With All My Love

What a week! Just like another week in so many ways. What made this week just a bit unique?

Lupe Valdez resigned her office as Dallas County Sheriff today, December 6, 2017. She's decided to run on the Democratic ticket for the Governor of the State of Texas. Good luck. Our Republican Governor Abbott, in his infamous wheelchair, is very well liked.

We started putting up Christmas decorations, including getting the ornaments on the tree. Miss Breyer separated all your ornaments, but “No one else can touch them.” She’s very protective of you and yours.

I was setting out wooden candle holders made for me by Uncle Zach and Grampy he made to pass off a Cub Scout requirement. I’ve had them for many years, and while not beautiful or trendy, they remind me of family. I had to purchase new red taper candles for them, which your sister has repeatedly asked to light. She almost had me thinking she had a fire fetish, but she’s calmed down a bit. Christmas reminds me of family.

When I come home from work, and walk in the door, my family makes me happy. I'm always so grateful to come back home, even to sick children, messy rooms, no dinner and hungry tummies. My wooden candle holders remind me of all the wonderful family moments I've been so fortunate to enjoy. I'm sure letters from home remind you of home and our love for you, just as your letters do so for us.

What else? Your brother celebrated his 11 year old birthday Thursday on the 76th year anniversary of Pearl Harbor. This year President Trump signed the National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day proclamation. Bro. Bach reminded Miller that being 11 means, "There are so many things you can now do since you're officially 11."

You can:
· Attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the British wizarding school
. Say Hello to Harry and Ron if you see them
. I think you’d make a great Gryffindor, but we’ll have to let the Sorting Hat make that call
· Continue to prepare to receive the Priesthood in just one year.
· Know that in just a few years you’ll be driving, maybe even the big old white van, it just doesn’t get any better!
·Join the 11 Year old Boy Scouts and begin to work on Tenderfoot, Merit Badges and Camping !"

I have yet to make his requested cherry pie, but he did get cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

Thursday evening was also a Christmas play by Miller and all fourth graders at Oakwoods. Miller was in the chorus, and did sing, but had a smirky smile on his face watching others with their speaking parts. He does not enjoy public performances. Sawyer had a basketball game right after the play. It was not so fun to watch the team with their first loss in almost two years. Also, he had two fouls within 15 seconds of the first quarter beginning, a third two minutes later, forcing his coach to sit him through the remainder of the half. He then got a fourth foul in the third quarter, and fouled out in the fourth quarter. For some reason, he and the other two main players were handily targeted, each having four fouls in the third quarter, and the other team having none. I'm not one to blame the referees, but this was so blatant something was up.

What else has been unique this week? Breyer brought home her first First Grade needing-a-bucket virus. I worked overtime Friday evening, and walked in the door to Breyer holding The Pot. The Pot is the one I use for BIG crowds, or for canning. I guess Dad thought she must be really sick. Within minutes she did a good job filling at least the bottom of the pot; in the middle of her bath she tried again, and around 2 a.m. she did her best. But she couldn’t quite cover the bottom of the pot. She was low maintenance the rest of the day, and by dinner was fairly normal. Even after a two hour nap she went right to bed.

Saturday morning, early morning, Miller had a basketball game. 8 a.m. comes early on the weekend, but not for those of us who are already at work before 6 a.m. the rest of the week. I loved it! He squeaked by with a win, and a few buckets. We spent a good portion of the day finishing our Christmas decorations and cleaning in anticipation of our Christmas guests soon to arrive. He also had a game with his prime team at 6 p.m., the same time as the annual ward Christmas party began. We arrived a fashionably 72 minutes later, and the tables and chair were being put away, and the service project for an elderly home was already done. We were lucky to get a piece of ham and a few pieces of corn before we went back home. Ho ho ho.

All this week strong Santa Ana winds rapidly spread multiple wildfires across tens of thousands of acres, destroying hundreds of homes and other buildings, in California.  So sad to see  all the pictures depicting massive destruction. Home reminds us of family, and is so hard when we lose that familiar place.

I heard the missionaries that were evacuated from Puerto Rico are able to start handing back this week.

Your cousin Kayla has nine days before she's home. Merry Christmas.

That's all the news fit to print tonight. My eyelids are heavy, my shoulders a bit drooped, and my brain sluggish, all signs it's time to call it a night. Know of our love for you. Beyond words I can compose, I'm so thankful you're a part of my family. I hope you chose to me. Stay safe.

Love,

Mom

Sweet Sawyer

Nora N'Updates

College Correspondent

FINDING GRACE

Sunday was the highly anticipated 1st Pres. Christmas Devotional. Kind Sarah W. set me up with a mission pal of hers, Ashley, and I hooked my friend Mark up with Rebecca. You could have filmed a movie scene. We drove up to Salt Lake City, the air was frosty, snow flakes were falling. We admired the beautiful Christmas lights, and heard a choir of angels sing. Not to mention we heard heartwarming talks. Oh, and Mark's mom sent him with a giant flask of hot chocolate which we all enjoyed afterwords. Everything went perfect.

The Man, the Myth, the Legend

No, I did not meet Scott Stirling. I did, however, meet Bruce C. Hafen. The 'C' in his name probably stands for Champion, because that's just who he is. BYU hosted a week long seminar on grace, and he spoke on it Thursday night. I could say much, but I'll simply leave a paraphrased quote from his talk:

"We cannot say, 'Lord, give me experience, help me grow, help me become like thee!' and then not expect to have grief, when that is what shaped Him, and made Him who He is."

The next night I again went to the last address of the night. This time it was given by Sheri Dew. Again, another marvelous discourse on grace. My understanding of it grew, as well as my desire to understand it still better. She, being single, and obviously struggling with that challenge, shared so sincerely how grace has helped her. Her testimony was powerful. As with Elder Hafen, there was a Q+A after, and when someone asked how we can know if we are receiving grace, I liked how she said,

"Every spiritual privilege we have is a manifestation of His grace."

 Hometeaching

This has been a struggle. My companion is still MIA. It's been impossible to connect with three of those I'm visiting. The fourth I connected too well as she asked me out. So, I decided to mark a date, invite everybody over for pie, and see what happens. Remarkably, it was a success. Finally, two of them started responding to my messages, and I was able to meet one of them for the first time. Overall, three out of four showed. We bonded, my roommates extended the hands of friendship as well, and we all left filled. I've mentioned Mouli before, but to quickly restate, he is a PhD student in physics from India, having previously studied in Germany. While everyone else was talking, he stayed mostly quiet and very reserved. Towards the end, having shared a message about faith, we started talking about religion, just me and him. He said he was born Hindu, which I had reasoned. I then said, "Wait, I want to show you this book." I returned carrying a book, and he said, "I knew, the Book of Mormon," to which I responded, "No, its the Bhagavad Gita!" (which is basically Hindu scripture.) His eyes lit up, he responded to a couple of my questions, and for the first time, we connected. Developments to follow!

Market Analysis

I ended my bitcoin run. In just under a month, I netted $370 which isn't going to ' put me on Forbes' radar anytime soon, but for a college student, helps significantly. While I still believe in the idea, I would recommend staying away from bitcoin. Starting next week, it will become easy to short bitcoin, and I think this will cause some problems. While it was the trailblazer, I think it will be passed by better, more efficient block chain using cryptocurrencies. The horse-and-buggy helped people tremendously, but it was the wrong market to invest in at the turn of the 20th century. It is often forgotten that until 1944 the British Pound was the reserve currency of the world, being then replaced by the US dollar. I see something similar happening to bitcoin, and while it will probably continue to rise for some time, I see more value in Monero, and IOTA, and am excited to see what happens in the future.

Better than....

I read recently an article, where the author listed some things that were more important than money. Later, I decided to come up with my own list. I won't share that today, but I will share something similar. Pres. Faust, sixty some years ago, almost ready to head to his mission in Brasil, received some training from then apostle David O. McKay. Elder McKay walked to the chalkboard and simply wrote, "It is better to be trusted than to be loved." The notion being, our Heavenly Father will always love us. Our parents will always love us. But can they trust us? We receive their love, but have to earn their trust, and that happens through our daily actions, as well as, I believe, our desire to love them back. And of course, to show our love, and to earn His trust, to become His friends, we must keep His commandments.

Daily Doodles

Words for the Wingmen

Dear Elder, Sister & Family,

Any noteworthy news since I last wrote is certainly superseded by the arrival of our beautiful daughter Nora Marie Schenewark. Personally, I'd be very satisfied to end the letter right there and go pick her up right now, but you all are important too so I'll try and hammer out some more details as to her arrival.

First, she has a fantastic sense of timing, choosing to come AFTER Thanksgiving dinner, but before her Grandpa and Grandma had to leave town. Evidently, however, she couldn't wait long because AnneMarie's labor began not very long after the Turkey had been served.

AnneMarie tried to rest at home and I kept her company until three that morning when we called it and headed into the hospital. After observing her for an hour, our kind nurse worked her magic so that AnneMarie was admitted that night. Soon after she got an epidural and at 3:21 pm our daughter was delivered.

Of course that makes it sound so much quicker and easier than it was, but my heart was full of eternal gratitude for my incredible eternal companion who, over the course of almost 24 hours in labor, and over the last 9 months, has never ceased to amaze me with her strength, spiritual and physical. And, of course, her beauty : ) That love only continues to grow as I get to see her as a mother.

We spent Friday and Saturday night in the hospital and had a wonderful experience with the staff at Utah Valley Hospital. The food was much better than any hospital food I remember eating (Shrimp fettuccine alfredo?!!) and the nurses were fantastic. Also, I kept Nora company on her several trips to the nursery, some in the dead of night to monitor her vitals. What a magical place? Each time I visited, all was still and lined up in a row, lots of sleeping babies surrounded by Christmas decorations. Magical. Thank you to family who visited, especially Uncle Hunter who swang by and was kind enough to bring muffins and sugar cookies. Fast start out of the favorite uncle gate.

Bottom line: we love Nora, I'm pretty sure she loves us, and we're very blessed that AnneMarie is healing and feeling well.

In other less important news, I took the LSAT yesterday. Nothing notable there except to say that if, in the future, you have to take a standardized test early one morning, be considerate to your fellow test takers and keep your enthusiasm to funeral parlor levels. Anything more is nauseating and frankly scary. Also, AnneMarie was so sweet and made me breakfast early before my test and slept on the couch--on the couch--so that she wouldn't wake me when getting the baby. <3 p="">
Also, because Nora is so easy as a baby, we even had a little date one afternoon this week when a favorite Neapolitan pizza parlor was giving away free food. While AnneMarie and I enjoyed pizza perfection, Nora did what any self-respecting gastro enthusiast of her age would do and fell asleep while inhaling the intoxicating aromas of Italy that swirled around her.

Love to you all!

Tanner, AnneMarie, & Nora

Letter #17

My companion is still short. Just a reminder.

Also it was his birthday on Sunday, haven´t reaped the cake rewards yet, but I will. Oh I will

We had a stake conference this week, twas tight. We had new three investigators show up and I only had to make one surprise solo appearance to the pulpit. Also, our four part missionary quartet was fine. Didn´t know I could sing soprano did you? Granted, taken down a couple of octaves

We saw demon grasshoppers. They were standing on this plant, shiny black with red eyes. Very scary. Very hoppy. About five hundred of them crawling over each other, gross

Went to a members house and he has a fingerprint lock, it reads his fingerprint and the door opens. Very tight

I snapped a stainless steel ice cream scoop in half. Not my fault. The member brought out this brick of ice cream and asked me to scoop some out. I tried, gently, but couldn´t get it. Told her she should microwave it first. She was like no, just dig in. BANG.  Luckily no one was hit by either part of the scoop or, especially by the ice cream. And, after the ice cream was microwaved for a sec, came out easy.

At stake conference. while I was on the stand, there was a woman who was very intently watching the talks. Very intently. She looked more confused than anyone I'd ever seen in my life. And she stayed that way for two hours, just in this state of goneness. I don´t know how to describe it. It was hard to keep from laughing, but me and Orteney mostly managed.

And, stealing a little story from a handsome, Canananadian Elder in Hong Kong. "The first time we met, I was playing pool in the lobby, just killing five minutes. He walked in, carrying a case of water he had cranked from some activity (he snagged stuff, of course we would be friends). But, he asked me if I wanted one. I´m a thirsty man, of course I accepted. We started talking, we became friends, and now, I have some stories with him that I´m afraid to share #PotatoHill.

But, thinking about this, you never know what effect a small act of kindness will have on someone else, as well as on yourself. I´ll be forever grateful that he decided to give me that stolen water bottle, I can now say that it changed that whole year for me. And to couple with this, we often use the word 'love' as a substance or noun. I think it is more aptly used as a verb. When we 'love' someone or something, our actions are normally the first thing to show it. And that´s how it should be.

This Christmas season, this week, today, let´s all make a little more effort to show the people we love that we love them. Love, as an action, speaks louder than words ever could. But, in words....

I love you all, it´s amazing the strength I feel when I think of all of you and what you do for me. I love this gospel and for the blessings it has given me, my friends and my family, and countless opportunities to become a better person. And I especially love my Savior, and the sacrifice he made for me, the sacrifice that allows me to be clean of sins and to live with my family forever. He is my best friend, and I love Him.

Lovingly,

Elder What Happened at Potato Hill?

With All My Love

Dear Elder Schenewark,

What a surprise to see in our Facebook account a picture of you with Tanner's Mission President's son. It's such a small world in the Church. She told us he was going to University. Did he find you? 

It's been a wonderful week. Your grandparents flew into town around noon on Wednesday. Rather than try to figure out a way to get them home to an empty house, I planned to use hotel points, and have them shuttled to a Marriott to rest. Turns out I had a certificate for a stay that expired the day after they arrived; the shuttle was free, and the location convenient. This was a great plan except for a few minor things that became major inconveniences. The directions on the hotel site were incorrect. There were no hotels at that exit. The service road had no exit points for four miles. The service road was under major construction. I was navigating the drive during rush hour traffic. It took me almost an hour to make a 15 minute drive, and I ended up at the wrong Marriott, three miles from my supposed destination.

I received a refusal to my request to have them shuttled to my location; I received new directions, which were the same as the ones I had, and found them on the other side of the highway two hours late. Adding in Dallas traffic to the commute home, and we were over two hours later than we should have been. Good thing dinner was ready. It’s always good to have a back-up plan, and if there is no back-up plan, at least be comfortable.

Thursday evening we went to Sawyer’s away basketball game. It was a nail biter. We could not have asked for better entertainment. Sawyer played the key role in the game, with their win by one basket. He scored 20 out of the 36 points, 12 of them in the 4th quarter. He shot his first successful 3 point jump shot; made all but one from the line, untied the game score several times and had the game winning shot with 4 seconds left.

Friday night’s entertainment was a Christmas show in Granbury. Granbury Live is the venue near the opera house that hosts musical acts, and has just opened under the outside ceiling of big white light bulbs. Dad took Breyer as his date, and your grandmother was escorted by Cooper. The best part of the evening was watching Breyer get ready for her date. She had on a dress and heels. Put together a purse. Asked if she could put on lipstick (no, just Chapstick). Rubbed lotion all over her face and neck, and then put on my perfume. Dad then felt obligated to at least change his shirt and borrow your cologne from Cooper. The dates were a smashing success, ending with our seasonal eggnog dessert.

Miller and I were at his first basketball practice. Your father was in Fort Worth at a work related conference, and Sawyer was at a regional band practice. Not so much fun.

Saturday morning Miller entertained your grandmother at this first basketball game. Not much you can do with a bunch of fourth grade boys, after one practice, except let them play. Miller scored the only 8 points of the 1st quarter, sat out the second by choice of the opposing team coach, and was the key player in pushing just enough ahead to pull off the win.

Your father took them to the airport after lunch, via Sawyer’s regional band concert. It was a whirlwind of a weekend. I think we wore each other out. In between scheduled activities we sat outside in the beautiful sunshine at 75 degrees, talked, laughed, sat outside some more. They visited their favorite city library used book store, bought me a new crock pot when we discovered mine cracked, and visited the high school to see Cooper’s aeronautic and engineering classrooms. Such a delightful visit!

We're still face timing daily with Nora. She's a sweetie that's chunking up  nicely. And she likes to eat. My kind of kid. We can hardly wait to see her. We spent last night putting together the crib, and dusting it off. Cooper was a big help, and Miss Breyer was the cleaner.

And on to things not so pleasant. Imagine a traffic accident, with injuries, where the primary unit on scene discovers a grenade in the car vs the dump truck, causing the highway to be shut down and the bomb squad contacted. Or having a pistol brandished and used to assault a female who opened her door at the wrong time, with the suspect female arriving and leaving in an Uber. Or a man who barricades himself in a house with six hostages. All three individuals made a decision, ultimately affecting more than themselves. How much better would they and those they affected been without their poor decisions?

President Uchtdorf said, "There may be many things about life that are beyond [our] control. But in the end, [we] have the power to choose both [our]destination and many of [our] experiences along the way. It is not so much [our]abilities but [our] choices that make the difference in life."

Continue to choose wisely. And here we are on the cusp of hearing from you. We hope you're week was as wonderful, in a different sort of way as ours was with your grandparents here.

Love,

Mom

P.S. Your letters arrived this week. I'll have to write more about them later, but thank you so much!

F U N C L E

Uncle Aaron's version of Uncle

Considering I have six boys, 

and five of them have become uncles,

 his patented definition is much more appealing.

Nora N'Updates