Another year passes, and we enjoy another 365 days witnessing
God’s hand in our lives. We feel particularly grateful for you, our family and
friends who season our lives with love, concern, kindness, faith, and positive
moments together. Thank you for caring enough to read about us.
This season reminds us of the truth that God is our Father,
Jesus Christ is His only begotten son in the flesh –our Savior, and all of us
can be part of a happy eternal family together for eternity. We hope these
truths help all of us to move forward in faith, overcoming our weaknesses,
changing for the better, and finding greater unity with God and our fellowmen.
As we update you on our family experiences over the last 12
months, we would like to give special thanks for your prayers through some of
our growth opportunities. Below are our 15 most memorable moments and
achievements from 2015.
15. We got a state park all to ourselves for an entire day!
Apparently, Snow Canyon was not so named because of its white, cool, climate,
but after Lorenzo Snow. In August, we survived camping in 113 degree heat with
only one park ranger and a campsite host hiding in their trailers, watching for
buzzards and other predators to circle over our heat-stroked corpses. Their
hopes were in vain due to water fights and copious iced beverages. Uncle Tom
and Aunt Mary Lou provided an awesome respite after the camp to shower and
enjoy great company.
14. All of the children earned sushi (their favorite reward)
this year from their efforts at school, each earning high remarks for their grade. More importantly, their teachers touted
their citizenship and kindness to their fellow students.
13. Magdalyn skipped 7th grade beginner band and earned
5th chair flute in the intermediate band class at her school. She
earned two flutes from her diligent practice and continues to enjoy music.
12. Tim discovered a new talent this summer. We purchased a
membership to Momentum Climbing Gym and spent about three days a week
developing our climbing strength and overcoming any concerns with falling onto
mats from 15 feet above ground. By the end of the summer he was bouldering
adult V4 climbs. Coaches invited him to join their junior team that competes
nationally, but who can afford four grand per kid for just one hobby? It was
lots of fun while it lasted.
11. We hosted two adventurous family reunions this year, one
during the summer and one at Thanksgiving, with generally successful results! The
food was excellent!
10. Susanna started learning piano and guitar this year, and
continues to optimistically bring joy to the household!
9. In the realm of personal improvement, after years of diligent
practice and study, David was granted the international honor and rank of Si Di
(brother) in Shaolin Chuan Fa Wu Ling Xing. This has involved not only the study
of the martial application of Kung Fu, (some prefer the term Wushu) but also
the internal healing aspects of the arts and studies in Tai Chi Chuan. The
process only took five concussions, a dislocated jaw, three broken toes, a bruised
liver, and a fair amount of sweat. In this discipline, there are twenty-seven
levels of mastery in six general mastery-level ranks {brother, older brother,
younger uncle, father, older uncle, grandfather} which begin after the traditional
belt/sash system of white, yellow, orange, green, green advanced, blue, purple,
red, brown, brown advanced, and black. It is approximately the equivalent of a
2nd Dan in other martial arts combined with Asian medical training—as
this Chinese art emphasizes how one should be able to heal what damage is
inflicted; a view not of self-defense as much as one of harmony and maintaining
balance in the world.
8. David also completed all of his PhD. requirements,
including comprehensive exams, research presentations, and proposal defenses, except
for his dissertation. He is now ABD (all but dissertation).
7. My first year of beekeeping with Maggie resulted in a
harvest of about 100 pounds of honey. Unfortunately, a wind storm blew over
three of our four hives at the end of the season, and the midnight salvage
operation resulted in many stings (which we avoided during the rest of the
year). It is possible that we lost of some of the hives. We will not know until
next spring.
6. This year we saw many excellent musicals, symphonies,
operas, and concerts. This means we also endured some that were less than impressive
(I’m looking at you Oklahoma and Wizarding Halloween). Our favorite
musicals were Tuacahn’s When You Wish
and Hale Center Theater’s Big Fish. Our
favorite opera was The Pearl Fishers
with The Rake’s Progress coming in a
close second. Utah Symphony’s Sci-fi Spectacular
shocked us with its entertainment value, brilliant interpretations, and
flawless performance.
5. We finished putting in grass and sprinklers in our front
yard!
4. Some friends invited us down to a ranch in Meadow, Utah,
where we enjoyed an amazing vacation playing games, riding horses, playing
spotlight, relaxing in hot pots, 4 wheeling, and hiking through lava tubes. If
you are still reading, you must actually like us (or really dislike us and are
looking for justification…)
3. After twenty years on immune-suppressants for Crohn’s
disease and other accumulated illnesses, my immune system finally gave up this
year. My six specialists worked together wonderfully to handle my many physical
complications. Unfortunately, to keep me around, I had to switch from steroids,
immune-suppressants, and NSAIDs to biologics. The first biologic did not take
and caused me to make sure David knew my wishes (closed casket and who I want
at the grave dedication!), update my will and power of attorney documents and
so forth. The second biologic successfully mitigated the Crohn’s symptoms, but
unfortunately has some significant side effects. First, my body cannot fight off
the weakest of colds/flu viruses. Second, it warns that side effects may
include increased risk of cancer, bleeding from all orifices, instant death, and
emotional instability, to name a few. Fortunately, David followed promptings to hound me until I went to one of my specialists thus protecting me from
seeing one of these illnesses bring about my youthful (just pretend I’m not middle-aged)
expiration. The specialist found a tumor. The initial diagnosis is cancer,
(though it may be pre-cancer). Since we caught it so early, surgery and a
couple months of recovery is all that the doctors believe will be required.
That will happen in a few weeks.
2. Melissa, Maggie, and Tim led our family history effort, with
David and Ami providing support as we found well over six hundred ordinances needing
completion among our relatives on my mother-in-law’s side. We indexed over a
thousand names, and completed about three hundred ordinances with Maggie’s
help.
1. Amirrah’s baptism into
the Savior’s restored church by her father and the subsequent bestowal of the
Holy Ghost by her beloved father, uncles, and grandfather was the highlight of
the year.
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