The Bear's Special Day

The long anticipated day finally came. The Bear turned 8 on January 3rd, which made him eligible to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Depending on the day and minute the Bear either was looking forward to it, or apprehensive about it.

DramaMama and I talked to him a lot about why we get baptized, and worked with him not to be worried or scared. He has been concerned about having to go all the way under the water.

One of the most special things about it for me is that I was able to be the one to baptize and confirm him.

When we arrived at the Kimball East Stake Center where the baptism was held, we both went and got changed into the white clothes you see us wearing in the picture. The Bear was feeling anxious, so we said a prayer together in the changing room. His feelings came and went, but when we were talking to our Bishop, The Bishop could tell that the Bear was a little stressed, so he and I went into a room in the Stake offices where we gave him a comfort blessing to help be calm.

DramaMama brought an activity book about baptism that helped keep him distracted. As this was a stake baptismal service, there were several other children being baptized today as well, several of which the Bear knew from church and school. That helped him relax a bit. For those unfamiliar with our church, I offer a few explanations: Our congregations are referred to as "wards", and several of these wards comprise a stake. So there were children from I think 8 different wards there today.

We all met in the chapel and had a short program, then the children from one ward at a time were dismissed to the Baptismal font room. Sometimes this was only one child, others a couple of them. Our ward was last, so we remained in the chapel where a video was presented about the Saviour. As it began, an elderly man in a suit was shown walking into a building, then overlooking the land of Jerusalem. As he turned around and faced the camera, I was immediately overcome with emotion, and basically lost it for several minutes. Who was the elderly gentleman? He was our former Prophet who passed away about a year ago. See my blog entry about it here.

Finally it was our turn to go into the room for the baptism. There was one other child from our ward there with us, and since she was a girl, the Bishop had them go first. The cool thing about this one was that the person baptizing her joined the church only a few years ago, and has since progressed and received the appropriate Priesthood authority to perform this sacred ordinance.

When they were finished, I took the Bear through the side door that gave us access to the font. He immediately became scared again. I stepped down into the font, but he stayed at the top and was crying. I went back up (3 steps) and gave him a long hug. The Bishop was standing right behind him offering soothing and comforting words.

Then we descended the stairs together and he was fine. We had practised several times so he knew what was going to happen. We got our hands and everything situated, and then I baptized him. He did get a little tense under the water, but he was fine after that. He kept saying things like, "I did it!", "and are you so proud of me?" Yes we were so proud of him. We knew that it was scary for him, but he did it anyway. He was a good little trooper.

He also commented that the water was a little cold. It was warm when the font was filled, but by the time it was our turn, it had cooled off a bit.

Then we went and changed back into our nice clothes. We apparently were taking too long, because a couple different people were dispatched to tell us to get a move on.

Once we were ready, we went back out, and I was able to confirm him a member of the church. This consists of a group of priesthood holders surrounding the newly baptized person, laying hands on their head (I placed my right hand on his head, then all of the others placed their right hand atop mine. Our left hands rested on the right shoulder of the person to our left), and the priesthood holder acting as voice does three things: 1) confirms them a member of the church, 2) directs them to receive the Holy Ghost, and 3) Pronounces a blessing as directed by the Spirit of the Lord.

This for me was a very sacred privilege. This was the third baptism I have performed, and the second confirmation. The first baptism was on my mission and was a young man that we taught. The second was my son James 7 years ago. I was also privileged to confirm him.

One of the most amazing things in all this is that the pronounced blessing is not planned out. Of course in the days leading up to the event, it is proper to ponder on what might be said, and sometimes inspiration comes then that will guide your blessing. As I pronounced the Bear's blessing today, I had thought about it some, but did not have any prepared text to say. I let the words come through inspiration, and many of the words I said, I hadn't even thought about. I was able to tell him some very special things, and at times was overcome with emotion. My dad stood to my right, and when I was choked up, he gently squeezed my shoulder.

By the end of the confirmation, I had tears running down my face, and as the group broke apart, I saw that many people in the room did too. I must tell you that the Bear is one special little kid, and I am privileged to be his dad.

Afterwards, I had a private moment with my dad in which both of us were teared up. He told me he was proud of me. That meant a lot. I told him that I learned from the best. And I did. My dad has been a shining example to me his whole life. I want to be like my dad. I only hope that someday the Bear will be able to say the same about me. I feel I have a long way to go to earn that.

We all went over to dad's house and had lunch. It was a very special day for all of us.

The Ward Party and The Latest on My Article

Last night we held our "Country Fair" party for our ward. We were in charge of it again, but this time DramaMama delegated a lot of the responsibilities to the different auxiliaries, and it was much easier.

Toward the end of setup before the party began, we had a minor trauma... we were about to fill the two 5 gallon jugs with ice water, when the water in the building turned off. A few phone calls, and some scrambling later, and once again the water came on and we were able to finish in plenty of time. The Bishop was outside working with the water shut-off, while on the cell phone to the Elder's Quorum President in the kitchen. Bishop fiddled with it until it came on.

Once we got going, the party pretty much ran itself. There was little maintenance needed other than keeping the food stocked. DrummerBoy and some of his friends provided the music for the evening, and they sounded fantastic. By the end of the night after having set up and taken down about 20 tables, and a hundred or so chairs, I felt like an old man. As part of the fair, we had displays for crafts, quilts, art, etc. I set up several of my drawings, a couple photos I took years ago, and the sheet music to 3 songs I wrote.

At one point, I stopped the Bishop and thanked him for helping get the water back on. As we were parting, he stopped me. "Brother Hanks, I got a call from Salt Lake."

"Uh-oh," I said, not knowing for sure where he was going with this.

He continued and told me that the call came from the editing department of the Ensign. He said the conversation went something like this:

"Do you know a Brother Hanks?"

"Yes I do."

"We just wanted to verify that he was in your ward, because we are preparing to publish his article in an upcoming issue."

...

Bishop said that it should be within 2 or 3 issues. When I received the original notification that they wanted to use my article, they said that there would need to be an editing process where they would edit my article, and sent it back to me for my revisions, etc until we came to an agreement of the final text. It does need an editing pass or two. Of all the things I have ever submitted, this one had the least polishing done to it. All in all it is pretty sound, but after re-reading it, I saw a few things I would change.

So there we are... it won't be long and I will finally be able to say that I have been published.


[UPDATE]
I received an email yesterday (12/3/08) with the edited copy, and a note stating that my article is slated for publication in the August 2009 issue.

I am going through the copy and doing some editing myself. I have until mid-January to get the revised version back to them.

A One Track Mind

The other day, DramaMama told me that as part of her quest to make us self-sufficient, she would like a wheat grinder that runs both on electricity and manually.

The Bear, nearby, piped up: "A Wii grinder? What does it do?"

It Was Worth It

This election was huge on several fronts. The presidential race of course was high on the list, but Arizona and California both had propositions on the ballot to protect the definition of marriage. (Arizona Prop 102 http://yesformarriage.com/ and California Prop 8).

I am happy to say that both passed. In Arizona, I was heavily involved in the mailing lists and phone lists for Prop 102, while in California, my oldest brother Keith who is a city councilman in Azusa worked hard on Prop 8. Here is a youtube video of him in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH_AWZ8mCwI

Although I spent long hours working on this, and many of them uncompensated, I find that it was all worth it to see that this important issue got the attention it needed to get passed.

It does my heart good to see people stand up for what is right, not for what is popular.

The Military Honor Night

Last night was the evening that DramaMama planned to honor servicemen from the past and present. This was inspired by a man from our ward (Brother Vincent) getting notice that he is going to be deployed to Afganistan. He will be leaving this Tuesday.

We have been gathering photos and stories from members of our ward, and I took 2 days and put together a video that showed the pictures and told their stories.

The night came off extremely well. DramaMama was stressed out of her mind worrying that it would be a failure, but as usual, she pulled off an amazing evening.

We had the old pictures set out on a table, and one of the men (Brother Boushley) brought some memorabilia from his days on a submarine. We had posters from the different branches of the military. My favorite had an aircraft carrier on it with the words "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of anyone that threatens it."

We had the Boy Scouts do a flag ceremony and the Pledge of Allegiance. Then a young girl, whose father served in the Navy, sang The Star Spangled Banner. Then we had the dinner which consisted of fried chicken, baked beans, potato salad, and rolls. After dinner, we had another musical number by three young girls. They sang God Bless the USA. Then we had a man from the ward who had served in the British armed forces speak about patriotism. THen we showed the video.

The video started out with a sign reading "The Brimhall Ward honors those who have served and are serving in the armed services."

Following that, we had this quote from Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address:

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."


Then we went through the photos. The ending was rather poignant. Erica chose 3 songs: He's a Hero, Where Stars and Stripes and Eagles Fly, and American Soldier by Toby Keith. At the end, we had all of the pictures that Brother Vincent had given us. One of which was of him kneeling at a grave with his head bowed. It was a touching image. He also supplied a poster of a kneeling soldier with a message and a scripture. I made a transition between his picture and the poster. With the words of American Soldier over this, it was hard to hold back the emotion.

After the poster, the music faded out, and another sign appeared:

"Please join with us in a moment of silence to honor those who fought bravely and gave their lives to ensure our freedom." After that it ended with "Thank you from the members of the Brimhall Ward."

Once the lights came up, we could see that several people were wiping tears. Everyone stood up and applauded. Not for the video, but for those present who were in it. It was all very touching. Many people came up to me later, with looks on their faces that I had never seen before. They were truly grateful to be honored like that. They thanked me over and over for doing the video. Many people asked for a copy. I discovered that I made a couple errors, so I need to patch it up, then I will make copies for everyone. I will try to put up a link to it once we get it fixed up a bit. After it was over, several people in attendance let us know that they also had served. We didn't know. So after we get them in, fluff up some of the stories, add more pictures, etc.

It was rather sobering making the video, and seeing all of the people who served, some of whom died. We heard some neat stories. Brother Boushley told us that his sub had the distinction of firing the first guided missle launched from a sub. Another one was of a linguist who listened in on Russian conversations in Cuba, who accidentally pushed a wrong button and shutdown a major operation. It went clear back up to the Joint Chiefs. One man served in Patton's 3rd Army, another served as a personal aide to the Joint Chief of Staff of the Army.

My favorite of the stories though was of a group of 6 brothers that all served in World War 2. Before each of them left, their father laid his hands on their head and gave them a father's blessing. All 6 of the brothers returned home unharmed. I will admit that when DramaMama told me that one over the phone that it choked me up good.

It was a fantastic evening, and DramaMama did herself proud. Today at church, several people mentioned it. Good job honey.

Time is an Enigma - the James Saga

Once a year, my son James comes to visit for a month in the summer. All too soon, I find myself back in the airport with him watching him fly away back home.

This year was no exception. July simply vanished. Granted, we did manage more one-on-one time than previous years, but still...

I did some figuring the other day. The actual amount of time that I have had James with me is still less than 3 years, and he is now 14.

This time, he told us that he wished he could stay here with us for 6 months, then stay 6 months with his mom. I wish that too, but it is very unlikely that this will ever happen.

Over a month ago, I filled out paperwork to have this past week off of work so that all-told, I would be able to spend 9 days with him before he left. 2 weeks before my time off, I scheduled a day for the Bear's surgery. That was cancelled but I tool the day anyway to spend with James. Half-way through the day, I got a call from my boss asking why I wasn't at work. I told him that I put in for that day a month earlier. I asked if he was aware of my week off... no, he wasn't.

They held a meeting at work with the full sales team to see what projects were coming so they could figure out if I could have my days. That was on Monday, and they decided in there, that I could have Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and then the next Monday and Tuesday. Well, okay... still 5 days, but not surround by weekends for the full 9.

It played out that I still ended up going in on Wednesday and Thursday. I managed Friday off, but had to go in for half the day on Monday. Tuesday they left me alone. So out of the original 9 days planned, I only got 4, and 2 of those were the weekend. I was/am pretty bugged about that. Also, the main reason they said I need to be there for Wednesday through Friday never happened.

Friday night, we went to Broadway Palm with him and the Bear, then very early Saturday, I drove him to the airport to see him off. I really hate that part. When he was 2 and I would leave him and fly away, I would often fight back emotion. Now watching him fly away, it isn't a whole lot easier. WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?

Money issues on this trip kiboshed several things I had planned to do. Our transmission on the van croaked on July 4th. It is finally fixed, and now we have to wait for payday before we can go get it. We did have a coupon for "Real Bowling" as the Bear calls it (Not Wii bowling). We only had to pay for shoes.

While James was here, I transcribed a few of the songs I wrote years ago. One of them was the song I wrote for his mom and played for her at our reception. Another was the one I wrote for DramaMama and played at OUR reception. He set about learning those and some other songs that I have played over the years. He is really quite talented. He drew a picture of the Bear as a baby that was pretty impressive.

Delta threw us a curve-ball on James' flight down here. Because he was under 15, they charged his mom $100. Southwest let him fly alone after he was 12. So to circumvent this stupid fee that we couldn't afford, we celebrated James' 15th birthday a bit early. I take full credit for the lie to Delta Airlines, I have already confessed to God, I have accepted my punishment of 40 lashes with a wet noodle. I figure since James has been travbelling alone on Southwest since he was 12, he didn't need a baby-sitter. The $100 fee would have been a big waste of money.

Tootin' Me Own Horn

DramaMama and I are the chairpeople for our ward activities committee. In August we are going to have an evening to honor people in our ward that have served in the military. DramaMama asked me to design an invitation that we can hand out before our Sacrament Meeting. I grabbed a few photos dealing with the military and put together the invite. I think it turned out pretty good, so I thought I'd put it on here so all three of my readers could see it.

My good news

You may recall a year ago my post about my long lost Bible: (http://cheezweezil.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html titled "A Long Lost Treasure")

Back then I got a couple comments, one from a member of my writing group, and another from my wifes' brother's wife. Both mentioned the possibility of a story, and one suggested a submission to a church periodical.

I let that stew for awhile, then I wrote it up in articvle form and submited it to The Ensign via their online submission process.

A few months passed and I figured thay passed it over.

Last Saturday we watched President Hinckley's funeral, then got aa nice surprise right after it.

Here is the email I sent out to family and friends about that experience:

***
Today was rather emotional mainly due to the funeral of President Hinckley. (For those of you who don't know who he his, see my blog: http://cheezweezil.blogspot.com).

Shortly after the funeral was over, I thumbed through today's mail and saw a letter from the Church's Magazine Department. I thought it was probably an invoice to renew our subscriptions, so I casually set it aside. Erica made the comment that maybe it was something to do with the article I submitted several months ago. So I opened it and read the following opening line:"Dear Author: We are pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been accepted for possible publication in the Ensign."

Thats as far as I got before I was overcome again. It was very welcome news, and it means a lot to me. I have put a lot of energy into writing over last few years, and it is great to see something coming of it.

I thought you all might like to share in my little bit of happy today.
***

They indicated that there will be an editing process that we will go through until we agree upon the final text. Then actual publication could be months or years depending on their editorial needs.

I am very excited about this, but the biggest reason may not be the one you think. The publishing credit will be very nice, but what I am most excited about is that people all over the world will have the chance to read my neat little story. People high up in our church will read it, my family will read it, my friends and people in our local church will read it.

This is all very cool.

A sad day

Last night we received a call from DramaMama's parents informing us that President Gordon B. Hinckley, the Prophet had died.

We are deeply saddened by this, but know that he is with his dear wife, many of his colleagues who passed before him, and with his greatest friend the Saviour.

President Hinckley devoted his entire life to the service of the Lord, and was instrumental in many of the advancements made by the church throughout the years. He introduced multimedia to the churches offerings, he more than doubled the number of temples worldwide, and was beloved throughout the world, even by those not of our faith. He was a true man of God, and served the Lord and the church faithfully.

He always delivered wonderful talks, sprinkled appropriately with his special brand of humor. We will miss him greatly.

Gotta Love a Positive Attitude

Today at church inbetween meetings, I had to run home to grab a couple things I had forgotten. When I returned and was walking back up to the building, the door opened and the nursery class (18 months to 3 years) came toodling out. They always have a rope with loops in it for the kids to hold on to. I imagine they were coming outside to get a little sun or something.

There is a man in the ward who today received the call to be a worker in that class. As we passed each other, he grinned and said, "Life is good, dude!"

AWWWW GEEEZZ!!!

Tagged again!


Okay here goes:

The rules:Post the rules before giving the facts. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves - People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their eight things and post these rules - At the end of the your blog you need to tag (hopefully) six people and list their names - Leave them a comment on their blog, telling them they have been tagged and not to forget to read your blog.

Here are my meaningless random acts of drivel:

1) When I was 7, it was time to go to Primary, (a church class for kids, that at that time was held on Wednesday evenings), and I didn't want to go. I defiantly told my mom that I would rather live in a pig pen than go to Primary. Guess where I spent Primary? In the closest thing we had to a pig pen. In our dog run that was conveniently decorated with poop at one end. I went to Primary after that.

2) I have always been a good speller. In high school, I took a 400 word spelling test and only missed three words. One word had a hypen, one was a capilization, and the other I simply left out a couple of letters.

3) I have always loved writing. I recall one of my earliest works in first grade. I described clouds as thick as peanut butter. Throughout the years, I wrote several goofy stories. I was in college before I really started taking it seriously. I took a couple of writing courses, which dramatically improved my writing skills. I also took a correspondence course from the Institute for Childrens Literature. I am currently querying my first novel "Black, White, and Shades of Gray". I also just submitted an article to "The Ensign" which is a church magazine. The article was about my Bible that I posted about a few months back.

4) I have also always enjoyed music. Either playing it or listening to it. Over the years I have played several different instruments. My first of course being piano. I took up trumpet in Jr. High, then added bass guitar in 9th grade. Later when I was 17 or 18, I started tinkering with guitar, and eventually took on classical guitar. The trumpet is now in the hands of some under-privileged kid in Tahiti, my ex-wifes brother hawked my bass amp at a pawn shop, the bass which never was used much after that, eventually found it's way to Deseret Industries. I still have my piano, keyboard and classical guitar, though none of them get nearly the attention they used to. I have also written several songs.

5) I spent most of my childhood with people calling me by my older brother's names. Even my grandma did it. Except in her case, I got all of them: "Keithy, Kenny, Mikey, DAVY!" One day I told my mom that I wanted to trade names with my brother Mike. I got called that frequently enough, that it would have made sense. She didn't go for it though. At least they had sense enough not to call my by my sister's names!

6) I don't drink, I dont smoke, what do I do?

7) I have my own side business where I sell lots of varied things on the internet. I program the websites in PHP, and even built my own shopping cart system. I have been a programmer since 1988 using a variety of languages. I started with BASIC, used Pascal in college, actually worked at a job using C, then took up Foxpro with version 1, which eventually was bought out by Microsoft. I currently use Visual Foxpro on pretty much a daily basis. On the web I use PHP, Javascript, MySQL, HTML. I have written some rather sophisticated online systems for clients at work.

8) I met my wife when I was 36. We each had a son, then together we had the Bear. Hers, Mine, and Ours. We live in Mesa, AZ, where we just broke the record for the most consecutive days of over 110 degree weather. It's hot! Dang Hot! Frickin' Hot! They finally fixed the AC at work though, so that makes working much more pleasant.


I'M NOT TAGGING ANYONE, SO THERE!

The Seer of Sesame Street

A few days ago, the Bear gave a talk in Primary on Faith. He is still learning to read, so I was whispering in his ear and he would then repeat it out loud.

We were going along fine, with the Bear mimicking my every voice inflection, when we came to the line: "The prophet Alma taught..." I whispered that in his ear.

The Bear proceeded. "The prophet ELMO taught".

It took me a bit before I could continue.

Blubbering Over Ham and Cheese - The Novel

Have you ever opened the fridge, pulled open the drawer that holds that ham and cheese, then become overcome with emotion? It just happened to me.

No, I wasn't euphoric over the fact that I was going to have a nice sandwich, and no, there wasn't a thousand dollar bill poking out of the cheese.

It had to do with my son, and our time together after work yesterday. I came home, and wrangled up some grub which consisted of DramaMama's fabulous Russian Shepherd's Pot Pie* and a couple ham and cheese sandwiches.

This morning very early, I drove my son to the airport for him to return to his home in Utah. This concluded his once a year-30 day visit. These visits seem to last a wink, and it always seems so unfair when he has to go back. We were both a bit misty when he was leaving.

I recently made a change in my "happy pill" medication, and the transition has been a little scary and unpleasant. As I came down from the one that was only sort of working, it soon became evident why I wasn't feeling good. I had an unbelievable amount of pent up stress and and emotion that the medication basically had put a lid on and sealed it tight. As the effects of the not-so-happy happy pills wore off, I began feeling what I can only describe as rage. For those familiar with the Harry Potter movies, think of the moving picture wanted poster of Sirius Black. When he looks forward and screams... That's what I felt like. I wanted to scream, hit, break, cuss, yell, throw, and basically explode. To DramaMama, it was both scary and comical.

I released some of that by acting on it in a relatively harmless way. We were both in our room and I was telling her how I was feeling. There was an empty box on the floor, and I used it as an outlet. First I punched it, and put my hand through it, then I punched and punched, then ripped it to pieces. That's where DramaMama thought it was comical, watching me rip up a box. She got a raspberry for that one. I am happy to report that none of this aggression was taken out on anyone or anything but that poor hapless box. I have been a bit grouchy through this though.

I am still waiting for the new meds to take hold. In the meantime, I have been on a bit of a rollercoaster ride of emotions. That rampage happened before church. I was still pretty hot through the main service. We go through a 3 hour block which consists of 3 meetings. That day I was to teach a lesson during the 3rd meeting, and I was nowhere near the right frame of mind or spiritual deportment to do so.

The second meeting was Sunday School, and I just couldn't go in there. I sat on the couch in the lobby. I brought along something to "center" me, which was my MP3 player. I don't bring things like that to church... this was a one-shot deal, because I knew I had to get a grip before my lesson. I put on my New Age genre songs, reviewed my lesson, and soon came down from the rage. I felt like there was a ceiling inside my head blocking the spirit, and I prayed and asked for help. Between the music David Lanz and Suzanne Ciani, and reviewing the material of my lesson, the spirit was finally able to break through. The result was a release of pent up emotion. I was sitting there, and half the ward walked by and said hello. I was doing my best to hold it all in so I wasn't bawling in the lobby.

My lesson was for Priesthood Meeting, and one of the people that came and talked to me was the Elder's Quorum President. He asked about my upcoming lesson, and I said I was ready. He could tell there was something wrong, and asked if I was alright to which I replied I wasn't.

That of course made it even harder to hold in. He had his little baby boy there with him, so I took him and held him for a few minutes, and made faces and stuff to make him laugh which was also to help me cheer up. The EQP offered to take the lesson for me, but I was determined to do it myself, and not wimp out on it. I turned him down.

By the time the third meeting was to begin, I had managed to center myself, and headed off to the opening exercises. (A prayer, announcements and a hymn). Then I did my lesson which was on integrity. We talked about a lot of the little things in life that eat away at our integrity. I used examples of Peter, who told those who wanted to kill him "We should obey God rather than men." We talked of Daniel who rather than pray to a thing, defied the king's edict and openly prayed to God. We talked of Shadrac, Meshac and Abednego, who similarly refused to worship an idol, and told the king in no uncertain terms that they would not do it. They were tossed into a furnace that had been stoked to seven times its normal temperature, and it was so hot that those stoking the fire died. Both Daniel and the those three men were saved by divine providence. The Lord shut the mouths of the lions, and personally stood with Shadrac, Meshac and Abednego in the fiery furnace from which they were delivered without harm. The lesson was one of the best I have ever given, because there was a lot of participation from the group.

I am still up and down and am really looking forward to the newer meds getting properly built up. I have noticed a difference in how my head feels though. Before it always felt like my head was full of cotton, and I just couldn't deal with stuff because I always felt like nothing else could fit in my head. Now that has diminished, and I find myself getting into things that have been dormant for a long long time. I started playing the piano again, I have done more writing, I find it easier to do stuff like take out the trash, laundry, dishes, etc. I feel that there is a ways to go still, and possibly an increase in the dosage, but on the whole I think the trend is good.

Believe it or not, I see the rage/meltdown yo-yo thing as a positive. What I feel like, is that instead of helping me deal with these things, the old meds were merely masking their effects, and I was not releasing anything. With that out of my system, it finally unlocked the cage and let out a "Freddy Kruger breaks the Hoover Dam" kind of thing.

I took the day off from work yesterday to spend the last day with James before he had to leave. We played games, went to see a movie, and just spent time together which was very nice.

DramaMama and the other two boys are visiting DramaMama's parents in New Mexico for a couple days, so now I am home alone again. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

I was intending to do a little writing this evening on my book, but it appears I have spent that time writing this post... oh well. I did at least upload the stuff I wrote at lunch today.



* What the...??? Her creation was described as a combination of Chicken Kiev, Shepherd's Pie and Chicken Pot Pie... I gave it the name above

This Easter Please Remember:

He Is Not Here

He Is Risen!

A Long Lost Treasure

Sunday, as I sat between meetings, a friend of mine stepped up to me and mentioned that my scriptures were in the lost and found. I quickly looked to my side, and saw that my lovely new scriptures that I had received as a Christmas present from DramaMama were right where they should be.

I tried to think about any other of my scripture sets that could possibly be there. My previous set I knew was sitting in a basket to the side of our poofy chair in our front room.

I was stymied. My friend asked what my middle initial was, and I told him it was "R".

"Yeah, that's what it said. I'll go get it for you."

He returned a moment later and handed me an old Bible with a black zipper cover that I immediatley recognized.

The meeting began at that moment, so I mouthed "Wow!" to him. Right there on the front was my name in gold letters. I struggled with the old zipper and was finally able to get it opened. It fell open to the first page, where I recognized my father's handwriting in a note he had written to me over thirty years before.

I was holding the Bible that my parents gave me for my 12th birthday.

I was completely flabbergasted and bewildered as to how this book could have found its way to where it was. When I last saw this book, I lived in Utah, and I would have been 19.

I left on my mission then with my scriptures I had used in Seminary. I have no recollection of donating my old Bible to the church. DramaMama suggested that perhaps while I was on my mission that my parents might have done it.

Inside the front cover, a woman had written her name, address, and phone, and a note "This book belongs to:".

I looked again at the gold letters on the front, and could see that an attempt had been made to scribble my name out.

Now considering that I lived in Utah, and that it was most likely donated to the Ward library there, I found that the odds of my old Bible finding its way to Arizona, to my very church building, and accidentally being left behind, and brought to the lost and found there, are staggering.

I am considering calling the woman whose name is in the front to see if I can get some info on its journey here. I would gladly buy her a brand new set to replace this. I really don't want to let it go again.

I flipped through it and saw all the scriptures I had marked, several notes I had written in margins and in the lined pages in the middle. The handwriting style was decidedly teenage boy.

I found it interesting that the black zipper cover was still on it after all this time. I would have thought the woman would have disposed of that right away.

So, 30 years later, I once again received the gift of my very first Bible.

2006 on a Ritz - Our Christmas Letter

This year the letter duty has fallen to me. Our normal pattern is to comfortably wait until after Christmas then send an email. So please note that this was at least typed before Christmas this year. Whether or not you are reading it before Christmas is another thing. This has been an interesting year with several milestones and a few kidney stones. I suppose we’ll start out with me as I am the one writing this:

Dave
I am still working as a programmer/web designer/printing setup guy/database guru/video guy/audio guy/a lotta other stuff guy. I have had my hands in many varied projects which has forced/allowed me to expand my skill-base and knowledge of my industry.

My business is still running under Dad’s capable hands. He has really earned his dollar this year. I developed our own shopping cart system which will allow us to customize the heck out of it. This not only saves us money, but gives us a lot more flexibility with our promotions.

I have been writing a lot, focusing my time on two different books. One of them has been completed in first draft, and is currently undergoing a rather sweeping revision. I have had a few test readers, all of which loved it. I have a goal to finish this draft in the coming month, then do another revision to smooth it out and expand it further. As it sits now, it tells the complete story, but it is about half as long as it should be to hold its own as a novel. My second book, which I think is even better, is around 2/3 of the way done in first draft.

I have been sick for the bulk of the last 3 months. I started out with a very nasty case of Bronchitis which left me with a dry hacky cough. I went back to the doctor for that, and was told that it was just part of the recovery. Two months went by with nightly coughing fits. I finally went back in and had a chest x-ray done, and was told I have pneumonia. They also said that I have an enlarged heart. I am still waiting for my doctor to hook me up with the cardiologist.

Erica
Erica has been the queen of everything this year. She started her own scrapbooking business which works a lot like a tupperware party, but more fun. She invites the women-folk from my family, and a few others sprinkled in. Erica demonstrates the latest nifty gee-whizzies, everyone oohs and ahhhs, and then buys stuff.

Several people have come to her in a panic, wanting to do a scrapbook for Christmas, but feeling overwhelmed. Erica stepped right in and either helped them, or did the work herself.

The ward has made good use of her as well. She has been working very hard in the Relief Society in the Enrichment committee until she was released recently. This demanded a lot of her time and energy. She is also a weekly episode for the nursery and sharing time crowds. In sharing time she is “Sister Spotlight”. She dons an apron with colored spots on it, takes a flashlight, and does a spotlight on one of the kids. She is a hit. She also is the singing lady for the nursery kids. She has immortalized the “Slippery Fish” song.

I know that she is overwhelmed most of the time with her many activities and pressures. I want all of you to know that she is a wonderful wife and mother who we all love very much, even though our housekeeping skills don’t show it. She puts up with a lot and gives of herself almost to her bounds. She is a friend to everyone, and everyone loves her.

Clinton
Clinton has been banging on the drums about 80% of the year. He has been in Marching band, Concert Band, Drumline, district band, and several other things. He is very impressive, and is a standout in his various groups.

He turned 16 this year which means the onset of many things. He earned his drivers license, went on his first date, and started high school. As always, he gets excellent grades. He took the PSAT and his results showed that if this had been the SAT, he would have scored 1600 on it. A quick Google on colleges/universities that would accept him with that mark showed that he could pretty much name his school.

He and I have enjoyed trying our own mini versions of some of the Mythbusters tests. I am happy to say that much fun was had with no injuries.

James
James began Jr. High this year and has also taken up the drums. This makes the third instrument he has attempted. He has taken piano lessons for several years, and has been learning guitar.

We enjoyed a month in the summer and short visit for Thanksgiving with him this year. We plan to see him after Christmas as well.

James will turn 13 in February. He is a great kid, and we miss him very much. Kayden talks about “Jamesie” all the time, and even sleeps on his bed.

Kayden
Kayden started Elementary school this year. So if you are keeping track, we had a child start high school, one start Jr. High, and one start elementary school. Kayden is a fun-loving boy who loves everyone, and they love him back.

This year some progress has been made on his conditions, but still no diagnoses. He has been wearing leg braces for quite awhile. We call them his “legs”. These help keep his foot flat to the ground and prevent him from walking on his toes. He also underwent surgery recently for a muscle biopsy that will hopefully shed some light on the problems. He just had a botox injection each of his calf muscles with the intent of paralyzing the muscle that makes him walk on his toes.

As always, he is a little computer buff, always wanting to play a game with me. His “Moo” can be heard throughout the day as he plays various games.

Kayden is a sweet little guy, and we love him to pieces. He won’t eat anything though. It is a battle every evening to get him to eat. If he had his druthers, he’d have a gallon of root beer and candy.

We got to be bell ringers for the Salvation Army a few weeks ago, so I put Kayden on my shoulders doing our version of Bob Cratchet and Tiny Tim. We also let him stand by the pail by himself ringing the bell. He got lots of smiles and donations.

Overall things have seemed hectic, but we are all alive, and we even smile sometimes.

We hope that you had a wonderful Christmas, and take some time to reflect on the things that matter most. It isn’t about the presents, it isn’t about the decorations. It is about a baby born in less than ideal conditions that grew to change the world and eternity for all of us. God bless us every one.

Dave (CheezWeezil), Erica (DramaMama), Clinton(The Large Drummer Boy), James (The Bug/Smaller Drummer Boy), and Kayden (The Bear).

Ding Dong

Today, DramaMama, the Bear and I were bell ringers for the Salvation Army at a local Wal-Mart.

It was kind of fun actuall, even though the Bear kept cloking me in the head with the bell. (He was sitting on my shoulders.)

We had a sort of Christmas Carol theme going. The Bear was on my shoulders wearing his leg braces playing the part of Tiny Tim, while I wore my t-Shirt that reads "I've got your 'Bah Humbug' Right Here!"

At one point, we put the apron on the Bear, and set him out there ringing the bell by himself. We were of course only feet away. He got a lot of smiles and donations.

Tomorrow, DramaMama and I will be working a Christmas Tree lot as a fundraiser for our band boosters.

I am Troubled

Today something happened that made me want to kick myself around town for a few hours. The Bear and I went to Wal-Mart today, and passed a couple of older women, one of whom was using a walking cane in each hand, and seemed to be having difficulty walking.

I was thinking that maybe I should help her, and then get her into one of the electric cart deals. I didn't and moved past her.

I was half way between the front door and the entrance doors into the store when I heard "Oh my God!"

I turned to see the woman with the canes face down on the ground, blood all over her hands, face, and the ground. She was struggling to get up, but a young man jumped in and took control of the situation and got her seated in a chair. A young woman jumped in as well, caring for the other woman who was rather distraught. She was hugging her and comforting her.

I hollered to one of the employees to call for paramedics. I tried to get in closer to help too, but there were a lot of people, and the Wal-Mart crew was shooing people away.

A fire truck pulled up a few minutes later, and they took care of her. She was able to walk after they were done patching up the rather ugly wound on her forehead.

I felt horrible. I could have helped her before this happened, and could probably have prevented it from happening.

How hard really would it have been for me to take a couple minutes out of my life to make sure a struggling elderly woman made it safely into Wal-Mart?

I felt the need to applaud the young man and the young woman who didn't think twice about helping her.

So the moral of this story is: If you see an opportunity to help somebody... FRICKIN' DO IT!

Really lame party games

Last evening, I played baby-sitter at the church while the women-folk had a craft evening hosted by DramaMama. One of the kids was a girl the Bear's age and she wanted to play games. This was fine except that there were only 3 kids in the room.

"Let's play 'Duck Duck, Goose'"

So they sat down on little squares of carpet and set to playing. The goose went around the "circle" tapping imaginary heads and saying duck with each one. Then one of the actual participants would get tagged as the goose and a very odd chase would ensue. They would run around the circle, neither one really fleeing, and the other not really pursuing. Then the other would try it. That got old quick with only 2 choices for the goose.

Next came hide and seek. Please recall with me that we were at the church. Not a whole lot of hiding places in the 10 x 20 room we had been confined to. We opened the side door to the very small classroom (8 x 10) to the side. Nothing but a small table and a couple of chairs in there.

So anyway, the aforementioned girl counted to 40 while the others ran into the small room to hide. I peeked while the count was going on. What I saw was most amusing. The Bear and the younger sister of the one counting were "hiding" using the 2 chairs. Both of them had their heads beneath a chair, and the rest of them was protruding out into the room in plain sight.

Trunk-or-Treat

This evening we attended the annual "Trunk-or-Treat". What's that you ask? In our church, to help promote safe Halloween candy gathering, a night is set aside where all the families gather in the parking lot of the church with decorated car trunks. The cars are parked side by side to make "trunk-or-treating" move quickly. Our car was themed after Hitchcock's "The Birds"... It had bird crap all over it. They also have a few games and dinner.

DramaMama made the "Ghost Chili" from the recipe on Domestic Goddess's blog. It is most excellent.

As tonight was also Drummer Boy's first official date (Homecoming), DramaMama was the one in charge of decorating him in his tux, and getting the "before" shots. She missed most of the Trunk-or-Treat, but did arrive in time to chat with several friends.

I was in charge of the Bear and his friend from school. The Bear was Batman, and his friend was Spider Man. They met up with another friend of the Bear's who was Superman. DramaMama got a picture of the three of them. It may show up here (or on her blog) later.

The first order of business was the dinner which consisted of about 20 selections of chili, and 3 or 4 selections of cornbread. I of course had the ghost chili. I was helping the boys get their food, and carrying their treat buckets. I wasn't paying attention to the level of my own bowl, and accidentally "ghosted" Spiderman's mask and gloves which were in his purple pumpkin candy bucket.

The Bear had a bucket that was Elmo's head. So Batman is gathering candy in an Elmo bucket. Interesting. "Elmo loves the caped crusader!"

With all of the political stuff going on, I was called into work today. I have a great t-shirt for such occasions. It reads: "Let me drop everything and work on your problem." I am so tired, both physically and mentally. This shirt expresses my feelings perfectly. I decided that it would serve well as my costume for this evening as well. I went as an over-worked computer guy.

One of the activities there was a dunk tank. The Bear really enjoyed that. He even hit the target and dunked the guy.

So, even though this has been a horrendous week on pretty much all fronts, I had an enjoyable time this evening.