A Quiver Full: FEBRUARY 2018

FEBRUARY 2018
(this blog contains my weekly emails to my precious family)

WEEKS 1,2,3 ~ 2/19/2018

Hey y’all,

If you’re interested in what we are up to then glance at these pics.

1) January 31st, 2018 ~ Sarah’s home from her 1 1/2 year mission to Singapore.

2) Genevieve is welcomed home! Genevieve Howell began life on this planet Feb 3rd.

3) February 4th, 2018. The Gerber’s celebrate their shared birthday…born 7 years apart.

4) We left Feb 7th for a nice road trip enroute to visit the Robison’s…(and a nice little hike in Arches National Park on day one.)

5) This was our second stop to add graffiti here outside Amarillo. The first was in 2013, I think.

6) We arrived on the 9th in Brookhaven, Mississippi to find the Robison’s settling into their first home. Chris and his dad spent weeks doing some major remodeling and general sprucing up prior to Jami arriving with the kids in January. It’s looking GREAT!

7) Over the next week we discovered the famous beignets of New Orleans Cafe De Monde, sampled delicious fried green tomatoes, devoured crawfish and shrimp pasta, catfish po-boys and Chris’ delectable homemade gumbo. Even better than the food are the southern folks we spent time with as evidenced in these photos. Jami’s looking after darling Danika and cute Kamden. Chris flies LifeFlight and did a flyover the house on Friday. Britni and Hatcher arrived later in the week to meet Kamden (and add a new state or two to their bucket list.)

We will pass back through Mississippi again next weekend after picking up our new RV in Ft Meyers. And then show up in St George by March 11th. We’re planning a short RV trip with Colleen and Gaylin.

I hope things are going well for you and your endearing families. On Valentine’s Day there was a horrific shooting at the HS that Callie and Jami once attended when we lived in Parkland. I vividly remember my thoughts on the night of the 1999 Columbine school shooting. The bodies of mortally wounded students lay unidentified inside the school overnight due to suspected undetonated bombs. I had never been more thankful to know where my children were. During times of tragedy or hardship it’s sometimes all I can do to get out of bed, stand up and put one foot in front of the other. I’m getting by because I learned to count my blessings and YOU are always at the top. I’m still smiling, I remember there is great purpose in life, no matter the length of time we are here. How are you doing?

Can you handle a tip for improved communication? I collect quotes, I don’t write them. My notes record this as a “happiness in marriage tip”:

If there was one key to happiness in love and life and possibly even success it would be to go into each conversation you have with this commandment to yourself front and foremost in you mind, “just listen” and be more interested than interesting, more fascinated than fascinating and more adoring than adorable.

And in case you are wondering:

Feb 6th Brennan celebrated turning 8!

Feb 12th Joseph had his 18th birthday!

Feb 22nd Our RV is ready for pick up in Fort Meyers, Florida.

Feb 24th Brian must find 35 candles to put on Britni’s cake!

WEEK 4 ~ 2/25/2018

Dearest Family ~

1) We are "on the road again" with CarLa (Carolyn + Lane) or HarRV III. (Which name do you like?) I call her my monster palace on wheels. She’s a beauty but she is H U G E.

We picked her up in Florida, drove her to Mississippi and are now making our way back west to Utah. Tonight we are camped in Louisiana.

2) Earlier this week we spent 2 days in DisneyWorld, but as we exited Wednesday night I decided to say farewell to the Magic Kingdom. It’s out of my system. I’m through. No need to return. Long lines, popular rides broken down, monorail out of service, edgy guests, miserable. However, Disneyland may still hold some intrigue. ;o}

3) We’ve attached this scooter to the back of our new house. AND we’ve had our first visitors. Thank you Robison’s for the temporary storage and for looking after our car.