In Retrospect...

...things always work out the way they are supposed to. Even if you are presented with your greatest fear as your life challenge. For example, (this is not my greatest fear, but will do as an example) I am a homebody by nature. If I could, I would live right next door to my parents forever, have my kids attend the same comfortable, well-known schools I attended, and be surrounded always by the same safe, beautiful neighborhood in which I grew up. Which is why the Lord knew I needed to be sent out into the world to lose my fear of adventure. 13 moves later, we've had our share of insecurities, stresses, job changes, international travel, and living on a shoestring. Which is why I'm not really afraid of those things any more. “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” -Robert Frost. And, if any of you out there had George Henry for AP US History at HHS, you'll know this one: "COMFORT RETARDS GROWTH."

I've grown and I'm still growing and I'm learning that each new challenge has its reward. I never wanted to live in Los Angeles, but we lived three years there and I got Pam and a backbone from the experience. As economic casualties of 9/11, we worked part time for years after UCLA waiting for the full time opening. So I learned how to live cheaply and run my own catering business. I did NOT want to leave my dear first house in Sugar City to move to Charlotte, but we did and I met the most wonderful people and had these amazing missionary experiences and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Funny, this post turned out to be totally different from what I intended it to be. I was merely going to say how happy I was that things have finally worked out so well, though in such an unexpected way, for us. Teaching at BYUI is really a dream job, and if the timing hadn't been perfect, we would not have ended up here. Charles West was to retire three years ago. He didn't, and we moved to a new job in North Carolina. He then retired a year earlier than planned (last year), opening this job right before the crash of the economy and the church-wide hiring freeze. If he had retired when he said he would (this year), they would have just closed the position and Gary wouldn't have had the job here. We would have been in North Carolina indefinitely, and though I am SO grateful for that experience (Sarah, Juli, So Young, Fernanda, missionary work, the weather) I don't think that's where we were supposed to be for long.

So. Life goes on. And what you get from it is up to you. Be thankful for Life. Remember that, kids.

Mother's Day and Maggie's Talk

Had a fairly good Mother's Day... breakfast in bed, Maggie's scavenger hunt to find my presents (a cd organizer, mini air compressor for our Emergency prep kit and a snow cone machine that I think Maggie must have picked out...) and an attempt by Gary to get the kids ready for church himeself. Unfortunately, Spencer had kept me up ALL NIGHT LONG (no reason, just cussedness) and I was so tired I couldn't even see straight. In spite of the nice morning, Mommy was a grumpy bear. Luckily a nice walk to and from church in beautiful weather, a nap after lunch, and a beautiful evening stroll helped clear my head.

Spencer is still so not in my good books though. One boy, boy for sale...

Yesterday Maggie gave a talk in Primary. I had to type it in here because she wrote it entirely by herself and gave it with such perfect delivery. Gary and I were in fits.

"Hi, I’m here to talk about baptism and confirmation. When you get baptized it’s best if you are 8 but if you are an adult and you haven’t gotten baptized it is not too late you can still be baptized. In some countries, when people are born people say “you must be baptized.” And do you know what they do? They sprinkle water on the person’s head. If you are being mean to someone, you get a thing called a sin. If you get a sin there is on e thing left for you to do. You have to repent to people, Heavenly father and the person you had hurt to. When we are baptized, all of our sins are washed away and we start out like we were just born again. Jesus taught us that everyone needs to be born again to live with Heavenly Father. A rich man asked Jesus how it was possible to be born again, do you go back inside your mommy’s tummy? Jesus answered “no you must be reborn of water and of the spirit.” That means you have to be baptized in water and receive the Holy Ghost within your confirmation. When you are baptized in water every part of your body has to go under the water. If one little hair does not go under, you’ll have to start all over again. Whether you are a girl or a boy baptism will always be the same.

I am going to turn 8 on June 12th and that means I am going to get baptized soon. Getting baptized is what my Heavenly Father wants me to do.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

Gary's Tour in Russia

Okay, it's long overdue but here it is - a brief summary and recap (now that he's home and I'm not afraid to tell people he was gone for so long so nobody would break into my house and take advantage of a lone woman and three children) of Gary's three weeks in Russia.

He got to go on tour with the Dance Alliance team from BYU-I (where he's a prof. in Dance), since he's been their artistic director all year. In case you missed the earlier post about his show, Dance Alliance is a group of 36 dancers from all genres (ballroom, tap, modern, ballet, jazz, street dance, etc). They all audition for this tour team at the beginning of the year, then work all year for their two concerts and this tour. They got to go to Russia, too, the lucky dogs. Sometimes tour destinations aren't as exciting. Tours to Russia - way high on cool factor. Tours to Canada or, like, Iowa, not so much. They're still awesome experiences, but, you know. Des Moines is not St. Petersburg.

So here are Gary's highlights: the thing he loved most about this tour, hands down, was watching the impact of his show on the audiences. He loved the way people seemed to react to the message of the show (love, life progression, struggle, peace, reunion - you know, The Journey). They even performed it at orphanages and schools for the disabled, which he said were very sweet experiences. He loved watching the students interact one on one with the audiences and people they met there, sharing the special light they have which so many people do not - the light of Christ. Anyway, sorry to wax emotional but we've felt all along that this show was inspired for this time, this tour, this journey. It was immense validation for Gary to see it performed and accepted so well.

Cities they visited: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Saratov, Volgagrad, and Rostov.

Other highlights: the Hermitage (I'M SO JEALOUS! I got as close as the front doors on our '96 tour to Russia but they wouldn't let us go it... and I was a Humanities major, for crying out loud! Twelve years later, I'm still internally spewing frustration...); the Kremlin and Red Square; the Cossack village; Soviet Era plumbing (brown shower water) and squatty potties without tp; quirky stages; the ever-present tomato and cucumber salad (and the occasional liver); three overnight trains and one overnight bus ride (yikes! Gary threw out his back too tossing costume bags around and he was miserable in that bus seat...); souvenirs like matrioshkas, scarves, and chapkas (the fluffy hats the men wear); a Don river cruise; an ice skating show with Russian superstars like Irina Slutskaya and Evgeny Pleshenko; a ballet IN the Kremlin (again, way high on cool factor); and a night at the opera in Kazan (weren't they supposed to be working on this tour? "Back in my day...").

Lots of fun memories and pictures. Gar kept saying he wasn't having any fun without me and he wished I was there with him, but I suspect he did just fine on his own. Anyway, we all survived the separation, now he's back home, and we're looking forward to a quiet two years before he does this all again!