Seriously stupid paperwork

Well, it now seems we won't be signing our papers until Friday afternoon. Apparently the RDA program (that's the type of loan we applied for, which means we didn't have to have a down payment) has, as my lender says, "every Tom, Dick, & Harry" rushing to apply for the program. That coupled with the normal month-end rush is causing the paper traffic jam.

Don't even get me started. Needless to say I'm glad I didn't get the utilities switched until Friday!

If I survive this it will be a miracle. It will also be a miracle if I ever move again. EVER!

Stupid paperwork

Just an update for everybody on our closing. Our finance guy said best-case scenario would be closing Tuesday. So, I'm planning on being disappointed and guessing we'll not be closing until Wednesday. Words my dad uses frequently keep tumbling through my brain....rassafrassa, son of a salamander, stupid, STUPID paperwork! Hopefully we can work something out with the U-Haul place. Abe and Jane, we feel your pain with your dilemma when you closed.

The Day The Pizza Died

it was a low lite and slightly breezy night myself alone with the kids behold the time 6:00pm mountain standered time my belly gives a rumble i ask any one else hungry three little yeses come from various parts of the house.
A little voice (that sounds like sally) enters my mind "their is a pizza in the freezer" i slowly open the garage door entering now the dimly lit room the sound of wind whistling from the window i approached the freezer crreeeeekkkk the top opened and a beam of lite out of no where lite the pizza up as if choose me i grabbed the pizza and dashed for the house (all 2 feet but it is scarier in the dark and alot farther).
After catching my breath i turned the box over it said pre heat to 475 i did then take off the plastic cover i did then place in oven for 18-22 minutes i did 18 minutes later i opened the oven and what did i find was not the famous three cheese pizza so gloriously photographed on the cover of the box but frankinpizza sizzling in its ready made pan i gaped and closed the oven door OH DEAR! i shouted jacob comes running "what is it dad" "i dont know jacob" i said slowly backing away from the oven "i better call mom"
the light side of the story is that i was not the only dad with the kids at subway that day so i think this story was being experienced all over the world oh i also got a picture of frankinpizza as it fled

Dave

Wonderful Email

A good friend of mine, who is also our former stake president, as well as the chief temple architect for more than half of our current temples, told me an interesting story about the Nauvoo Temple. His name is Keith Stepan. He was the managing director for the Temple Construction department for the church. When the Nauvoo Temple was being built, for various reasons, they had some challenges and delays in getting the statue of Moroni mounted on top of the temple. It was September of 2001 and one such delay was due to the 9/11 attacks, but there were other problems as well. They started having some concern over exactly when they could mount the statue. As they looked over the construction plans, they decided that a particular day would be the last chance they would have to mount the statue without too much trouble. Anything beyond that would present big challenges. That day came and the weather was not cooperating. It was stormy and very windy. The crane operator felt that it was unsafe to attempt to mount the statue with the wind blowing as strong as it was. Keith Stepan and some of the others on the project went off to a private spot and prayed for the Lord to temper the elements so that they could put Moroni in place that day. Soon afterwards, the wind died down and the clouds opened up just above the temple. They decided to go ahead. Just as the crane began lifting up Moroni, a column of light shot straight down from the sky directly onto Moroni. The statue was successfully installed. The date was September 22nd, and turned out to be a significant anniversary. It was September 22nd, 1827 that Joseph Smith received the golden plates from the Angel Moroni. Here is a photograph of the statue of Moroni being mounted on the temple in Nauvoo. Keith told me this story personally and gave me this picture.

"Failed" Experiments

Well I know to some extent what Missy means, but our situation is a little different there have been things coming up quite quickly that I am changing perception or direction with. For those of you who didn't know I have been teaching two high school math classes for the last 3 weeks and was thinking of doing alternative routes to getting a license like Ben did, but lets just say that isn't going to happen now. After 2 weeks I decided that I was going to retire early from teaching and go forward with school and other things. Also my current job is not going to benefit me as greatly if I don't work to get a license so I will probably start looking for a full time job that can get me benefits. It was actually something that my supervisor mentioned that I could do if I wanted to. It is interesting because my job here has definitely served a purpose and I am grateful that I had it to get us established here and now I don't feel too bad about going on to something else that might be more fitting and give me more benefits and such. So that is about where I am at and we are getting along alright, though Jane struggles being home alone sometimes with my nasty commuter schedule. We'll see what we can do though and we will be down in May. Love you all.

The Mind Changers

I was emailing Ben this morning and told him we have given ourselves a label as "The Mind Changers." Maybe it should be "The Can't Stick With One Decision People," or "Listen To The Right Choice The First Timers." Hopefully all this will make sense once you read on.

I have been having trouble with the decision to go back to school. The timing with everything is such a stumbling block. With a music major, the schedule is not very flexible. I have band every day of the week until 11:50, which was making it impossible to be home or pick up Carter when he is done with school.

I would also have to get my kids out of bed at 6:00 in the morning on Mondays and Wednesdays because I have an 8:00 class that isn't offered at any other time. This schedule would continue in the Spring semester of next year also. I feel like that would not be benefiting them, and that would mean me getting up at 5:00!

There would also be the time issue when marching and pep band starts. It's a requirement of everyone in the band to participate in marching band and pep band. With Ben gone during the week that would mean more time someone else would be watching my kids. Everyone has been so nice to volunteer their time, I just hate to see it happening more and more for something that doesn't have to happen.

Not to mention the practice time needed to be done at the school. I would have an assigned room and time to practice and if I didn't get it done there, I would have to do it at home, which may or may not happen on any given day. I want my kids to see me enjoy going to school, not to NOT see me because I'm not there enough.

So I can't stop thinking that the decision to go to school, albeit a good one, is not the right one. I want to go so badly! It's something I've always wanted and I loved when I attended before we moved to Vancouver, but things have changed. Ben is gone, we now have three kids to look after, and the timing just seems all wrong. But I HATE changing my mind like this. I worry about what everyone else will think. I worry that everyone will be rolling their eyes in the back of their heads and saying, "Well, that's just Missy." It's really not. This is not something I've done by the seat of my pants! It's been given thought and consideration and personal revelation, the latter of which I really didn't want to listen to. Thank goodness for Ben and his listening spirit. He told me to let go of my "inner Willard" (sorry, Dad) and listen to the spirit. I was supposed to teach the lesson this upcoming Sunday, but it's on The Holy Ghost and Ben really wanted to teach it. I told him I would swap him for our last Sunday in this ward, without looking at what the lesson was. Want to know what it was? Try Recognizing Personal Revelation. No kidding. Look it up on the website.

I just wanted to share this with all of you because I want to know what all of you think about it. My mom and Tonia and Jeanne have all been so willing to help out with the boys while I was getting my schedule ready for next year. Thank you so much! It helps me to hear what others have to say, whether it's what I want to hear or not. Thanks for reading my saga.

And to add more

I saw Tonia's and thought I better add mine. These are the Family pictures I took of Abe and Jane, and Lea and Joe. I also got the one of the other kids while the big kids were hiding the eggs.