FEBRUARY 2010

I thought this was going to be a slow month, but I was wrong. Bob left for Ruston, Louisiana on February 1st, and I was busy working a lot of overtime.
I talked on the phone a couple of times with my cousin Henry Newell. He lives in Florida. When he was 14, he had a swimming accident, which left him a parapalegic. Since then, he has been confined to a wheelchair. He has endured so much pain over the years, but has found faith and hope in God and Jesus Christ. He has used his story to influence many people around the world for good.
He found a wonderful author, Marilyn Gyron, who wrote a wonderful story about him. Here is a link to his story, "A Gift For Henry":
http://thevictor.tatepublishing.net
He also has a blogspot; the addresss is: http://praisegod4jesus.blogspot.com/
It has been a pleasure for me to be in contact with him. It gives me strength and courage to make it through the trials in my life, which pale in comparison to his.

O.K. back to our monthly story. Bob was supposed to be back in town on Thursday, February 11th. He said he had a special Valentine's Day surprise for me on the week-end. The weather was really bad, and he had his flights cancelled three days in a row, and was not able to get home until Sunday, February 14th. Finally he got home, but was going to leave to go back out of town on Monday morning. But...we got a call from our daughter, Monica. She had a terrible car accident in Reno on the previous Saturday evening, Feb. 13th.
She had borrowed her friend Rob's car to go visit another friend of hers. After visiting her friend, she was going to meet Rob for dinner. On the way to meet him for dinner, she had called him to let him know she was on the way and just happened to mention which road she would be traveling on. When she didn't show up when she was supposed to, he got one of his friends to drive him and they began searching for her.
She had somehow lost control of the car and gone off the side of the road. The car which was a Toyota 4-Runner had rolled twice and had tumbled down a ten-foot embankment. The side of of the road was covered with large boulders and bushes. The car was totalled, and all of the windows were broken out, even the moon-roof windows on the top of the car! Monica had a concusion and was in and out of consciousness. She was really banged up. Her right shoulder and side were prety damaged and her left foot was injured. Thank goodness she was wearing her seatbelt...she's sure that it saved her life.
What was remarkable was the fact that she survived th accident at all, and that Rob found her. He said that they had searched up and down the road for almost an hour. He said that no one could have seen where she went off, and that no one would have ever found her. Thank goodness she had mentioned which road she would be driving on. We know that she was watched over and protected for a reason, and that her life's work is not finished. We truly believe that this was a miracle that she survived and that Rob found her, and that she is still here with us! Thank goodness she did not have Ariel and Tatum with her!! We are so grateful that she was watched over and protected, because her girls need her so much and so do we. She is so special and we will not forget how God watched over her and protected her...and we know that he also led her friend Rob to find her. What a miracle!!
Bob and I went out to Reno that Monday morning, February 15th, and stayed with her and the girls and helped them out. We had fun with the kids and tried to help Monica that week. (Sorry we were late for soccer practice, Ariel!) I'm not from Reno!!
After we got back, Bob left to go out of town again to Richmond, Virginia.
Monica celebrated her birthday on February 22nd!!! Next time, if you want us to come see you, don't have an accident just to get us there!!!

Then, on February 26th, I went to see our grandson Ian in a class play...actually several plays. His class had been studying Shakespeare, and Ian was in 3 out of the 4 plays.In "Beware The Ides of March, he was "Julius Caesar," then he played "Baptista" in "The Taming of the Shrew."Then, last, he was "Banquo" in "Macbeth". He was so amazing!! What an actor! What a "thesp-'ian'!!
After his plays, he rode back home with me. That night, Angela, Richard, Ian and I went to dinner to "Tepanaki." It's a Japanese restaurant, where the chef cooks your dinner in front of you. It was a fun night!


Don't forget to read about Bob's antics for this month:


February 2010-Robert's blog:

My portion of the BLOG always appears to focus on my work travel. I travelled down two different southern parts of the country in February and my adventures and/or travails are noted below:
Louisiana
I travelled to Ruston, Louisiana on February 1st and stayed there about two weeks. Ruston is a college town (Louisiana Tech – Karl Malone’s alma mater) that is located in Northern Louisiana on Interstate 20 between Shreveport and Monroe. I usually fly into Monroe by way of Memphis, Tennessee.
I had an uneventful stay in Ruston this time for the most part. Back in December when I was there, my rental car was broken into while it was in the hotel parking lot. Nothing was in the car for them to take but the perpetrators broke out the driver’s side window which was “fun” to deal with.
My stay turned “eventful” when I was scheduled to return to Salt Lake City on February 11th. It snowed in Ruston and Monroe about five inches on the ground but it didn’t stick on the roads. However, it just threw everything related to transportation into a panic.
I had cancelled flights on Thursday, February 11th, Friday, February 12th and Saturday morning, February 13th. I finally flew to Memphis from Monroe on Saturday night. Mike Tomlin, coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers was on the flight with me. I shook his hand and introduced myself. I finally made it to Salt Lake City on Sunday, the 14th around noon. This messed up some good Valentines weekend plans I had made for Ree and I.

Richmond, Virginia
I flew into Richmond on 02/22, Monica’s Birthday. We were delayed out of Salt Lake City due to a mechanical issue. I thought I was going to miss my connection in Detroit and I had to run between terminals but that flight was delayed as well. I had to stay over the weekend. I was invited out for dinner at the home of the founder of the trust company I am working for there in Richmond. His family is very nice. He pointed out that he had some neighbors that are LDS and have children attending BYU. Of course, I had to relate to them that my brother-in-law was “Cosmo” at BYU.
I have been playing racquetball with two gentlemen at the trust company. I enjoy racquetball unless I get hit with the ball which they both proceeded to do in one game of cutthroat that we were playing. One other story, I went out on the Sunday I was staying there in Virginia to go to church. I had found a ward house about 4 miles away from the hotel where I was staying. But to my dismay, the rental car wouldn’t start! The battery had died. Well, I missed church and finally about 4 hours later I had a new rental car to drive around. Life on the road……….