Graduation

This is the BIG week.
Parker graduates from Naperville North High School
He had a great start at Armstrong and a great finish at North.
Ceremony will be Wednesday - hopefully no rain.


The booster club does this fun thing by posting customized sign in front of every graduates door - nice touch.

Wish I was there

Julie and Blair had a friends wedding to attend in Minneapolis and so dropped by mom for a visit.

Wasn't there, wish I was.

Odd Affinity

We are so grateful for friends who are willing to drop by and share their time and experiences with us. For a couple of days this week we welcomed Cindy Sandberg and her daughter Laurel to our home. They were in town to see a friend perform Ragtime at Drury Lane Theatre in near-by Oak Brook. They had a good trip and we were delighte d and energized by the fun engaging people they are; even though they had an odd fascinaation with our heron.

Tulips

I love tulips.

There isn’t a particular color that I fancy over others it is tulips.

The book Tulip Mania

(Tulipomania presents a fascinating look at the tulip frenzy that took place in Holland in the mid-1600s.) helped contextualize the global appeal of tulips and I enjoyed the historic read, yet mine is more personal affinity. . Though I always enjoyed them as a youth I think it was, no I am sure it was that May 1^st several, ok many, years back when I married Rindy in the Salt Lake Temple that linked my love of Rindy to my love of Tulips., My favorite piece of art in our home is an image of the Temple with tulips in bloom . not unlike his photo.

My favorite garden display is that of tulips.

And so I wasn’t surprised when Rindy, Brigham and Evan drove to Nauvoo for Ben’s wedding that Rindy would run into the grounds keeper as he was unplanting the tulips, getting ready to jettison them, that she would volunteer to take them and re-plant them at our home in Naperville.

Temple Tulips – how nice.

Endowment

The quote of the day

You don't take out your endowment
you take out Chinese

You receive your endowment

Wilderness Survival

Our Stake does some wonderful things - one of which is how they approach varsity scouts and the teacher's quorum. There is very focused monthly stake training and then there are the stake sponsored teacher's quorum camp outs. This past month we held one in one of the local reserves - it was great. The genesis was recent disasters in Haiti and Chile and missionary related stories and the need for preparation and training.

Varsity Scouts Survival Outing

We dropped the boys of just short of a mile from camp where they loaded up their gear, were given a new map and sent on their way. They found the site and set up their tarp structures to weather out the storm, and storm it did, Some stayed dry, some got wet, some got very wet. All survived - all learned.

The morning came and after spartan meals there were multiple learning stations:
1. water purification - multiple fashions and tastes
2. survival fishing
3. emergency shelter - with tarps and garbage bags
4. Emergency signaling with CDs/DVDs
5. Fire building - with a new trick with Vaseline and cotton balls
6. Rope chair rescues and knots

plenty of interaction, plenty of learning, plenty of fun.

A Project

I think that Rindy is happiest with her work gloves on and in the midst of a project. The project could be re-doing the stairs, building shelves, decorating a room, painting ; but bliss is reserved for the outdoors and garden related chores. Two truck loads of dirt signaled happy days ahead. New trees, new plants, new flowers.

Ode to the Porch

My grandmother Jackson had a delightful porch - an welcoming entrance to their home. We've never had a porch till now. We have a great porch with great furniture, with a great view. One can comfortably sit sheltered from the elements, enjoy a pleasant breeze, oddly unbothered by bugs, and smell the sweet aroma of the lilacs.


Out on the Porch

Come sit with me out on the porch in early morn,
And watch a new day struggle to be born.
A tinge of orange upon horizon's breast
And stars now tired--flicker low and rest.

Look through dark leaves to lighter skies in space,
At patterns that resemble finest lace.
So quiet hear the beating of our hearts
As slowly day arrives--and night departs.

The moon now pale high in the sky,
Watch morning birds as they begin to fly.
Tranquility abounds, air crystal clear,
A moment stopped in time, devoid of fear.

To feel the warmth of rising sun,
Another day for us begun.
Reach out your hand for me to hold.
Together, watch this day unfold.


--Written by Patrick Joseph Hubauer

Hong Kong Scone Sunday

Unfortunately, we were unable to make the trip to Minneapolis for her home coming; fortunately for us she was willing to make the trip to Naperville. We LOVE Mary and delighted in hearing her report concerning the culture, companions, the language, the food - the mission. Fun time catching up with her. Being it was Sunday, Mary and Parker did not take to the wrestling mats - that will have to wait for the Y.

Fried Froth

Sister Peterson, our most delightful of Sunday school teacher, pulled out a John Taylor quote that I didn't recall concerning 'fried froth' As I came home and googled and found this Elder Holland reference from the 1998 Ensign.

Are we really nurturing our youth and our new members in a way that will sustain them when the stresses of life appear? Or are we giving them a kind of theological Twinkie—spiritually empty calories? President John Taylor once called such teaching "fried froth," the kind of thing you could eat all day and yet finish feeling totally unsatisfied. 18 During a severe winter several years ago, President Boyd K. Packer noted that a goodly number of deer had died of starvation while their stomachs were full of hay. In an honest effort to assist, agencies had supplied the superficial when the substantial was what had been needed. Regrettably they had fed the deer but they had not nourished them


Theological twinkies, fried froth both clear metaphors. A cahllenge for teaching at home, work, school as well as church