is just about done and it feels SO GOOD!  Organizing is fun; maintaining is a bit less so.  When I get caught up in a project I tend to lose all sense of order.  And often I forget the systems that I so carefully set up to keep me from losing things and plans. I am such a frustrating combination of order and chaos.  My overall January plan is this:  first organize this month, then use the rest of the year to produce.

Layne took me Birthday shopping this past week and it was so much fun!  For me anyway.  He is so good to me.  He got me everything I asked for.  That turned out to be three sweaters, a new cover for my phone and a pair of dressy walking shoes.  I felt so indulged!  Tomorrow I will be 73.  I never thought much about being this old when I was young.  Why is it we spend half of our lives being old but somehow never think it will come to this?  I find myself figuring it all out as I go.

Our January days are short and, this winter, they have been full of storms.  Outside is a mix of snow and rain.  It is beautiful either way.  The dark has its charms.  I have filled the house with candles and twinkle lights and, each early morning and evening that we are home, we turn on the fireplace.  It is warm and charming and I love it.  Here's a scene from one of our snowy days.  It was melted by the end of the day.

I've been getting up extra early these mornings and sitting in front of the fire to study the scriptures, think, read and write in my various journals.  It is such fun and so rewarding.  I may never give it up.  I'm so glad to have the light the gospel brings to me.  It warms my heart and expands my mind in the most amazing ways.  I love the opportunities of our older age.  Time is more under my control than ever in my life, it seems.  I like it.

New Years

We closed out our 2015 with family.  How could it be better than that?  Audrey, Cliff, Isaiah, Chase and Morgan spent the first part of the week with us.  We took them to see the Caldwell Christmas lights...again.  They are so lovely!  So that is our third visit and it was just as nice.  Except that it was very cold.  Still, some of us managed a walk around the light infused river banks in spite of that.  It is fun to spend time with our kids.  By Tuesday, though, they were all gone.

Here's Chase and Isaiah standing in front of one of the trees in Caldwell.

Games dominate with the younger set.  The older ones read and work on their various devices.  Here are Morgan, Isaiah and Chase hard at a rather lengthy game.

I'm determined to get organized this month.  I have a vision of how I should do it and what goals I should set.  But so far I have busied myself with all sorts of other things.  Perhaps I have just a tinsy problem with procrastination.  It isn't that I don't want to do it, its just that, somehow, things come up to interfere.  Gotta get going though.

I've got three trips planned over the next couple of months.  Layne is a bit disgusted with this as he wants to just stay home.  I also feel the call of home with all its comforts and things and time set up to suit us.  But family calls and I feel that I must answer that call.  I want to spend time with my sister, and our kids when the chance comes up to do it.  This move to Idaho means that all these precious people are far away.  That means that, if we want to spend time together, we've got to make some effort at making that happen.  I keep telling that to Layne.  I"m working on wearing him down. He loves visitors but not being a visitor.  Such a man!

We invited two couples over for New Year's Eve.  We had a yummy dinner, played games and talked until after midnight!  I was pretty proud that we older folks were able to tolerate such late night fun.  And, now that the fun is over, I'm going to get organized.  No more procrastination for me.  Nope.

It is Sunday night and guess where we are not?  Our Addiction meetings are over.  For us.  It feels strange to be sitting here instead of sitting with my lovely ladies in our weekly support group.  Although I'm loving time at home, I miss my ladies.  But change is always hard.  But I'm sure I'll get used to it!

Christmas night brought us a full, beautiful moon.  Here is what it looked like the day after Christmas, in Idaho.  It was big, bright, and pretty magical.