Consumed by tennis

It seems like lately our whole family has been consumed by tennis. From March 9-21 we were very involved in the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Ca. It's really quite fun but VERY consuming. Madelyn, Spencer and I all participate as ball kids or coordinator. Emily's choir works a concession stand in the stadium so she volunteers there. Everyone else comes and watches. Alec, our good friend from Finland, came and stayed with us during the tournament and we really enjoyed having him. Madelyn and Spencer were both invited back to work the final weekend this year and they were both happy about that. Madelyn got to be Rafael Nadal's towel girl on more than one occasion and  both she and Spencer got lots of autographs from high ranked players. I got to work stadium for the first time and my teams did well. They're all really great kids to work with and it's fun to see them year after year. Some of them come from far away and some are local kids. This year I had one girl nearly pass out while on court. She collapsed and myself and another person caught her before she was completely out. The chair stopped play and sent someone over to help. She apparantly hadn't eaten anything that  morning yet and that was the cause of her collapse. I made her take 2 bites of a banana and kept her out for a while. Her mother showed up soon thereafter and took it from there. I later told my other teams that if they ever felt sick on court to just sit down. I don't want anyone to hurt themselves by falling over and hitting their head or knocking teeth out. YIKES! That would be bad. We had some real fun stuff happen. Alec knows Jarkko Nieminen who is a player and Teemu Selanne who is a hockey player. They're all finnish. Anyway, so Teemu and his wife, Sirpa, came out and watched Jarkko's match with Alec, Rich and Spencer. I requested to work that court for the day so I was there with Madelyn on my team. It was great fun. Later, Jarkko was playing Blake on stadium and we had regular tickets given to us by Alec from Jarkko. Now the best part of this is that we could cheer. when you're in uniform you can't cheer for either player. So that night we were in normal clothes so we cheered very loudly! Alec taught us how to say "good" in finnish so we would yell that out whenever possible. People gave us ugly looks. Especially because Jarkko was playing an American. We were the only ones cheering for Jarkko in the stadium. It was fun. We were loud!

Collin has been doing great and we 're thinking that he will probably get transferred this coming Monday. He will be notified on Saturday if he does get transferred. He said that there has been a lot of rain lately and that he and his comp got stuck in the mud in front of a members house. It took quite a while to get out but eventually they did. All is well with our family and hope all is well with you and yours.

It's Been A Month!

Well... I looked on the dashboard and noticed that the last post was a really long time ago, so I'll just tell you all what's going on. :)
Mom and Dad are both very preoccupied with the new house and painting rooms, doing repairs, etc. Since the new house has every kind of citrus you can think of, Mom has been looking at citrus recipe books. On Sunday, we made lemon snaps (she and I) and they were really really good.
Collin continues to serve and teach on his mission. In his most recent email, he told us that he had been speeding around a corner because he had been trying to pass three cars and he got pulled over. As for me, I think he is kind of justified, since he was passing three cars and that's really hard to do at a normal speed (on a two lane highway, nonetheless). Rightly, though, Mom sent him a post card (in the style of Molly Weasley's Howlers) telling him to obey the laws and only then will the Lord protect him.
I got in to BYU, for everyone who doesn't know yet! I am very excited and have been looking at housing. I plan on participating in the Honors Program and double majoring in English and Music Composition. Also, All State Honor Choir is at the end of this month and if anyone wants to go, it's in Pasadena and I can give them more information.
Madelyn is doing volleyball and she had a tournament on Saturday. She made it into the Drama Showcase coming up with a speech by Winston Churchill. She and Spencer are starting ball kids next week, so you're sure to see a lot of posts on that by Mom.
Spencer made his school play as a character named Dusty (it's a cowboy show). He is very excited and it's kind of special, since it's hard to get in to plays as a 7th grader. He is always making noises with his voice and his hands, which makes it hard to read and stuff. He's really funny and can make everybody laugh.
Melissa is also doing volleyball and likes to bump/set/spike her volleyball in the house. She also likes to play with the neighbor's dogs a lot, causing speculation as to where she is a lot of the time. She draws a lot and today she had to take a state writing test. It was a narrative about what she would do if she were principal for a day. She said she would have a giant water party, no class all day, and free dress.
Well, I guess you're caught up for now! :)

Scavenging

"Crud, forgot my lunch" I groaned as I walked down the aisle with my friend, Albane, from Algeria. "Forgot mine too." he grumbled. So we started off on the hunt. "Derek, can we eat your sandwich." His sandwich was like cake. White bread, marshmallow fluff and peanut butter. Good food. Yes! We got the sandwich and split it 2 ways.  Visit www.superspencersports.blogspot.com to find out what I do next.

The pick up

On Wednesday morning I witnessed something sort of interesting for me. I watched an illegal immigrant get arrested, detained or whatever you call it. I was on my morning run/walk that I do most Wednesdays and about 1/2 mile into it there were a few vehicles pulled to the side. A police car, a border patrol car and the alleged bad guy car. At the moment I ran past they had this guys hands behind his head and were handcuffing him. He was in tears. He was wearing a chef's uniform. The black pants and white jacket. He had been driving a metallic blue sporty looking car. Anyway, it was weird. I didn't want to look to close. I know that most of the time I am of the opinion that if indeed he is here illegally he knew that this scenario was possible. For a brief moment my heart went out to him. I wondered if he had a wife and kids who would be wondering where he was. I have noticed that since this economic downturn I see border patrol cars in the area more often than I ever did before. Hmm. Maybe no one wants to cross lately so they've shifted agents here. Makes me think of a scripture in the BOM in 2 Nephi 1:6. I quote,  "Wherefore, I, Lehi, prophesy according to the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that there shall ^anone come into this land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord." 

That's interesting to me. Lehi is speaking about this land of Liberty. Makes me wonder about everybody.

Life goes on.

Here it is January 2009! Life is busy and I'm currently sitting in my car outside of the building where Spencer has piano lessons. Someone in said building has an unlocked wi-fi so I've hitched a ride onto the internet to blog. This building is also next to a municipal airport and 3 private jets have taken off in the 20 minutes that I've been sitting here. I love listening and watching airplanes take off! Ok. So about Christmas. Everything was great. Our telephone call from Collin was great. We recorded it on the mac and I've gone back and listened to it twice. It's just good to hear his voice. He sounds the same. Even the slightly annoyed part when we were all talking at once. He is doing well and did not get transferred on Monday the 5th of January. He told us in his weekly email that when he does get transferred  he will have spent 1/4 of his mission in Quitman. He and his comp had 4 more baptisms over the weekend. They're having success there. He gave Melissa a Texas Longhorn shirt for Christmas. She likes it and it looks good on her. Especially with the old cowboy boots we have. 

Emily is working hard towards everything. She made California All State Honor Choir! Yipee! She will perform in March in Pasadena. Should be fun. Her most notable Christmas present was a bicycle. It is an Electra Alexander Girard Art bike called the "Madonna." It has LOTS of personality and little old ladies roll down their car windows when they see her and say stuff like, "You have a beautiful bike!" It's true too.

Madelyn is playing club volleyball and also got a cool bike for Christmas. Her's is the same make but a different model. It's called the red tulip or something like that. It's bright yellow with red tulips painted all over it. Cool. In volleyball she is the setter. Her coach asked her if she wanted that position and she declined at first. She wanted to be a hitter. They had a conversation about it and she understood that he sees things that she can't. He told her that he thought she had the presence of mind to be a good setter so she happily accepted. Now she practices setting over and over and over and over and over....

Spencer wants to do everything and we're trying to find the time to let him do just that.  I do wish that everything was a bit closer. He received a lego train for Christmas and our ward missionaries helped him put it together on Christmas morning. It has lots of track. He loves playing with his cousins.

Melissa had a blast playing with her cousins over New Years and wishes that she could have brought home one of their puppies. 

Just some other notes. We made a real quick trip to AZ to spend New Years at my sister's house. We stayed up until 2 am, shot off fireworks and ate too much junk food. Rich rode his bike all over the Phoenix metro area and ended up on the new light rail system there. He said it was fun.

I got the bike I had hoped for and it truly is a beautiful bike. I hope to have Emily, Madelyn and I ride our bikes in a local bike event in February. 

We went and saw 2 movies over break. Marley and Me and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Marley and me wasn't what I expected. It's more of an adult movie than a kid movie. Benjamin Button was great!

This Year For Christmas

A member of the missionary mom group
sent this out with this warning:
"...It's a box of Kleenex poem."

This Year for Christmas

I skipped the sales after Thanksgiving
The thrill just wasn't there.
No pictures taken with Santa Claus,
My decorating has no flair.

His presents are shoes, shirts, and ties,
Two suits and socks...no fun.
I've bought him all white clothes because...
This year I'm giving Christ my son.

I've spent more time in the temple,
Felt strength come from His words.
I've reread November's Ensign,
And my testimony stirred.

Our family prays more frequently.
My tears are quick to run.
Abraham seems closer because,
This year I'm giving Christ my son.

I wonder how those Lamanite mothers,
Gave their sons to war?
Or how the pioneers chose Zion,
Their sacrifice was so much more.

My loss will be his presence,
I'll miss his smile a ton.
For two years we will pray for him,
I'm giving Christ my son.

I stare at his face when he's not looking.
I memorize his eyes, their shine.
He's always hungered for the part of him,
That makes his soul divine.

The stories and lessons he always heard,
His choice and mine are one.
I'll put my faith in God's hand,
This year, I'm giving Him my son.

Past gifts have lost their glitter,
I think I finally understand
Christ's birth should be celebrated
By giving Him a hand.

It's because I know Christ lives and reigns
That all his packing's done.
My gift has taken years to make,
This year...I'm giving Christ my son.

Author unknown

Emilys sings a recitative! (whatever that is?)

My Favorite Podcast

My favorite podcast is "This American Life" by Chicago Public Radio. It's great. Very interesting stuff. Humorous. Just great stories about real people and life. Simply love it. I'm going to try and link an RSS feed. Try it out. Give it a listen. Put it on your ipod. Give it a go.

The Gift of Tongues

Madelyn asked me what the gift of tongues was. I told her that I thought that being able to tie a cherry stem with your tongue was it and that since I can do this, I have the gift. I did say this but only after the real answer. I still think mine is a good one though.

Life for the rest of us.

Emily was right when she said our blog had become mainly about Collin and his mission adventures. The rest of us do have lives. They're just normal busy stuff. Here's a bit about what's been going on. I think Emily mentioned that we were in Santa Monica a few weeks ago for a choir thing for her. What she didn't say was that Rich was involved in a rescue at the beach by the pier. We were sitting there on the beach waiting for Emily's rehearsal to end when I heard what I first thought was a strange sounding seagull. The bird didn't have it's beak open so I looked around to see where this strange noise was coming from. I saw a women knee deep in the water and she was sort of screaming. I wasn't sure if this was a game or what. It appeared that the guy with her was splashing around in the water and grabbing her leg. I wondered if they were playing "shark in the water-I got you" or something. It became evident that she was in distress so I turned to Rich and motioned for him to get up and help her. He jumped up and ran into the water and started helping her drag him to shore. He has plenty of medical and boy scout training and used it. I called 911. The lifeguard showed up after what felt like a long time. About 7 emergency vehicles of various sorts showed up including a helicopter. It was all very exciting. Rich believes that the guy had some sort of seizure in the water. He was sitting up and fine by the time we left which was fairly soon as we had to get Emily. He was still carted away in an ambulance though.
I'm surviving seminary and the club volleyball drive-a-thon which started last week. It appears that Madelyn and Melissa will have one practice at the same time. They're both learning quickly and having tons of fun doing it.
Spencer got glasses and so did his cousin, Nicholas. The audible gasps that we heard when he saw things with his new eyes was very funny! He is, as always, ridiculously funny about everything.
Collin is well this week and told us more about his comp. He is from Rome and the new temple will be about 5 minutes from his home.