Mission Call

It took a month, but it finally came!! Sam's mission call is here.  It arrived while he was gone on a 5 day trip to Helena Montana to see his girlfriend Hannah Christian over Valentine's Day.  We had to wait until he came home so he could open it, but it was sooo hard to wait.  Then once he arrived home he had to get every one he knew on skype and google plus so they, too, could witness the opening of the letter.

He will be serving in the Indianapolis, Indiana mission for 2 years.  He reports to the MTC (missionary training center) in Provo, UT on April 10, 2013.  It seems so soon!  He has a lot to do in the next month to be ready in time. We are so excited for Sam- he will make an outstanding missionary.

Beautiful Betty's Memoirs of the Wild Whites!!

Last week I went to Southern California (Dana Point) to spend some time with my cousin Betty Anderson.  While I was in Hawaii with Kris & Karen, (Betty's twin daughters) Karen mentioned that she was headed to So. Cal. to spend some time with her mom and I thought a mini-reunion might be in order.

 

I had a great time!  We spent most of it reminiscing about loved ones living and gone and going thru albums of photos that Betty has with pictures dating back to the l920's. Betty was the first (and only) child of the oldest sibling in my mother's family and I was the last child of the youngest of the 6 siblings so there is 28 years between us. Even though she was my mothers niece, there was only a 10 year age difference between the two, so Betty and my mom's relationship was more sisterly, than aunt and niece. It also puts her children and me closer in age and we grew up together.

 

Betty has been very diligent about recording her memoirs. I was able to photocopy all of her writings while I was there and the reading is so fascinating! All these middle aged stodgy adults that I remember as reserved, hard working aunts and uncles and extended family, she remembers as hard drinking, wild partying, poker playing, horse betting, tavern owning fun people!! Needless to say, I am getting an entirely different view of my mother and her siblings than I ever had before.

 

Betty Jeanne Krug/Anderson has always been the most gorgeous creature- and she still is!!  She has the most beautiful eyes and smile that time will never fade. I grew up thinking she looked just like Marilyn Monroe. She has always been an inspiration to me. She is very intelligent, athletic, adventerous, and artistic with an incredible sense of style.  She is also the most upbeat, happy, engaging, compassionate, animal loving person I have ever known. I have always admired her independence thrughout her life. She has lived everywhere from Mexico to Africa, and has traveled most places in between from the Galapagos islands to Alaska. She has raised three amazing children, frequently on her own as her husband Dave spent multiple tours away from home in the Marine Corp, including two in Viet Nam.

 

 

There are so many things about Betty that resonate so deeply within me:  the priority that her children have always been in her life, her  abiding love for animals, the deep connection she has with the sea and the sand, as well as her love for snow, the mountains and skiing. We both had mothers that we were closely connected with, even if those mothers were embarassing or annoying at times.  We both found the love of our lives later than the norm and had our children when we were older- both of us having our first child at 33 and our last at 40.

My oldest child, Rachel Elizabeth, was given her middle name because of my love and respect for Betty.  The name Rachel is after my and Betty's grandmother, Rachel Evelyn Dean Major White.  I wish we all lived closer together so that my children could have the priviledge to know and love Betty as I do.

 

Hearts All Aflutter

 

Valentine's Day was filled with chocolate and romantic movies, very entertaining but not so good for the waistline.  I have so much fun decorating for the holidays. Last summer I bought some antique chairs at a garage sale for $10 each, which I proceeded to tear the seat off of, paint and put a pot where the seat used to be and planted flowers. It now sits near my entry where I change the plantings and decorations to coincide with each holiday.  I have collected 6 chairs now, and have refinished 4 so far.  I hope to sell these along with some other garden art that I have been creating.  Let me share my chairs with you.

 

Here you see the chair after I had stripped it of its seat, sanded and repainted, followed by my autumn and christmas decorations (I know the nutcracker is a little hard to see in this picutre, but he was really cute).  I already have my supplies to for a St Paddy's day chair (If only I can find some Belles of Ireland!) and an Easter chair.  Then the summer planting will be easy and last until it is time to replicate fall. I am having so much fun with this and it is a great creative outlet for me.

Our Son Sam

 

 

Saharat Uthaichai, better known as Sam has been a member of our household since he showed up at our front door a few days before Christmas, 3 Decembers ago. He was born in Thailand, immigrated to Sweden at age 6, then to the US at age 12. He was one of Jared's high school friends who was often at our house for XBOX parties.  He lived with his aunt 4 doors down the street. When he and his aunt had a falling out midway during his junior year and he was kicked out, he showed up here and has been here ever since.  We consider it a blessing to have him as part of our family.

 

Sam is a personable, outgoing young man that makes friends easily. Since he has lived with us, he has joined our church (Mormon), gone to college at BYU Idaho, and has sent in his application to go on a 2 year mission for our church.  We are anxiously waiting to hear where he will be assigned.  He has worked hard, having as many as 4 jobs at once to pay his own way through college and now his mission expenses.

 

An extremely bright young man, he is fluent in 3 languages and semi-fluent in spanish.  The Lord will be able to use this boy to great advantage in the mission field. We know that he will touch hearts where ever he goes- as he has certainly touched ours.

Families Are Forever

My very favorite part of our trip to Kona was getting to reconnect with my twin cousins Kris and Karen Anderson. I hadn't seen Kris for 17 years, when Chuck and I had last visited Kona.  I had seen Karen at my Mom's funeral 8 years ago.
Kris' twin sons were infants when I last saw them, now they are seniors in high school- unbelievable! 

The most amazing thing was to get together with them and it feel as if no time had past at all, our conversations just flowed- no awkwardness at all. Family is remarkable, they know your history, your baggage, your shortcomings, but love you inspite of it all.

Kris, me, Chuck, Christopher and Karen

I got to spend quality time with each cousin individually.  As kids growing up, it was always the twins together as a unit, so getting to know them as individuals this time was a new experience. 

 Getting to know Kris as a mom, and spending some time with her and her sons Christopher and Kyle was a joy.  The boys are very accomplished and involved in lots of extra-curricular activities at school. Their major focus right know is the robotics team they are on as they are gearing up for a major competition occuring in a couple of weeks. Kris and I met the boys after school in the lab and they demonstrated their robot's capabilities for us. Kris has been a single mother for several years now and has made a wonderful life for herself and her family. Her boys are two young men to be truly proud of. 

 Karen is an accomplished writer and created quite the publishing niche for herself. She has published a book called "Tips For Tropical Living", which is in its 2nd printing. She is also the editor of a monthly magazine called "In Home".  Karen interviews island homeowners with unique and gorgeous homes and gives the reader a home tour. There are also reviews of local restaurants, artists and events. While I was there I got to tag along with Karen as she interviewed two different homeowners and took pictures for the spread in her magazine. I love to snoop through peoples houses, and Karen has made a career out of it! How cool is that??

I am so glad I had the oppportunity to reconnect with these two amazing women!

Two Tickets to Paradise

Chuck and I just returned from 10 days in Hawaii, visiting both O'ahu and the Kona coast of the big Island of Hawaii.  10 days of sunshine, blue skies and warm water- in the middle of January!!

 

Chuck needed to go to Hawaii to work a convention of Allergists and I got to tag along and pretty much entertain myself during the days while he was working, which was easy for me to do.  Just give me a book and a lounge chair on the beach and I am in hog heaven. We did get to spend time together in the evenings having wonderful dinners, sometimes by ourselves and sometimes with friends. We were there over two Sundays, so we had the adventure of finding different local chapels to attend for church. One such adventure took us to the darling little town of Hawi (pronounced Haw vee) which is on the northern most tip of the big island.

 

The last trip Chuck and I made to Kona was on our 10th anniversary 17 years ago.  I remember two very distinct things about that trip- the first was going to the Sheraton Hotel and standing on their back patio on a cliff overlooking the rocky shore in the evening watching the manta rays swim by.  The hotel has large searchlights that shine into the water to attract small fish and insects and it draws the huge manta rays who feed on them.  The second thing I remember is that although we did a ton of snorkeling that trip and saw amzing fish, I never got to see any turtles, which everyone said were so plentiful.  This trip we got the reverse side of the coin, although we went back to the Sheraton and the lights off the cliff were still shining, we (along with a large crowd of spectators) never saw any manta rays.  However, my turtle wish was fulfilled- abundantly!  We saw turtles in the water, we saw turtles snoozing on the shore, we even had a turtle come out of the water right up to where we were laying on the beach.

 

 I have realized that even though I have lived in the northwest for 27 years, I am still a southern California girl at heart.  I am drawn to the ocean at a very fundamental level (a sunny warm ocean, that is..). Not just to lie by it, or walk along the shore, or wade in the shallows, but I am compelled by some force of nature to actually get out in the breaking waves and swim, float over the swells on my back or try to body surf this plump old body to the shore. There is something about being in the crashing waves that is nourishing to my soul.

 

My third favorite thing to do after swimming and sunning, is shopping. Ahh, the alliteration of of my preferred pastimes (again, alliteration). The last two days of our trip were spent in Honolulu, were Chuck was working with one of his employees all day. So having never been there before, I got to explore by myself.  The morning was overcast and drizzily so I spent it shopping in Waikiki looking for souveniers for my kids and grandkids.  I went leisurely from store to store just browsing.  I even bought myself a new swimsuit! Which was an almost pleasant experience. I find when shopping for a swimsuit, it is best to keep expectations low. The afternoon turned sunny, so I took my treasures back to the hotel and put on that new suit and headed to the beach to swim, read and people watch. I ended up having the perfect day.

 

Even though it has been nearly two years since my last post, we are still alive and doing well.  As evidenced by the above photo, our family is going through an expansion phase, much to our delight. Sam is still with us and has become an integral part of our family.  Rachel and Nate now have two children (Evelyn age 2 and Douglas James age 1). Although Rachel and her family still live in Idaho, which is a 12 hour drive for us, we try to get together at least twice a year and skype every Sunday night so the grandbabies don't forget who Grandma and Papa are.

All other family members are currently living at home, so our household is bustling and noisy- just the way I like it!  Both Jared and Sam are attending college and working.  Jared attending Bellevue College here in town and living at home, Sam is attending BYU Idaho, but is currently home on quarter break.  Becca graduated from BYUI with a degree in Communications and is home while she applys to graduate school to become a Physician's Assistant.

Not much has changed with Chuck and I over the years, besides a little more gray hair and a few more wrinkles.  We are both doing what we have always done- Chuck working as a pharmaceutical sales manager and me totally occupied by my family and my dog walking business. A life we both love and are so greatful for.