Home again!

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK: 

             AUNT LINDA - WED. MARCH 13

        MELISSA BULLLINGER - SAT. MARCH 16  (10!)

        OSIRIS OLIPHANT - SAT. MARCH 16

Thought for this week:  "We parents need to begin early to prepare our children to have a strong, fervent testimony of the gospel. We must possess the faith, the courage, and the commitment that our pioneer forefathers had if we are to continue building up the kingdom of God on the earth."    —M. Russell Ballard, "Duties, Rewards, and Risks", Liahona and Ensign, November 1989

This reminded me of how much more effort is required of us on behalf of our children as we move forward in these tumultuous times.  One of the speakers today quoted the scripture, “Be still and know that I am God.” - And then said the distractions of the world CAN and WILL keep us from knowing God.  Hmmm.

Notes from San Diego:   Well - the new week is up to Wednesday now, so I will try to  make a few notes about the past few days.  Emily did come home on Sunday with Baby Rose and it was a wonderful homecoming.  Eli has been so very glad to have his mom and dad home again...constantly asks, “where are  you going (mom) dad?” just to make sure they are not leaving him again for something.  Over the past few days that insecurity has diminished and I think he is becoming pretty much his old self again.  He is quite in love with Baby Rose and very willing to help with her in any way:)!

Here is a picture of Rose taken Friday, March 6th: 


Monday was a day of “adjusting” - and for grandma to keep working on getting over the flu bug.  I think it was probably a 24 or 48 hour virus, pretty sure it was a flu of some kind based on some reading up about flu that I accomplished, and it certainly did hit me head on.  Today (Wednesday) I am feeling almost normal, except for the coughing spells and tiredness...both of which seem to be improving a little each day.

Sunday night was a little hard on Adam and Em as Rose adjusted to her new surroundings, but the last two nights seem to have gone quite well, with everyone getting a better sleep.  Today (Wednesday) was a very busy morning with a number of different people showing up to do a number of different things.  The weather today was warm and beautiful after a cool and cloudy yesterday - Emily sat out on the swing eating her lunch and watching Eli play...the backyard is very beautiful and they will certainly enjoy it in the coming years.

I have packed up all my things, am washing the sheets, blankets, towels, etc. that were mine and have the bedroom window open to bring lots of fresh healthy air in.  I am trying hard not to leave any germs behind, altho I think it was a virus, not “germs” that got me...   anyway, trying to leave everything as sanitary as possible.  I think Adam is going to take me to the airport in a couple of hours - haven’t actually heard the time yet, but I’m sure he will get me there.  

My plane doesn’t leave until 6:30, so will probably have a wait here.  There is a very short period between my arrival and take-off in Salt Lake City, so no wait there. Should arrive in Eugene just before 11 p.m.

Catching up...today is Sunday - the 10th of March.  After coming home Wednesday night - pretty tired - I stayed here Thursday morning to do some laundry and kind of get re-organized.  Then Dad came and got me at lunchtime and we went to the office.  Almost before I sat down there were things I needed to do, so I wasn’t feeling “useless” anymore:).  Was very tired that night but managed an almost-normal schedule the next morning and a full day Friday.  VERY tired though.  

We had to be in at the office early yesterday (Saturday) because a man was coming to install our new phone system and Dad was sort of in charge of that.  I worked on catching up some of the stuff I was behind on.  About six hours later we finally headed back home; guess I am still not fully recovered from my flu bout because I was inordinately tired - and promptly lay down for a nap.  When I got up a couple of hours later I took a shower; then we went to Bi-Mart for a few things, then got a couple of sandwiches at Arby’s and went over to the stake center for the Adult Stake Conference Session - which was incredibly good.  

Our mission president and his wife spoke and then were followed by Elder Paul Christionsen (not sure of the spelling of his name) - who was, according to my notes, “amazingly awesome!”  I do so much wish I had a video of his talk - but of course do not.  We went to the regular session today and he spoke again, and was good again.  He is an amazing disciple of the Lord; I only wish I could be so good.  He’s actually from Canada and I think is an “area seventy” - although I do not really understand all there is to know about that either. (More for me to learn!)  It was a blessing to be at those meetings.

Home again I took a nap (surprise) - and then sat down here on the couch to do a few things - such as this journal & the blog - only now we are having some excitement, of an unwanted nature.  Friday morning dad had called the management company about weird electrical things going on in our apartment; he had to leave a message.  Later in the day he called again because no one had called back; had to leave another message.  Once we were home, our next door neighbor (duplex) came over to ask if we’d been having electrical problems - which of course we had.  She had complained and they had had an electrician come out to her apartment on Friday, who checked everything out and said it was a problem for the electrical company, but that he was not allowed to call them, the management company would have to do that.  So, we both agreed to call them Monday again...until about 30 minutes ago, the lights dimmed a couple of times, then blacked out, then came on and there was a loud sizzling noise & kind of an explosion and then everything went off again.  A few seconds later the smell of burning electrical became overwhelming.  

Dad called the management company (of course no one is there and won’t be until after 9 a.m.); I called the electrical company - the man I talked with said it sounded like the ??? was going out and that the electrician should have called them on Friday.  Whatever it is called, it reduces the electricity from 240 volts to the 110 and as it starts to fail he said it can send 200 volts to one plug and 40 to another... which is apparently what happened, or something like that.  It completely blew the power strip behind the TV screen (that is where the smell seemed to be coming from).  He said someone would be coming right out - but we’re still waiting.  Hopefully they come soon...it is a little bit scary.

Love to all:)!