Long Overdue

Becca and her friend Sydney were asked to sing along with the band from Nashville that did the JOSEPH and TREK cd's.  It was quite and honor and they worked for several months with a voice teacher to prepare.  What they couldn't prepare for was Becca's strep throat just 4 days before the performance.  I think she did a fantastic job.  I was so proud of her.  There were about 650 people in the audience and she didn't even sound nervous (she looks green---not because she's sick but because the lighting was such that the movie had to be shot with the night vision feature on).

Brent shortened the clip. I loaded it onto the desktop. I sat in front of the computer for an hour and a half this morning PATIENTLY waiting for the clip to upload to you tube. I had to leave and spend the day at the HS doing concessions to earn money for the Senior Safe and Sane Graduation Party and when I arrived back home 5 1/2 hours later the clip was still "uploading" to you tube. The file is 12 GB. I don't know how to make it smaller. We may have to send you all a DVD. Sorry.

What Pictures Can't Say

I told you that I could go on for days talking about my experiences at Special Olympics. Here goes. Yesterday afternoon I watched the rebroadcast of the Opening Ceremonies on TV. The only part that I was really interested in was when the countries marched in and when they interviewed some of the athletes. It was so fun to recognize the faces of the athletes and coaches from all of the foreign countries.

Here's what the pictures can't say:

As the delegations marched in they were all wearing a light blue and white scarf lovingly hand knitted or crocheted by someone from the Meridian, Idaho Paramount Stake.

Sunday at the history museum, each delegate left with a handmade lap quilt made by the sisters in another local stake. Each quilt included a personal note welcoming the athletes to Idaho and wishing them well in their competitions.

Eric, from Sweden, has a flamboyant personality and loves to sing karaoke. I will never forget hearing the Macarena sung in Spanish with a Swedish accent.

The Kuwaiti's all say "cheese" when they smile for pictures.

Isabelle was quite nervous and shy about heading off with her host family. Gratefully her sister, Jenni, was her coach and was assigned to the same family. After some coaxing they all left the Welcome Center. Saturday, when we saw them next, Isabelle refused to let go of the arm of the mother of the host family.

One of the Chinese delegates asked what the word T-E-S-T-A-M-E-N-T meant while attending Sacrament Meeting with their host family.

Special Olympics!

Boise, Idaho is hosting the Invitational Winter Special Olympics this week. Athletes and coaches from Romania, Denmark, Czech Republic, Sweden, Austria, China, Germany, Kuwait, and Lebanon arrived early on Friday to get accustomed to the time change and altitude difference. All of the delegations except for Kuwait stayed in the homes of host families Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and part of the day Monday. During this time, there were several activities designed to give the guests a "taste" of the Host Town.

I was invited to help at these activities. What a treat! We attended a Western Hoe Down and Dinner at Bogus Creek Ranch that was fabulous. One of the things I won't soon forget will be watching one of the Chinese athletes spontaneously getting on stage and begin spinning a red and white "doily" on each pointer finger perfectly synchronized to the fiddlers.

Another activity was held at the Idaho Historical Museum where the delegates participated in pioneer activities such as quilting, churning butter, roping cattle, and indian dancing. I got to serve the famous Idaho Ice Cream Potato. You should have seen the looks (Sorry, no pictures. We were told we couldn't take photos because of privacy and security issues) as they stared at what they were being offered. Those looks weren't just from the foreigners.


I could go on for days exclaiming about the experience but I will spare you. Suffice it to say that I loved having the opportunity to participate in a small way. My eyes were opened to so many things. I was once again reminded how similar we all are no matter where on earth we may live. I had the opportunity to display my vast "charades" skills due to the Tower of Babel effect but more often than not the laughs, smiles, and hugs communicated all that needed to be said.

He's Coming Home

We received Steven's travel plans in the mail today. He arrives home on Tuesday, July 1st at 2:29 in the afternoon on Skywest/Delta Airlines.

Along with the official itinerary from the mission office came a letter from the Mission President. It encourages us to help him stay focused on missionary work up to the end of his mission, it gives us options for booking travel for our family if we want to escort him home, and it asks us to have someone at the airport to meet him.

Oh, please. Do they really have to tell us to meet him at the airport after telling us for the last two years to stay away? Believe me--we will be there. Even Brent's non-member secretary at work knew what he was calling about when he told her he needed July 1st off. We will be there! My concern is that they have enough security there on July 1st so that we don't rush the doors and go chase him down. We will be there!

Store-bought Sunshine

My adventure for the day yesterday was to head to WalMart to pick up a new movie for Becca to watch to keep both of us sane. As I walked in they had a display with some gorgeous begonias. I decided I needed the lift.

In the late afternoon, the doorbell rang and Country Floral was there with a delivery. Seems someone knew I needed a lift. Thanks for the sunshine!

ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!

I have lived here for nearly 15 years. One of the things that I have thumbed my nose at others about is that our winters are so mild here. Well this winter has been an additional reminder that I am not in charge.

We have had storm after storm after storm. I realize that there are many of you that are less than compassionate in this matter. Sure you get your multiple feet of snow every winter and you just suffer through. For the most part, you have chosen to be where you are. I have chosen to live here and one of the reasons I am here is because we can have winter and enjoy the snow in the mountains but we don't have to shovel it or drive in it. If it does snow, it usually has melted before the day ends.

WE ARE NOT EQUIPPED TO HANDLE THIS KIND OF WEATHER.

Firstly, people have no clue how to drive in this stuff. They are either insanely nonchalant or they freak out and morph into turtles. Secondly, when there are only a few snowplows to cover the entire valley, there is a good chance you won't ever get where you need to on cleared roads. Thirdly, the road crew budgets for the entire winter were used weeks ago.

I remember laughing as a teen in Idaho Falls when I would hear that some town had been shut down because of a few inches of snow. After having lived in Seattle and in Nampa, I have repented. The other day there were 5 cars stuck at the bottom of an underpass because they couldn't get up either side because of the slick roads. We have had heartbreaking deaths this week due to road conditions. Daniel came home late last night from a high school basketball game pretty shaken. He had passed an SUV flipped over on its side but the one that really affected him was on the freeway. He had been crawling along at 20 mph as had the rest of the traffic. As he got off the freeway at our exit, police officers directed him to take an outside route under the underpass. Hanging over the top of the freeway ready to fall to the roadway below was a car that had gone over the guardrail and was "resting" on a small concrete outcropping. Daniel saw the driver of the car standing off to the side and realized how lucky he was to be alive. How he made it out of that situation is a miracle.

Okay---I'm finished whining. Just let it end, please.