With All My Love

Good Morning Elder Schenewark,

Today in church was ward conference. We had the stake leaders there from early morning meetings to afternoon conferences. Your father was busy. The ward supported him in many ways. I had all of my piano students sit up with me and play a song or two each, for prelude. It's always nice to involve the youth. They did a wonderful job.

Breyer going to church today

Our stake president, instead of choosing whether it's a Sunday School week or not, he combined them. He taught Sunday School with the Relief Society President introducing the class. Your father met with the young men. We had a lunch afterwards.

President Harmer and his presidency came up with an acronym for their year's theme: TEMPLE. Trust in God, Endow, Minister, Press Forward, Love and Endure. Good stuff.

Sawyer on the mound

Sawyer had a game in Crowley this week. I wasn't going to stay for the double header, but I ended up enduring to the end so I could drive him home. I literally walk in the front door, shower, and fall into bed, after the school lunches are done. But it was a no hitter!

Sawyer probably won the March Madness tournament this year. Luke was his closest competitor. He also came in second in the Granbury High School tournament.


Miller had a game Saturday in freezing arctic northern wind. I sat in the car, facing the field, and did not feel guilty.

Miller was invited to a birthday party at a ninja warrior type obstacle course facility. He had a ball but was annoyed by little boys in the way. Rolling my eyes.

Cooper had a big tennis meet Friday in Granbury. Your father was finally able to go. He got a lot of good clips, and came home again with the first place trophy. The final match was the game to see. The players were the most competitive and it was a fierce battle. Cooper played spectacularly, covering for his partner who apparently was having an off game. Cooper had Gammons show up to watch the final battle. He had also stopped by first thing in the morning but Cooper wasn't playing then.

Cooper's piano skills have improved greatly. Something about the Senior year when piano playing becomes more enjoying than a burden.

Cooper and his two amigos were asked to work on a yard in Bentwater, and made serious moola yesterday. He might need a bit to cover the cost of him backing my 4 Runner into the neighbor's car inconveniently parked at the end of the driveway. He suctioned the dent out of the pick up truck, but has yet to reattach the corner piece that Hunter also dented and was just repaired. Twice. Rolling my eyes again.

We played Apple to Apples tonight. Sawyer was the clear winner, but we might have a new twist. Playing the audio of the card in question. Back Street Boys? Demi Moore? Audio added a new dimension to the game, beginning when Breyer had no clue.

Then, we played "What-song-would-Mom-and-Dad-add-to-their-playlist game. They each picked a song to play, and we had to decide which one we liked the best. We all have such eclectic taste it was funny.

I'm spending the next three days in Fort Worth at a tactical SWAT training class. Too much fun. Less of a drive, and a few more hours to sleep. It's a win-win.

Sweet dreams -

Love,

Mom

Medal of Honor Recipient Woody Williams

Saw this picture from Arlington National Cemetery, taken today as a number of Medal of Honor recipients laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This picture included Woody Williams, who is now 95 years old and was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Truman for his actions during the battle for Iwo Jima. One of the blessings of living in Ohio/West Virginia was the opportunity to meet him on number of occasions, including a special scout dinner. Pulled these pictures out for Tanner, Hunter, Porter, Cooper, and Sawyer. Woody Williams is one of the kindest, and most honorable men I have met. I am grateful for the opportunity.

  

College Correspondent

Marching On

Amanda and I are dating. You could say it's been a good week!

Sunday night I had dinner with her, her roommates, and the members of her ward who minister to them. Dinner was delicious; chicken pot pie, rolls, and cheesecake for dessert.

After that, I picked up Abby and Michael and we headed to Kayla's for a game night. She had prepared lots of food, and it was great to see Stevie, Kevin and Kaleb again.

Wednesday, after my classes ended at 2 pm, I met up with Amanda and we got ice cream at the creamery and then played people watching bingo. This was the first time for both of us. We filled out bingo sheets with characteristics like someone with pink hair, someone pushing a stroller, someone carrying a guitar, etc. and then tried to find people matching the description. She won.

Thursday I caught up on some reading and then went to a game night at the invitation of Jordan Pearson. He was in my ward last year, and we ran into each other on campus a few weeks ago and decided to get together. We played a few rounds of Telestrations, and Catchphrase, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Friday was a night to remember. I went bowling at BYU with Amanda. Lawson, his date Libby; Kimball and his fiance Aubrey joined us. We all goofed around the first game trying new techniques and attempting to spin the ball like Kimball. The second game everyone tried their best. Except for me. Amanda challenged me to bowl through my legs, so I took her up on the challenge, and what was intended to be a one-frame joke lasted the whole game. Incredibly I nailed two strikes, and finished with a 113.

Saturday morning I cooked for an EQ/RS combined activity. Which means a ward activity. I cooked fried dough and had help prepare a fruit bowl. The activity had changed from a yoga session to a murder mystery breakfast, which I was less than thrilled about, but it exceeded my expectations.

After completing some mundane tasks, I went over to Amanda's and helped deep-clean her new car. It was an unexpected gift from her aunt and uncle, and had not been cleaned in three years. After nearly two hours on that, I headed off to finish some homework and eat dinner. And we decided to go to the Fishkiss Spa that opened one year ago in Provo. Neither of us like the idea of fish touching us, but that made it more interesting. The wait time was close to an hour, so we had time to walk around downtown a little bit. We visited Pioneer book and perused their offerings. She spotted a little poster of the President's and challenged me to name them all in order. Of course no.'s 11-14 wreaked havoc on me, but overall I did well. After a good while looking around, we headed back to the spa. They cleaned our feet, and then we went to the tanks and plopped our feet in. It was the weirdest sensation at first! The fish nibbled and nibbled on the dead skin. The employees say that it feels like putting your feet in something carbonated, but I have to disagree and say that it feels exactly like little fish nibbling on your feet. Nevertheless, after the first few minutes, it was actually a tad relaxing.

Tuesday I again attended with Amanda the weekly devotional. This one was by Elder Randall Bennett of the 70. He spoke about following the prophets and how that will lead us to success. Here are the six prophetic invitations that Elder Bennett again invited us to complete:

1. An individual must ask Heavenly Father how He feels about him or her and what their mission is on earth, and then follow those impressions with exactness.
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2. Learn 'all you can' about Jesus Christ and follow Him.
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3. Spend more time where the Spirit is present.
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4. Learn how to hear and follow the whisperings of the Holy Ghost.
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5. Prayerfully study the Book of Mormon every day.
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6. Serve your ancestors and others in the temple.

I know that by following God's prophet on the earth, we will not be led astray. Through the fulfillment of these six challenges, we will draw closer to our Savior, and have the chance to change not just the world, but to be born again, and be changed ourselves.

"Now you may not come from perfect circumstances either but  I promise that if you will act with faith in your Heavenly Father and his plan and in Jesus Christ and his Atonement and follow God's prophets, I promise that you will be given power to do whatever the Lord needs you to do, and to become whatever he needs you to become, despite  your circumstances." Elder Bennett

First Place Consolation Bracket

Nora N'Updates - with The Good Mother

Double Header Duty

Letter #83

Another week in the wild world of missionary work

My companion has diagnosed his leprosy, turns out it's not actually leprosy (don't explain why his ear fell off last night).

It's DENGUE.

So, he's getting over that. And also the loss of his ear.

We had a little cleaning of our area, trying to take care of the list of members.

We had a zone conference and a couple of other meetings and we have the pictures of the wedding and stuff.

That's about it, until next week,


Elder Men's Wearhouse Tie Lenders

With All My Love

Elder Schenewark,

Good morning! Good luck in your efforts to reach family members. Your comments on listening to me at work made me smile. There's about four calls combined in your written summary. I did appreciate knowing you were reaching out. Monday mornings are always very busy.

Tuesday evening we were home enjoying the dog. Your father played a video of another German Shepherd howling at the television, on which was a third shepherd barking. Wagner kept looking around for the dogs, zeroing in on possible creatures, such as the window the iPad, the computer, the speaker. His ear turning and head tilting were funny. But we couldn't get him to speak. I want him to speak on command. They pulled out the clarinet, the trumpet, the recorder. The closest we got him to speak was when Sawyer howled in his face. Good times in the kitchen.

The Orton Family

Your brothers are heavily invested in the March Madness Tournament. They are a delight to watch as they negotiate over their brackets, and watch the games. I was not able to enter the tournament this year, even after multiple attempts, but will be back year, with you. Luke was invited last year post tourney, and has joined us this year, much to the delight of his cousins. They've figured out multiple ways, using multiple accounts, multiple devices, multiple browsers, to watch in four hour spurts. Sawyer found out last night his school entry had him tied in 2nd place.

Hunter extolling his sunglasses from his mother

Remember my wallet being stolen Thanksgiving morning? Remember my telling you about finding a red car behind Bentwater in the trailer park? Maybe I didn't tell you that part. Sawyer took a picture of the car while I was driving. I tried to do it by myself but it was too blurry. And I passed along the information to the detective. When I ran the plate at work it was registered to a Camaro, which it was not. I was hoping the detective would follow up. I guess he did. The detective from Benbrook Police called to say they have filed charges and obtained a felony arrest warrant. The registered owners' pictures match the pictures on Walmart cameras. Thank you very much. Nothing like solving a multi city crime spree. Case closed!

We were in a store, trying to purchase a suit for Cooper, when he remembered to give me the message. The store had 40% off purchases with the opening of a card, which I was going to do, and then cancel, but the card wasn't approved. Silly me. I forgot I froze my credit line. The retail cashier was able to give me discounts here and there, which was helpful. Cooper's birthday suit, literally, is for his mission, but most recently for prom in April.

Thinking of dates, Sawyer informed me yesterday he wanted to start going to the Laurel-Priest dinner date hosted every night by the Weatherford stake. I must have looked surprise, but he explained, "For the food!"

The first day of spring breezed through this week. In preparation for rain that was to come, we spent the day doing a little yard work. I mowed for the first time, Cooper did a little weed whipping, Sawyer and Miller cleaned up from the dog. We changed our furnace filter, air filters in the cars. One of those kinds of days. Dad went on to LONG walks. The boys placed KanJam. Miller had his first baseball game. He spent the game on first, and had a lot of outs. His team was down by a few, and his last at bats he hit an in the park home run, getting two other batters home, which was enough for them to pull ahead by one.

Worthy to mention is Cooper's tennis match this week. He played in Arlington, the same day Dad was touring the new Ranger's stadium being built in Arlington. There were a LOT of teams, and his first game was against the duo that won the entire tournament. With one loss, they battled their way through every team that was put in the consolation bracket, and came home with first place in that bracket. And a big sunburn.

Love,
Mom and Dad

Service to Brazil

I share this with my sons (as well as a nephew and a brother-in-law)who have given a portion of their lives to serve and help the people of Brazil (for what will be in July a total of ten years). This is at Arlington National Cemetery. Tanner, Hunter, Porter; Derek and Zachary Hutchins

The U.S. Army Color Guard carry the Brazilian flag during an Armed Forces Full Honors Wreath-Laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier hosted by the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, March 19, 2019.
While at ANC, Bolsonaro met with Karen Durham-Aguilera, executive director, Army National Military Cemeteries, toured the Memorial Amphitheater Display Room, and placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. (U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser, Arlington National Cemetery)

Crawfish for A Day

A New Fishing Buddy

Baby Shower Buddies

#WeAteOutdoors

#SheWinsAllTheGames

Forging with Finesse

Wood is from Hawaii - Finally one for himself!

Camp Out and Climbing With A Little Bit of Miss Class

Best Friends

Letter #82

We had a couple of miracles this week, including the baptisms of Gregory, Vanessa and Thallyta. Because of the Stake Conference, the other assistants also had their baptisms with us.

My companion has been quoting Job the entire week because of the never ending stream of sickness that has been afflicting him.  At least he's in good spirits

Fulfilled my lifelong dream of waking up and eating a cold sirloin steak out of my hand.
It's just as good as I knew it would be.

Got to hear my mom working for a little, hearing the Dallas police dispatches she sent. Some missionaries get to hear about the family, the news, etc.

I'm a little more blessed, I get to hear about two female suspects heading northbound on I-30 in a beige navigator.

Good to stay in the loop.

And now off to prepare a conference, lots of love,

Elder Tom Selleck Burt Reynolds

(Don't know why but eating a cold steak reminds me of mustaches.)

With All My Love

Good morning, Elder Schenewark!

Did you remember it's St. Patrick's Day? considering your Irish heritage, and your place of birth near Boston, it might be ingrained in your soul as much as mine. The historical basis of the holiday has always interested me. Patrick's birthname was Maewyn. I'll stick with Patrick. At the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Gaelic Ireland. He spent six years there working as a shepherd and that during this time he "found God."

God told Patrick to flee to the coast, where a ship would be waiting to take him home. After making his way home, Patrick went on to become a priest. According to tradition, Patrick returned to Ireland to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity. The Declaration says that he spent many years in the northern half of Ireland and converted "thousands." Patrick's efforts against the druids were eventually turned into an allegory in which he drove "snakes" out of Ireland (Ireland never had any snakes). Tradition holds that he died on the 17th of March, and after his death was named Ireland's  patron saint. Having a son on a mission today, also converting others to Christ, makes me appreciate the holiday just a bit more.

(Found these pictures on line of a sister training meeting. So good to see your face!)

Monday was Sawyer's 16th birthday. It's Sunday and we still haven't celebrated! We just finished Breyers, didn't we? I did go to his away baseball game in Mansfield, a double header, that finished at 10 p.m. Lucky for him it was spring break. My plan was to just stay for the first game, but I couldn't abandon him on his birthday. He got a "Big  Sauce" necklace from his teammates, which was fun for him. He did so well in his games. He truly is the heart of his team. He played short stop except for the innings when he pitched. He had a couple of doubles and singles. At one point, out of the seven runs, he had come home twice, and had three RBI's, so was responsible for five of the runs. He had a diving catch on the ground for the out. He had a great tag at 2nd on the throw for the out. And he had a smooth slid under the tag at third. They won both games.

Cooper spent Wednesday through Friday camping with other youth from the Weatherford ward, in Mineral Wells. Imagine my relief when I found out early Wednesday morning a tornado had touched down before he arrived. I haven't spoken with him yet, but imagine at the very least it was extremely windy where he camped. He took the dog. We all arrived home Wednesday to find the dog missing, as well as a few of his leashes. The park was dog friendly. Cooper hiked, biked, played the frisbee game KanJam, and of course slept in his hammock.

Wednesday was the day your cousin Anna was flying to Utah via Dallas, and had a ten hour layover. Crazy flight plan. Even crazier because President Trump grounded all Boeing's 737 Max, of which her airline, American Airlines uses as well as Southwest. She arrived in Dallas a bit late, by 1 p.m. instead of 11:30 a.m., but Jarrod was there, with Sawyer, Miller and Breyer. They gave her the choice of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, the Cowgirl Museum, or the Bowling Museum. She picked bowling. Afterwards they went to the Fort Worth Stockyard. I met them at Cooper's BBQ straight from work, and then I took her back to the DFW airport via the Gypsy Scoops ice cream parlor.

Her father posted later that her flight had been cancelled, and she spent the entire night at the airport waiting for a flight to Utah. She got out late Thursday morning.

Thursday morning Dad, Miller and Breyer left to go on a scout camp out at Glenn Rose Dinosaur State Park. Breyer's main concern was sleeping. She's a princess knowing the pea will be bothering her all night. And it did, although in the form of being too cold. Dad eventually gave up his bag to the cause. Miller was asked to cook breakfast and lunch to pass off rank requirements, but was not aware it would be for forty people. It is suppose to be for his patrol, not the young women and leaders that decided to attach themselves onto the scout camp out, as they needed Priesthood holders on theirs.

Miller enjoyed a lashing activity, Breyer loved hanging with the girls. She was quite the hit on the climbing event - one of a few that made it to the top. The instructor told every one later that he was impressed because she listened so well, and then obeyed his suggestions. They ALL arrived home Friday afternoon. Cooper also squeezed in Wade Neeper's Eagle Scout project. Another bench for the City of Granbury, near the beach. He turns 18 in April.

Sawyer was unable to camp because of baseball practice and game, so he spent Thursday evening with his friends bowling and playing basketball. I got off work just in time to pick him up at the bus after his game in Cleburne on Friday. They got smoked.

Dad and I picked up our new mattress Friday evening. I hope it's okay. It looked totally different than the floor model, and the manager was convinced he'd matched the model numbers. We also stopped off at a new ice cream parlor on the square - Silver Saddle Salon. It's a bit pricey but the craft ice cream is yummy.

And the best for last. Dad took all three boys to the Dallas temple for a 7:00 a.m. session. They all had names they brought. They enjoyed a good meal on the way home, and changed their clothes and headed out to as service project.  Breyer and I went to a baby shower, and then met them boys down on the square for the General Granbury birthday celebration, and the annual outhouse race. This year there were only two contestants. We're looking forward to Sawyer and Miller being next year's premier entry.

Do you remember our neighbors in Ohio, the Kerstetters? Her son Dusty's brain cancer is back. I offered to have Darryl Welch stop by and give him a blessing, of which she readily agreed. I hope that works out for the best.

That's the scoop. Tanner and family are driving back from Arizona and Vegas. Hunter has a few adventures to write about. Your brothers make me laugh every day. Cooper is busy filling out scholarship applications. Miller is excited to play ball. The usual. Just as my love for you.

Take care,

Mom

College Correspondent

A Connecticut Puritan in Happy Valley

I went to the temple on Friday just to go, with no specific question or need on my mind. However, as I walked out, it was obvious to me that I needed to end Victory Pizza for the time being, focus on graduation, and look for a job. I headed to the golf course to putt around a little, and made some phone calls. Spring has arrived, and Friday was my first day this year in shorts. Brian, in Boise, had some good leads, and sent me the info for Clearwater Analytics. I texted the guy, named JP, and we set up a phone interview for Saturday. The call went good, and he sold me on the company. I don't know yet what will happen, but that shot into the running, and I should know pretty quick if I got the job. Besides looking at Idaho, I've also thrown some feelers out into Texas and Massachusetts. I'm not so set on staying in Utah past April anymore.

It's easy to think of the United States always as one country, instead of recognizing the wide disparity between states. Here's one stat that made me think. The average person in Mississippi lives just as long as the average person in Bangladesh. And the average person in West Virginia lives just a little less than the average person in Libya.

My history capstone rough draft was due on Thursday. I wrote five pages on Tuesday in just over an hour, thought it was going way easier than expected, and put it on the back-burner again. Wednesday, I worked for another hour, and on Thursday I worked on it all day, finishing it before 5 pm, and turning in 20 pages. I remembered people like my mission president, President Young, who did not have the opportunity to graduate college, but would have loved to. Remembering those who would love to have the experience of college helped me continue and work hard, but I have to admit that at this point, I don't appreciate it intrinsically, and am glad to be so close to the end.

Amanda invited me to the devotional on Tuesday and we listened to Elder Carlos Godoy of the 70. I put off any other dates because of my paper, but on Friday we had planned to go ice-skating. Then, as this was our day of spring-break, she went hiking that morning and slipped on a waterfall and broke her hand. Knowing that a fall while ice-skating could cause a lot more damage, I brought some pizza and we watched BYU's baseball team beat Gonzaga. We joked that she had taken "spring break" too literally. Alas, beware the ides of March. Saturday we went and played tennis, and despite being one-handed, Amanda played really well. Those were two of my favorite dates ever, and provided good opportunities to get to know each other. After playing tennis for an hour, her hand started hurting, and we just sat on the court in the sunshine and talked for another hour. Having played golf with Kimball in the morning, I ended up slightly sunburned which is a noteworthy accomplishment in March. Tonight, I'm going over to her place for dinner.

On Tuesday, when I decided to leave my paper for later, I ended up again at the golf course. As a single player, I ended up joining Adam for nine holes. There are times when I want to play alone, and others like on Tuesday where company is nice, and thus my invite to Adam. He was traveling from Minnesota to Arizona. His family was going on vacation there, and he was recently let-go from work, and was driving their bikes and other equipment down, having wanted to see this part of the country. He had driven from Jackson Hole that morning and was planning to continue on for a few more hours later at night. Adam works in insurance on the back-end and his company had massive, but expected layoffs. However, it came with a year's worth of severance due to his past 28 years at the company, and he'll start in April at a new one. This was his first time in Utah and we enjoyed talking about everything from life insurance premiums to Amy Klobuchar's bid for president.

Saturday night, after tennis, I returned home and cut my hair. Then I ate dinner, made some homemade ice cream, and read in my robe still feeling soaked in sunshine. Makes you wonder, can life get better?

"Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy." 2 Nephi 2:25.

Unicorn Love

Nora N'Updates