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……….
Monday, April 19, 2010
Sunday, January 31, 2010
JANUARY 2010
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!
We are really looking forward to a great year with our family and friends.
I made a list of all my new year's resolutions and hopefully I'll be able to accomplish most of them.
This year has started as usual with me working at JetBlue, and Bob traveling.
He was home for the first few weeks, and picked our grandson, Ian up a couple of times. I was working so much overtime that I didn't get to spend any time with him, except for a couple of games of Kismet (which he won, of course)!
Ian is working on an art project for school when he comes over. He is drawing it free-handed and it looks great. He is really a good artist!
Both Ian and Ariel are so talented artistically-you should see some of their artwork! I'm so impressed with their talents.
On January 22, Bob and I decided to go to Reno for Ariel's birthday. She is our oldest granddaughter and just turned 12 years old. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ARIEL!!
Bob and I took separate flights, but landed in Reno, NV within minutes of each other. Our sweet daughter, Monica took her lunch break to pick us up at the airport.
She dropped us off at her house, then had to go back to work. We thought we wouldn't see the girls until Monica came home, but Ariel got a ride from her friend's house early, so we got to spend some precious time with her.
After Monica and Tatum got home, we all went out to celebrate Ariel's birthday. We went to "Texas Roadhouse." We had a fun evening, and when we came out of the restaurant, it was snowing.
After dinner, we came home and decided to all watch a movie together. Ariel and I had an "ice cream eating contest." She thought she could beat me, but I told her that I don't think anyone could win against me eating ice cream. I was right! I made myself sick and broke my diet, but hey, "I won!"
We had so much fun with Monica, Ariel and Tatum. Bob spent most of the day playing games on their "WII" with them. Besides shopping, I got to spend some time with Tatum, playing with ALL of her dolls and ALL of her stuffed animals. (She knows all of their names, too.) She is the cutest 6 year old in the world! (I'm not biased at all!)
After spending the day shopping, Monica cooked dinner for us. She is a great cook and needs to live with me and be my personal chef. Later, we decided to watch another movie and yes...Ariel and I had another ice cream eating contest. Guess who won again? She was so sure she could be me this time, but I guess I showed her. My rocky road against her mint chocolate chip! She's so skinny! She didn't have any room to put any ice cream in that tiny little tummy! Silly girl!
We couldn't go to church on Sunday, because Ariel had a soccer game at the same time. She is on an outdoor league and also plays on an indoor league, the "Internationals." They had won all of their games until that day. They tied with the other team. The ref made some bad calls and they should've won. Ariel is a great player and all of her teammates and coaches love her. All of the parents were shouting, "Yes, Ariel...Go, Ariel!!" She was fun to watch! I had seen her practice in the summer, but never had seen her play. She is a great player and very dedicated. Their team is still undefeated, so I'm sure they'll do well in the championships!
After the soccer game, we did lots more fun things with all 3 of them. Bob got a sore arm playing games on the "Wii." (Bob and I didn't really get ourselves anything for Christmas, so we are going to get the "Wii" console and games so that everyone can play when they come to our house.)
Sunday evening, we watched another movie, and Bob and I packed up for our trip home. On Monday morning, after Ariel went to school and we dropped Tatum off at her school, Monica drove us back to the airport to fly back home to Salt Lake.
A couple of hours after we got home, Bob had to leave for Pennsylvania for work. I was again alone...by myself...just me and my JetBlue computer. (wahh!)
Here is Robert's contribution:
January 2010
I traveled the last week of January to Pennsylvania to work with two clients. One of them is in Lancaster. The other is in Hershey. Lancaster is in Lancaster County which is Amish country. I was able to observe a number of Amish in their fields. They do not use anything mechanized but use horses to pull plows and wagons. Mom (Varda) can remember the days when they used horses for everything down on the farm in Leamington, Utah. The Amish go around town in black horse drawn carriages. Lancaster County is where the Lightners ended up settling in 1723 after they came to America from Germany seeking religious freedom. Adam Lightner who married Mary Elizabeth Rollins was born there in 1810. I mentioned my Lightners connection to people at the bank who grew up in Lancaster and that is a very well known regional name.
The other institution I visited is in Hershey which is north of Lancaster about 45 minutes. This is where Milton Hershey set up his chocolate making activities and it continues there today. I saw the Chocolate Factory and the Hershey School for Underprivileged Children. They have an amusement park there like Lagoon and chocolate smell is in the air. Hershey Pennsylvania is where Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a single pro game back in 1962 when he played for Philadelphia.
The flight from Salt Lake City to Philadelphia nonstop is about 4 hours long. Then my colleague and I drove for 1.5 hours to Lancaster. I was supposed to get into the airport at 11:15 PM Philly time but we landed and then stayed on the tarmac for 45 minutes since there was a plane at our gate. Then it took an hour for the bags to come. By the time we made it to the hotel in Lancaster it was 2:00 AM. The flight back from Philadelphia to Salt Lake City takes even longer than coming out since the wind is usually a headwind east of the Mississippi. This time it was actually 196 mph. So it took over five hours of flight time to get back to SLC. Traveling does have its difficulties but I was glad to visit our ancestral home area in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
We are really looking forward to a great year with our family and friends.
I made a list of all my new year's resolutions and hopefully I'll be able to accomplish most of them.
This year has started as usual with me working at JetBlue, and Bob traveling.
He was home for the first few weeks, and picked our grandson, Ian up a couple of times. I was working so much overtime that I didn't get to spend any time with him, except for a couple of games of Kismet (which he won, of course)!
Ian is working on an art project for school when he comes over. He is drawing it free-handed and it looks great. He is really a good artist!
Both Ian and Ariel are so talented artistically-you should see some of their artwork! I'm so impressed with their talents.
On January 22, Bob and I decided to go to Reno for Ariel's birthday. She is our oldest granddaughter and just turned 12 years old. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ARIEL!!
Bob and I took separate flights, but landed in Reno, NV within minutes of each other. Our sweet daughter, Monica took her lunch break to pick us up at the airport.
She dropped us off at her house, then had to go back to work. We thought we wouldn't see the girls until Monica came home, but Ariel got a ride from her friend's house early, so we got to spend some precious time with her.
After Monica and Tatum got home, we all went out to celebrate Ariel's birthday. We went to "Texas Roadhouse." We had a fun evening, and when we came out of the restaurant, it was snowing.
After dinner, we came home and decided to all watch a movie together. Ariel and I had an "ice cream eating contest." She thought she could beat me, but I told her that I don't think anyone could win against me eating ice cream. I was right! I made myself sick and broke my diet, but hey, "I won!"
We had so much fun with Monica, Ariel and Tatum. Bob spent most of the day playing games on their "WII" with them. Besides shopping, I got to spend some time with Tatum, playing with ALL of her dolls and ALL of her stuffed animals. (She knows all of their names, too.) She is the cutest 6 year old in the world! (I'm not biased at all!)
After spending the day shopping, Monica cooked dinner for us. She is a great cook and needs to live with me and be my personal chef. Later, we decided to watch another movie and yes...Ariel and I had another ice cream eating contest. Guess who won again? She was so sure she could be me this time, but I guess I showed her. My rocky road against her mint chocolate chip! She's so skinny! She didn't have any room to put any ice cream in that tiny little tummy! Silly girl!
We couldn't go to church on Sunday, because Ariel had a soccer game at the same time. She is on an outdoor league and also plays on an indoor league, the "Internationals." They had won all of their games until that day. They tied with the other team. The ref made some bad calls and they should've won. Ariel is a great player and all of her teammates and coaches love her. All of the parents were shouting, "Yes, Ariel...Go, Ariel!!" She was fun to watch! I had seen her practice in the summer, but never had seen her play. She is a great player and very dedicated. Their team is still undefeated, so I'm sure they'll do well in the championships!
After the soccer game, we did lots more fun things with all 3 of them. Bob got a sore arm playing games on the "Wii." (Bob and I didn't really get ourselves anything for Christmas, so we are going to get the "Wii" console and games so that everyone can play when they come to our house.)
Sunday evening, we watched another movie, and Bob and I packed up for our trip home. On Monday morning, after Ariel went to school and we dropped Tatum off at her school, Monica drove us back to the airport to fly back home to Salt Lake.
A couple of hours after we got home, Bob had to leave for Pennsylvania for work. I was again alone...by myself...just me and my JetBlue computer. (wahh!)
Here is Robert's contribution:
January 2010
I traveled the last week of January to Pennsylvania to work with two clients. One of them is in Lancaster. The other is in Hershey. Lancaster is in Lancaster County which is Amish country. I was able to observe a number of Amish in their fields. They do not use anything mechanized but use horses to pull plows and wagons. Mom (Varda) can remember the days when they used horses for everything down on the farm in Leamington, Utah. The Amish go around town in black horse drawn carriages. Lancaster County is where the Lightners ended up settling in 1723 after they came to America from Germany seeking religious freedom. Adam Lightner who married Mary Elizabeth Rollins was born there in 1810. I mentioned my Lightners connection to people at the bank who grew up in Lancaster and that is a very well known regional name.
The other institution I visited is in Hershey which is north of Lancaster about 45 minutes. This is where Milton Hershey set up his chocolate making activities and it continues there today. I saw the Chocolate Factory and the Hershey School for Underprivileged Children. They have an amusement park there like Lagoon and chocolate smell is in the air. Hershey Pennsylvania is where Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a single pro game back in 1962 when he played for Philadelphia.
The flight from Salt Lake City to Philadelphia nonstop is about 4 hours long. Then my colleague and I drove for 1.5 hours to Lancaster. I was supposed to get into the airport at 11:15 PM Philly time but we landed and then stayed on the tarmac for 45 minutes since there was a plane at our gate. Then it took an hour for the bags to come. By the time we made it to the hotel in Lancaster it was 2:00 AM. The flight back from Philadelphia to Salt Lake City takes even longer than coming out since the wind is usually a headwind east of the Mississippi. This time it was actually 196 mph. So it took over five hours of flight time to get back to SLC. Traveling does have its difficulties but I was glad to visit our ancestral home area in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
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