Father's Day 2018

John is greatly blessed with a large and noble posterity. Our children are good, kind, obedient, intelligent, and fun. Our kids are greatly blessed with a noble father who knows truth, teaches his family diligently and leads us in righteousness. President Boyd K. Packer was known to say:

The ultimate end of all activity in the Church is that a man and his wife and their children might be happy at home, protected by the principles and laws of the gospel, sealed safely in the covenants of the everlasting priesthood.

John has led our family in such a way that this is true for us. We are very grateful for him and his diligence in leading and guiding us with the Celestial Kingdom in mind.

Story Club this Week

Story club was funny this week. You can tell that we have all felt traumatized from a cps investigation. Everything was on the dark side.

Anya

Daring David once met a man that bursted with pride. The man was incredibly brave but stupid too, and how he knows are the things he did and said that day. And these are things he did and said:

I am so brave,

I'll go in the dragon's cave.

Then I'll go out to the sea, 

and face a shark with nothing but me.

I will go in a cave,

then I'll go out to sea

And then I will face ye.

The funny thing about that is when he was proving it, he did not get out of the dragons cave.

Rachel

Fine! I'll write a story and when I'm done unless I've won, I'll tear it up to shreds. Then I'll go and eat some bread.

Kate

13 Fairy sisters wished to make the stories of the world, but the people of the world would not cooperate- for they wished to design their own destinies. So the fairies sunk most of the island in the sea and only kept the peek people to play with and arrange their lives to suit the fairies’ plots. Every man’s life was authored by the sisters without them perceiving it. The background characters were forced into anonymity and the chosen favorites were blessed and sent out for adventure, Those people the author fairies did not take a liking to had tragic endings. All the people of the land were played like dolls and their destinies were no longer decided by themselves. One of the fairy sisters took an interest in a certain man, beautiful and arrogant. She stopped writing his life and became an audience to the 13 fairies fantastic play, just to see what her man would do. Soon she fell in love with him and gave up her power to marry him. The other twelve sisters were angry and amazed. They cut off the traitors wings and left her to die- for without wings a true fairy cannot live- with her daughter’s story only half told. The dark-auburn-haired little girl was disliked by her aunts- for she knew all of their meddling or story making amongst man. She would dream all night of the tales they would form for their unknowing human playthings and of the plays they would write for the unknowing unwilling actors. She would sit by the sea and look down into the depths and sing to the submerged Kingdoms and forest who would not have their stories told for them. The fairy’s child had dark redwood hair and marble jade eyes and looked more like a composed little doll than a girl, but the twelve fairies had no power to author her. So they made her life miserable by authoring those around her to be brutal. However, they always watched to see if the little doll would grow wings- for as her mother was on her deathbed she plead to the other sisters that if her daughter were a fairy it would atone for her treachery and they would take her as the thirteenth authoress. Seeing as it was a sister’s final wish, they had mercy and accepted the condition, and so the girl lived.


Most books read are written by men telling the tales of fairies and fiction, but have you ever wondered what the fairies write of men? Of the stories they weave and tell? Have you ever surmised what glorious fanascies they could dream up about the mysterious and alluring world of men? Here now is one of them, not a fairy tale, but a human one, written by the subtle authors of their world, the fairy.

They are not all nice tales. Like humans, animals, and all life, fairies can be good or bad, sober or silly, disturbed or enlightened, wicked or righteous, and so their stories would differ as much as ours from one author to another. I’m afraid dear reader that this story begins with a very terrible tale. A disgusting piece built up by an ingenious perturbed mind, but here is where all must begin, gross, dark, and eriy as the beginning must be, a story must always begin at the start.

The dream began in a large mansion with walls haunted by a family curse. It followed up winding stairs to a small unused closet where the man of the house was hiding. None can hide nor fight the indomitable opponent called curse, but there he hid. Inside the dim walls of the little room Horror was whispering all kinds of terrifying things in his ears, and as he listened to her morbid thoughts a deep seeded terror grew inside. The dreamer felt this terror and heard those eiry words as dreamers often do and so it was no surprise when at the simpe chime of an ordinary clock, the man jumped up suddenly and ran screaming from the room. He ran out into the the bright sky of noon day and senselessly into the town, not heeding the little boy that followed him.

Then came the road. The dreamer saw the carriage storming down the road, but the wild man controlled by fear did not. Here then must be the next victim of the family curse. The man ran into the road, the carriage swerved to avoid him, there was confusion and the gross sounds of trampling and when the carriage had left, the man stood still, but his boy lay dead in the street. No bystander stopped to help, each walked on the other side of the road. One stopped to open a paracol. One waited only to clean their glasses before moving on. The curse had it’s claim and Horror was pleased with her tale of woe and Merryweather finally woke up. She always dreamed about the stories her aunts made with men, and always dreaded the ones begotten by the fairy called Horror. A dream was bad enough, but tomorrow would tell the tale in reality.

Mr Higbee was walking down the road carefully carrying the papers he hoped would make his fortune when a primal scream rang through the streets. A man came dashing madly toward the road. Mr Higbee felt no panic or aw, he only began to clean his spectacles to better see why the blurred form sounded so panicked. A carriage was coming. If that man did not collect his whits quickly and get out of the road he would be trampled. Somehow the idea didn’t bother him. He hated that it didn’t. It ought to, but in that moment it didn’t. He felt pacified somehow. He continued cleaning his spectacles as indifferent to the pending disaster as everyone else about him, who casually walked on. The man reached the road; the carriage reached the man; the spectacles were carefully placed on Mr Higbee’s long nose. Then he saw what he had not before, a child. The carriage swerved to dodge the man and Mr Higbee dashed into the street. There was confusion, a scream, the sound of bones cracking against horses and wheels. Then the carriage was past, the dust cleared and the panicked man stood still. He stood looking at the blood of Charles Higbee. The curse had failed. Horror raged, and Mr Higbee groaned, but the child was safe.

It would be many days before Merryweather had any idea of heroic deed of the man on the side of the street but when she did it was not heard without a few thankful tears.

“What should we do with him?” was the cry of her aunts.

Mr Charles Higbee was not an old man. This point must be stressed early on in meeting the character- for he acts so much like an old stodgy cripple that the reader, as well as anyone who knows him, is prone to forget. He is an ordinary unloved and unrecognized character. Fore ordained to obscurity, because nothing immediately recognizable in him could insight tragedy, heroism, romance. Inshort he was not exciting and no quality of person distinguished him. Too plain and scencial for love, too realistic and level headed for horror or tragedy, too indifferent for law or history, too rich for a pauper too poor for a prince, and there was a certain seriousness in his brow that stowed laughter. To add the killing stroke he wore spectacles! No main character can wear ordinary unromantic spectacles! It would be simply criminal. He was the perfect two dimensional regular man. He knew it, and sometimes felt confined by the obscurity pressed upon him. Some men are burdened with glorious purpose; Mr Higbee was burdened with gloriless regularity. Perhaps it was in rebellion of this that he did what he did. Perhaps it was mere opportunity, but I rather believe it was done because he is actually quite irregular- not in any way generally recognized or appreciated, but in one that will slowly unveil itself--for Mr Higbee was determined to be good, and that is very unusual indeed.

John

Papercrafters despise the rain. Their little paper birds take flight
and flit from place to place within their homes. Then they soar
through an open window and take to the outside world.

Until it rains.

Then little damp lumps of paper found about the yard are all that
remains. The papercraft unbinds from the soggy heap, just as a spirit
leaves a dead body.

Me

I never liked this life so well…
Sickness and sorrow
in every tomorrow
crime and wars and darkness abound
Never kindness and love to be found
…I often I thought I lived in hell.

I never liked this life so well…
Though I thought it wrong!
I shouldn’t feel down so long!
Maybe I should count my blessings
Instead of numbering all the messings
…Maybe I am not in hell.

I never liked this life so well…
Then one day, I understood
We aren’t so worthy nor so good
We make the wars and crimes abound
We oppress til no kindness is found
… we made our world into a hell.

There isn’t much I can do, oh well…
I’ll just do my best to endure this hell, well.

***No one else wanted to participate***

***Don't worry, we all laughed at our dark humor and none of us are suffering from depression.***

This Week at Our House #24

Wednesday, I got a call, and Thursday, cps came back for a visit. We showed them the kids' test scores, which were all in the 90 percentiles, their text books, some of the projects they have done or are working on, and John's PhD and proof of his former job as a math professor. I signed papers that gave them permission to get Rachel's medical records from Utah where she was given tests to make sure her small stature was not a disease as well as our current dental records. The social worker said she would call our references and hopefully close out the case soon. My prayer is that they will easily be able to get all of the medical records because the medical records justify us. Still we are being very cautious. We will not leave our kids home without a parent, even though we have an 18 yr old and 16 yr old here to watch the younger children. We are also trying to be as grateful to the Lord for helping us through this and providing us with miracles of protection. We have been pleading and we need our prayers of thanks to be as heart felt as our prayers for help.

1. John got his first game up on the google app store, and he had a short interview that ended with a request to contact him early this coming week. We are praying that his app will sell. If we can sell 10,000 copies, we will have enough to live on for 3 months. We are also praying that John will get a job to help relieve our financial distress more immediately.
2. Well, I mostly felt like it was another distressing week because of cps and the other things that have been going on. But, I should say that while we have had to deal with a lot of distress, our scripture study has been very intense and our understanding of the gospel has increased significantly, and we have had a greater measure of the Holy Spirit in our home. We know that the Lord is watching over us and teaching us.
3. I went ahead and sent Ruth a very detailed email about everything that has been going on in our family. Kate told me not to do that to her, but to just tell her right when things happen. I will probably hear from Ruth, tomorrow. She asked for details, so I think she will be okay. I told her to just pretend that she is a missionary in England while her family is being kicked out of Nauvoo. Ruth always loved pretending to be a pioneer.
4. Poor Kate would have liked to have had her mission papers submitted by now. But, she is working on the things she needs to have done for her part such as the dental and medical. She has a counseltation for her wisdom teeth removal this coming week. So when she is allowed, she will be prepared. She is very prepared spiritually. Kate has spent the year studying the gospel and church history. She knows a great many scriptures by heart, and they are written on her heart.
5. Johnny decided that he wants to makes his game better, by starting from scratch. But then decided he will get what he has up for sale and then do a second try with the same idea. I think the main thing he has to do is add sound effects.
6. Adam has been working on learning 3D modeling in Blender. He enjoys doing it, so we never have to tell him to get to work.
7. Rachel was crying in bed last night and Kate asked her why. Rachel said, "Didn't you know? I cry every night because I miss my cousins!"
8. Anya has been using Manga Studio to make some pretty computer pictures. She also spends a lot of time drawing.
9. Joseph and Anya had been having frequent stomach aches. I had them try a dairy-free diet and while they are feeling much better, they aren't happy about the change. I saw both of them with their heads in the fridge, chanting, "Dairy, dairy, dairy! Why does everything good have dairy in it?"
10. Joshua slept on the couch for part of the night last night. After everyone else was awake and fed and going about their morning business, I sat down to play the piano. Joshua sat up and said, "Can;t you see people are sleeping here. I can't sleep with that piano!" I sent him to his bed. He came out awake and ready to start his day 30 seconds later.
11. Arwen loves to have Anya read to her. Anya keeps books in her room to read to Arwen until she falls asleep each night.
12. Susan has these pretty red shoes that she got from her cousin. She will not call them shoes, though, she insists they are "slippers" like Cinderella's glass slippers.
13. Sam likes to sit on my lap and have me play him kid educational songs on youtube. Often when he sees me sit down with my laptop, he will immediately come and crawl into my lap in hopes that I will play him some youtube videos.

Pictures

Stories from Ruth # 40

 

This week I had really bad Hayfever. It was so bad that both of my eyes were red and half shut almost everyday this week. Everyone just kept telling me about how sick I looked. My voice even sounded manly. Anyway it was yesterday that I realized I had not even prayed to get better, so I did. After church Sister Wheeler, who knew I was ill, invited us over for dinner. While we were there she basically made me rest and I talked with her six children while they made dinner. Since she is in doterra, she gave me some oils I did not have, and a doterra pill that helps with hayfever. I am now recovered from my hayfever and all I have to deal with is feeling achy and tired. I feel truly blessed, and very grateful to Sister Wheeler and her family. God answered my prayer, and I feel humbled for not asking him earlier.

We taught Harvey again and he is doing well. He understands the plan of salvation and is understanding the scriptures more. I love teaching him because he is very open to the spirit when being taught. Before we taught him about the law of chastity which covers no abortions. He was telling us about how people in his classes do not really have an opinion on things so they just follow the crowd like with drinking or with abortions. He started telling us how he decided he has to have an opinion on everything so he searched about abortion and thinks its wrong. That most people just do not want to take responsibility for their actions and abortion is a disgusting way to get out of it. He also can go on about how bad alcohol is for you and how so many people waste so much of their lives and time on it. As a missionary, I am honestly surprised to see a nonmember and nonchristian say these things. 

Sister Lezano and I felt impressed to go to Melbourne and decided to head to Melbourne park. On the way we stopped by Denise, and she was home! She said it was the only day off she had had in a long time. Denise was happy to see us and even told us that she still wants to be baptized, and is going to meet with us again to work towards it. However, she is still busy with working at the hospital and university, so it will be harder to meet. I was so happy to see her! Denise is such a happy, loving person, and is sincere. Then we went to the park and met this guy from Kenya, who had a boss in Finland that was a mormon. He invited us over to come and teach his family about the gospel and the Book of Mormon.

This Week at Our House # 23

It was a quieter week, which I am very grateful for. It was a dry week, so hanging out the laundry was not stressful. We had a few dentist appointments, but mostly spent our time at home playing and schooling and just taking care of the ordinary things. I am praying constantly for John to get a job and for the safety of my children.

1. John will hopefully have his first game up. He was going to add extra bonus stuff, but is opting to drop that to get it on the market sooner.
2. We harvested our potatoes this week. I should have done it a week earlier because several of them had rotted, but I am happy to be getting food from plants that I grew organically and took careful care of. I have a lot to learn. I will need to use more fertilizer for next year's crop. But we got more potato then we paid for seed, so that is good.
3. Ruth seems to be doing well, and working hard. I asked her to pray for us without telling her why, and she said I failed at not worrying her. I sent her back saying that we are okay, but the Lord requires us to pray for our needed blessings.
4. Kate had her dentist appointment and she still has never had any cavities. She has a counsel appointment for her wisdom teeth in less than two weeks and then will be scheduled to get those removed. She did not want to get her wisdom teeth removed, but all four of them are facing the wrong direction.
5. Johnny falls asleep whenever we have family time. He didn't used to. It's pretty funny, though, because he never knows that he is sleeping.
6. Adam came inside and said, "I had a conversation with a bird. I don't know what the bird was saying, but he was talking to me." Adam had been outside walking around and whistling and a bird heard him and whistled back over and over again.
7. Rachel went to the dentist and she only has one cavity, which is good for her. She has obviously been taking good care of her teeth as she has always been prone to cavities. To help me out and be pleasant in the home, Rachel did all the dishes for an entire day. The dish washer broke down a couple of weeks ago, so that is a big job and a big service that I know she did with love. I love my little Rachel. She is a light and delight in my life.
8. Anya carries around a clip board with paper that she draws pictures on and writes poetry. She will come to me to show me her pictures a couple of times a week.
9. Joseph takes good care of the chickens and ducks. He always makes sure they are safe and have enough food and water. One day when a few of the chickens got out, he came in crying because he could not find them. We all went to look and they were enjoying the shade of the largest pecan tree.
10. Joshua's reading is coming along well. He can pick up picture books and read them, and you can tell that it surprises him that he knows what it says. 
11. Arwen came to me and said, "It is raining. The rain is coming from the sky. The sky is doing it." The next day, she came to me and said, "I looked at the sky and it looks like the sky is going to rain. The sky tells you when it is going to rain."
12. Susan loved the dentist. She is an emotional little girl, and I did not think she would let the dentist touch her, but she sat down, was still, did everything the dentist asked, and seemed to enjoy it like she was receiving a pampered spa treatment. The dentist said she looked just like her when she was a little girl and the dentist is named Susan too.
13. We have been keeping our chair and stools turned upside down to keep Sam safe. He loves to push chairs around the house to climb up and see what is up high. We want our little Sam safely on the ground, so we turn the stools upside down and tuck them neatly under the bar. 

Pictures

Adam with his large taco inside a chesadilla

Rosemary potatoes with both the potatoes and rosemary grown from our garden

This gorgeous girl cut her very long hair. She was going to wait until she gets her mission call, but I was cutting everyone's hair and it is so hot. I think it looks really cute. The boys say it makes her look 13.

Stories from Ruth # 39

The Funny:
The elders in our district our really funny. We have two elders that are complete opposites. Elder Smith from Utah plays sports, and is cold and sarcastic. Elder Soares is a brazilian who does not play football, and is super sweet and funny. The pair are hilarious.
Elder Soares "I don't like bowling. Last time I hurt my finger."
Elder Smith "That is the least manly thing I have ever heard."
They have now also taken calling a right turn a "robertson left" since I am really bad at directions.

The Missionary Work:
We taught Harvey the plan of salvation and he likes it. He has a lot of questions and we have a lot of answers, so usually we have to say that we will continue the lesson next time.

On Wednesday we went to Dunmow. We decided to go tracting and knocked on this woman's door. We told her who we are and asked if we could share a message. She invited us in. She met missionaries while in Scotland, and had heard about the church in her religious studies class, but other than that knew nothing. She was a very strong christian though and had even taken classes that usually only vicars take, in order to study the bible and to learn more about Christ. She even did assemblies for young children on religion (apparently it is required to have them in the schools in England). We taught her the entire restoration and she asked a lot of questions. It was probably one of the best lessons that I have had on my mission. She truly wants to know more of Christ and is careful about her sources. We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and invited her to read it and then to pray and ask God. She agreed, but she could not meet with us since she is moving to Scotland. However, she asked us both to sign the copy of the Book of Mormon. It really was the reason we went to Dunmow. I know she will read and she will feel of the confirming witness from God it is true, because everything that helps us know who Christ is more, comes from God. In Moroni 10:6 it says :"And whatsoever thing is good is just and true; wherefore, nothing that is good denieth the Christ, but acknowledgeth that he is.

We went on exchange and taught Ghanaians the whole time." I know this to be true.
Friday was exchange in Colchester. I went with Sister Baites again and we taught Ghanaians all day. First we taught this guy who was really questioning things. For a while Sister Baites and I could not tell if he had met with us just to bash. At the end of the lesson he told us he wanted to know because he had read some of the Book of Mormon and he felt that it was good as it teaches about Christ. He was skeptical but he wanted to know. He said he will read it again and pray. 

We then taught a member and her daughter from Ghana. They had a lot of questions and got confused by our accents, but in the end the lesson went really well. It was a lot of crazy fun and they gave us joll of rice and chicken which was so good!

This Week at Our House #22 The Horrible Month of May

May has been a horrendous month. Probably the worst month in my life. It was so bad, that every couple of days, my mother in law called to ask what disaster happened next. This last week of May was absolutely the worst. Some of the stuff I cannot write about, but one tragedy, I can and will. Wednesday, May 23rd, I got our van repaired specifically so I could take Rachel to a doctor for an ear infection. I took her. A physicians assistant spent less than 5 minutes in the room with her, said she had an ear infection and gave her an antibiotic. The PA would not talk to us. The visit was mildly frustrating. A week later, I get a call from Social Services. A social worker was telling me that a report was filed on behalf of Rachel saying that she was malnourished. I knew right away who the report came from and said so. Of course, the social worker denied the fact. But after she met the family, she could not honestly deny it. Anyway, we were required to allow this social worker into our home and had to give her all sorts of information about our children, including all of their private information such as birth dates, and social security numbers, without a warrant per law. She stayed for an hour and a half. Took pictures that clearly denied all accusations by this PA and had to also file a report because it took the state nearly 5 months to sign us up for medicaid, thereby noting in full that any accused medical neglect was not from my lack of doing things. I am very organized, and we happened to clean the whole house and yard earlier in the day, and I had a healthy dinner ready and in the crock pot, so her catching us off guard and only giving us a 20 minute notice had no ill effects. I had all the information she needed on hand, even though I did not know what information she would need. She reported that we are safe, the kids are fed, there is no drug use, and the kids don't fear the parents etc. Still, we are all traumatized and the report stays open for up to 45 days. Oh and Monday we got two beautiful little kittens to replace the ones the dog killed in September and hopefully help with the mice that live around here and Thursday we found a snake in our garage. That was scary too.

1. Like every week John continues to work on his businesses as well as apply for jobs 6 days a week, 10 or more hours a day. We all love him. All of the kids would claim him as the best Dad. They adore him and respect and want to be like him even though he has had trouble with employment. 
2. I am traumatized. My kids are traumatized. We will never be the same and we will never feel safe going to a doctor again. 
3. I am not telling Ruth about all of the things that have occurred this month. I want her to focus on her mission and not shed tears and worry about us. I did ask her to pray for our safety, though.
4. Kate is an angel. Even before the social worker came, Kate stepped it up and did more than she was asked to do this week. The cleaning the house and the yard was the assignment I had given to the kids before taking Joseph to the dentist. Kate had them all go the extra mile.
5. Johnny continues to work on his game programming and helping John start his business. Johnny is officially a high school graduate. We have not celebrated yet, but we will. His plan for next year is to stay home and continue with the business and then to go on a mission a year later. Johnny graduated early because when he tested into Legacy Prep in Utah, her tested two grades ahead. He is a smart, and good, good boy. I think business experience and software development will be good for him, and hopefully help him to earn some mission money.
6. Adam likes to just jingle around on the piano to figure out various melodies of music and songs, but more recently, and at the request of John, he has been putting in the time to truly learn pieces of music. I am glad that he is putting in the effort. I told him at least a half hour a day and he is doing that.
7. Poor, poor Rachel. I do not want her to feel guilty about being small or not talking to the doctor and thereby being the source of a report to social services. 
8. Anya loves the new little kittens and has enjoyed playing with them and having them sleep on her.
9. Joseph had a tooth filled this week and did a great job holding still and being patient. He has two more fillings to go and a much stronger desire to brush his teeth day and night. Though, he has been a doing a pretty good job on his teeth already.
10. We've had a lot of rain and Joshua loves playing out in the rain. But he goes through a lot of clothes. Finally, I convinced him to just wear his swimsuit. He liked that because then he could come in and put on the same clothes.
11. It was really hot on Friday, so we went to the beach. Arwen loved it!!! She said several times that it was the best day of her life. 
12. Susan calls dark clouds and thunder "dragons". When the thunder got really loud this week, Susan ran to me and said, "It's coming! It's coming! The dragon is coming!"
13. Sam loves these little kittens. He also talked to my mom on the phone and LOVED it. He had a lot to say back to her too, though it was mostly baby talk. Sam has about 6 words he says regularly now. Mom, Dad, yay, Joshua, Anya, and cat. He doesn't say no yet, but he shakes his head no and says, "uh uh."

Pictures