Happenings 1/27/08 - 2/3/08

We hope everyone is well and surviving all the snow. We have had our share of weather in the past two weeks, a bit of snow, cold weather, rain, and today it is in the mid 60s and we don’t even need a coat. A weird thing happened on last Friday — I had a long day on campus, and it was in the low 20s all day, and our little Jetta wouldn’t start. The crazy thing was we were feeding the missionaries that night and I was to arrive just after 5:00, which was when they were coming over, but after spending 10 minutes trying to get the car started, I went inside and called home but it was busy each time I called. (I was busy talking to my friend Shara on the phone and I don't know how to pick up call waiting which I hate anyway. I even thought, "It could be Paul.", but then I thought, "If it is, he knows the missionaries are supposed to be here, so maybe he will call them." And that is just what he did.) I remembered the Elders’ phone number and called them, and they were waiting in their car (in our driveway, waiting for Paul to come home), so they came and picked me up. Later that night, our friends Trevor and Shara came over and Trevor and I went and tried to jump it but to no avail. On Saturday, it was sunny and warmer, so I tried it in the afternoon and after a couple of tries it started and has been fine since. I don’t know if the battery was too cold or what, but it was kind of an adventure.

In other car news, we drove to Clarksville, TN the Friday before to get some little things on our Jetta fixed (how ironic then that it wouldn't start) because there is a VW dealer there. I drove down early, and then JJ and the girls followed later and picked me up and we went to the “shopping” part of town to the Target and Kohl’s, then ate lunch at Chuck E. Cheese (Our first experience there. It being Friday afternoon, it wasn't too crowded and was actually pleasant. Claire of course had a ball!) and then they went home and I stayed until 5:00 when the car was finished. They, of course, did more work than we had expected, and things are pretty good unless the non-starting thing was related to the work they did on the glow-plugs. They had to order one part so we will take it back again in a couple of weeks. It is amazing around here, because of the non-action on smoking, how many places allow smoking. Most of the restaurants we go to ban smoking, but the VW dealership service area was full of smoke. Our car smelled like smoke and so did I after sitting in the waiting room. When I worked in New York City, people in our office smoked in their offices — which they can’t do now — but with so many anti-smoking laws passed since we lived there, it is surprising to see people smoking inside buildings. But that’s what we get for living in tobacco country. Luckily, a lot of places are moving away from allowing smoking.

Our ward has had a bunch of baptisms this month, which is great for our ward. We had 3 in the past two weeks in addition to 2 since mid-December. It is great to have so many new converts. It keeps us busy, though, as one of us or both of tries to go to each one. (I have been going to all of them lately because the missionaries keep wrangling me into playing the piano. I'm definitely getting my practice in. Pretty soon, I'm going to sound halfway decent. The only problem is they can only choose from a handful of songs.) Going to all of these things is sometimes hard because of Claire and Rachel, because of Rachel’s naps or Claire’s wildness. She loves baptisms, but has a hard time for the rest of the program. With President Hinckley’s funeral, it was a similar situation. JJ had some work to do at the church, so she went in the morning and stayed for the funeral while I stayed with the girls and we watched most of it on BYUTV. I enjoyed the talks, and I’m glad I was able to see it. I thought it was serendipitous that Elder Eyring quoted Henry V’s prayer before battle -- “steel my soldiers’ hearts, possess them not with fear! Take from them now the sense of reckoning if the opposed numbers pluck their hearts from them” because I had just watched that movie on campus on Thursday, and the emotion of that scene and the battle was fresh in my mind.

Claire had an exciting day on Friday, as her art class started again after a two-month break, and then JJ, Rachel, and Claire went with two other mothers and their girls to a kids play/musical in Paducah — If You Give A Pig A Party. Claire apparently loved it. (She was literally on the edge of her seat the whole time. Rachel even sat fairly still through about 1/2 hour of it. The second half, she was pretty wiggly and I had to take her out at the end.)That evening, she was invited to spend the night across the street with Katie. Katie’s mom had mentioned the idea last week, and so we planned on it but were worried that Claire would not last the night. But she did, and didn’t come home until noon on Saturday, tired and wound up, of course. But she had a fun time.(I thought, "My baby is too little for a sleepover!" and she is, but if it were someplace other than directly across the street with people that she is really comfortable with, I would have vetoed the idea. Plus, I thought, "There is no way she is going to last through the night." She suprised me. Apparently she kept asking Bridget "Do I really get to stay all night long?" She thought that was really cool.) Katie and her mom and maybe her dad are planning to come to church with us next week.

No one invited us to a Super Bowl get together — we’ve were a regular invite to our neighbors’ party in Flagstaff for 4 years — and since it is not a huge deal for us, we just relaxed at home in the afternoon. I had the game on while I read the paper and then we had supper during halftime. I turned it on again in the 4th quarter, hoping that the Giants win because I don’t like the cheating Patriots (sorry Jason). I really couldn’t believe that the Giants were able to make the last drive, but I was quite excited. The football gods were frowning on the Patriots I guess.

In other news, JJ starts work this week (I am excited, nervous, sad and happy all rolled into one. I hope it all works out.), and things have been crazy at my work. We have had several candidates for new faculty positions here, and I have been involved one way or another in taking them to dinner or to breakfast, but I don’t make a decision on who to offer the position to. It is fun to meet new people, and one of the candidates is from Northern Arizona, and knew who I was although we had never actually met. My classes are going well, and I have been able to do some research in between the time I’ve had to take to do my annual review paperwork and some administrative things.

I can’t think of anything else right now for the past few weeks. We hope all of you who had birthdays enjoyed the attention, and we love you all! (By the way, only about 2 more months until my birthday - just a reminder.)