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Thomcat's tidbitsSeptember 01 Church CallingsI belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. One unique thing about my church is that there is no paid ministry and most of the members hold "callings" such as Sunday School teacher or Organist etc... We don't ask to do a particular job. Usually the Bishop (who is the leader of the individual congregations) will know what positions need to be filled and then he or one of his counselors will ask individuals if they will do it. I have served in many callings over the years including Primary teacher, Relief Society Counselor and Young Womens president. Usually I am blessed from my service in a variety of ways and I probably benefit more than I give out.
This summer I didn't have a calling for much of the time. I was gone from home a lot and it just worked out that way. A couple of weeks ago I got a new calling. This one was Enrichment leader. Basically that means I would head up a committee and we'd plan weekly activities and quarterly events with all the ladies in our congregation. I was excited about this calling. I would get to know a lot of the ladies I haven't really known very well and plan fun activities. Our first event is coming up in just a couple of weeks. We're having an overnight womens retreat at a lake house. I contacted each of the ladies on the committee and we met to discuss the preparations.
There's one thing I've learned after 20 years of service in the church. The moment you get "comfortable" in your calling, you're probably going to get released and get a new job that's more of a challenge. Sure enough! After only 2 weeks of being called to that position, I will be released.
My new assignment is not actually a calling, it is an assignment. I was asked to teach seminary to the sophomore class. Each High school member of the church is encouraged to attend seminary every school day like a regular high school class. In some places they have it during the regular school day but up here they have to get up and start class at 6a.m. That means the teachers arrive at 5:30 to set up the classroom and get ready. I've got to admit that I am very nervous about doing this and feel very underqualified. There are nearly 30 students in the class and at least half of them I don't know very well at all. Luckily I will be team teaching with my good friend Ruth. This is new to her too so we'll have to learn together.
The situation is complicated here because our church burned down over the summer. We've been meeting in the high school for our Sunday meetings but that won't do for anything else, including seminary. When the fire happened in our building, one of the local Catholic leaders was very sympathetic and offered to help in any way he could. He has been so helpful and accomodating, our leaders have been able to rent his church/school for early morning seminary for a very nominal fee. The only problem is we can't leave ANYTHING there. Try to imagine 4 classrooms with approximately 30 kids in each one, needing their binders, scriptures, supplies along with the rooms needing to have tables and chairs set up AND taken down each and every day. The supplies and books have to be kept in the cars of the teachers and some men show up every day to carry it all in and set up the rooms. The same men stick around for that hour until class is over and then they put everything away. I was so impressed as I arrived this morning for my first day. The dedication and service rendered each and every day is amazing. I admire the men who did all the heavy work, the teachers who study 2+ hours a day to teach in the wee hours of the morning to sleepy teenagers, to the sleepy teenagers who show up every morning to learn about the Old Testament before they go to school and to Father Tom from the Catholic church who has been very "Christian" to us
Being the newest teacher and feeling least qualified to be doing this, I hope to learn quickly from those around me. I know I'll be blessed once again as I'm willing to serve. I also know that about the time I start feelin content and comfortable with this job, I'll be released and asked to do something else.
June 17 Things I've learned from father...Throughout my life I have been surrounded by men who have exemplified what I consider to be great fathers. While none of them are perfect, they each exhibit traits that I admire and respect as their roles as a "Father".
The first father of my memory would be my own Father. I remember him as a very hardworking man. He owned and operated an egg farm and did so for about 40 years. He would get up early (Usually around 5am) and work steadily until about 6 at night. I learned to work hard by watching him. Although he worked a lot, he always came home for meals and we ate as a family. Around the dinner table we'd pray as a family, read scriptures, talk about the day and even tease and joke around. I learned about the importance of talking together as a family. Besides working on the farm and many of the other various jobs he did to provide for the family, he served many callings in the church. I watched him go off home teaching, to a High Council meeting to to attend the temple. As I watched him serve other people it taught me to serve others and think more about others than myself. My dad is known for being an early bird. He has a strong sense of duty and of doing what you say you'll do and for fulfilling your obligations. I learned responsibilty from my Dad. My dad is now fighting for his health. I've watched his attitude throughout the last 9 months as he's dealt with cancer and numerous blood problems. He's tried hard to always be positive and upbeat. The nurses all love him to death because of that. As I've watched my dad, I've learned to deal with the trials I face with as much strength and positive attitude that I can. To not wallow in self pity or blame God for my trials.
The 2nd Father I came to know is my Father in Law. I first met LaVoy on the banks of Palisades Dam at about midnight with a fishing pole in his hand. This man was easy to talk with and made me feel comfortable with the family. I learned to talk with people I didn't know very well and hopefully make them feel at ease. Over the years I've watched LaVoy gather the entire family in the living room and kneel for family prayer. He can be having a conversation or even write a letter and always throws in some spiritual advice or maybe scripture. I've watched him be the spiritual leader of the home. I've learned that spiritual things help a family grow closer together. LaVoy is fun to be around and always brings joy in the home. He does some things to get a reaction from June. (my Mother in Law) He likes to wear miss-matched clothes so she'll "yell" at him and make him change. He'll act like he doesn't know the rules to a game or forgot something about the game so we'll all accuse him of cheating. He just laughs about it and the game goes on. He's very good natured and I've never heard him yell at anyone in anger. I've learned to be funloving and mischievious.
The last father I want to talk about is the father of my children, my husband Kevin. He's held each of our children in his arms right after they were born. I've seen him cry as he watched our daughter and we sang "I am a child of God" in church. He's fed, diapered, burped, snuggled and read to each of our children. I've learned about a Father's love by watching him. Kevin's given each of our children nick-names and frequently calls them by those. He plays games with them (video, card, dominoes etc...) watches movies with them, goes fishing, swimming, caving, golfing and to dinner with them. He sings all the time and makes up songs for and about the kids. He genuinely has fun playing with his kids and doing things as a family. I've learned to have fun with the family. I've seen him counsel his children, pray for them and bless them. He's talked with them about school or friends and about what they want to do when they grow up. I've seen the worried lines around his eyes and the stress he felt when they were sick or injured. I've learned about a Father's concern for his children by watching him. I've watched Kevin as he's worked hard to provide for his family. He's worked so they can have a nice place to live, have nice clothes and plenty of food. He's provided them with music lessons, sports, vacations, college, etc... Throughout their lives he's provided for all of their necessities, many niceties and tried to balance the two so they didn't grow up being spoiled or too demanding. I've learned about the balance of material things.
I'm so grateful to be surrounded by so many great fathers in my life. They each possess weaknesses and strengths and I've learned much from both. I look forward to the day when I can watch my sons become fathers and I have great hope for the future as I know they have also learned many things from these men. June 11 Old time ChenaKevin and I have had the opportunity to take an extended weekend away. He has some meetings in Fairbanks and rather than stay at home without him (and celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary by myself) I decided to tag along. We left Friday night and spent a very enjoyable night at our good friends the Oriens, lake house. It was on the way to Fairbanks and the fact that we had fun visiting, playing games and left in the morning with a 5 star breakfast were all bonuses.
The next night we went to Chena Hot springs. This is about 56 miles on the other side of Fairbanks from Anchorage. As we approached the resort, I was very interested to see all the antique farm equipment and other parafenalia decorating the surroundings. I was even more interested to learn the history behind the springs.
(the following is from a pamplet I got at the springs:)
[Chena Hot springs became famous for curing crippled prospectors of their aches and pains as long ago as 1905. A US geological survey crew in 1904 had seen steam rising from a valley somewhere on the upper Chena river. The surveyors concluded that it had to be from a hot springs but did not investigate further. Robert Swan looking for a place where he could ease the pain he suffered from rheumatism, set out in a boat loaded with supplies, in search of the hot springs. Over one month, after leaving Fairbanks, he and his brother arrived at the North Fork of the Chena and poled up that tributary to the mouth of Monument Creek. They ascended Monument Creek a short way, and found the hot springs on August 5, 1905. By 1911, the property boasted a stable, bathhouse and twelve small cabins for visitors.
In 1912 the trail to the springs took only 20 hours actual traveling time, which was in excellent condition for dog mushing and "even passable for bicycles." Regular runs between Fairbanks and the resort via the "Hot Springs Stage" with "comfortable four-horse double rigs making round trips every ten days" was established. Until the trail had been improved in 1911, it took anywhere from one to three weeks to reach the springs from Fairbanks, depending on the weather and road conditions. Travel by horsedrawn rigs had shortened the trip to two and a half days through a stretch of country populated by four roadhouse keepers who made their living feeding and housing the passengers.
As the fame of the hot springs spread, Alaska's delegate to Congress, asked the Department of Agriculture to analyze the waters. The bureau of Chemistry analyzed three pints and concluded that the water was "different from any American hots springs waters consisted of its content of sulfate, chloride, and bicobonate of sodium. In fact, it was very similar to the waters of Felsenquelle, one of the famous springs at Carlsbad in Bohemia.]
As guests of the resort we could swim in the springs for free. We walked through the pool area to the rock pool in back. It was basically an outdoor pool surrounded by big boulders. They had a fountain in the middle spraying water out and another spout on the end where you could stand under it and get a back massage. I put one foot in to test the temperature. NICE!! The average temperature in the hot springs is 146 degrees. When this is mixed with the cool creek water it still makes a pretty hot bathing area. The bottom of the pool was fine gravel. We could only take about 10 minutes of it before we climbed up on some of the surrounding rocks to cool off. We sat on the rocks and noticed a couple of moose trotting past the rock pool. Most of the people in the pool missed it because the rocks were too high but I thought it was pretty cool. When we had had our fill of soaking in the hotsprings, we wandered around the resort looking at all the antiques. After reading the history of the place I started to get a mental image of what it was like 100 years ago. All the antiques I saw were the actual things they used back then. There were some little wagons the people must have ridden in to reach the springs. I thought the 45 minutes it took us was too long let alone the 3 weeks they had to travel. Then we saw this antique snowmachine. This was amazing. It had to have been the oldest snowmachine I've ever seen in my life. Kevin and I sat on it and had our picture taken. There were tractors, an old car, more farm equipment and some things I had no clue what they were. We took pictures of many of these other things and I will post some of them when I get back to Anchorage.
Alaska in the early 1900's was a very rough and rugged frontier. I think about what a discovery the hot springs must have been to Robert and Thomas Swan when they first found it. The people that first visited it were mostly prospectors and frontiersmen. The only thing I was dissappointed in during our visit there was that they didn't have a book of pictures on how the resort has changed in the last 100 years. I'd love to see the ladies and men in their old fashioned swimming suits and how that's changed at the springs. The buildings and modern amenities have changed and even the actual soaking pool must have changed over the years.
Chena Hot springs is definitely worthy of a visit if you like getting in hot water and want a glimpse of old time Alaska.
Tonight we're going on a riverboat dinner cruise and tomorrow (our 20th wedding anniversary) we head home.
June 06 Rollercoaster daysLast night as I was heading to bed, I thought about what kind of a day I had. It reminded me very much of a rollercoaster, in that I had many ups and many downs. The first bad news came when we got a phone call from a man saying he was going to sue us. That’s never a good sign. Our daughter Marie had been in an accident with his son about 2 weeks ago. Marie saw the kid with his blinker on and thought he was turning where she was. He was planning on turning after that road so she pulled out in front of him and he hit the drivers door. That was another rollercoaster day to find out that both cars received major damage (the down part) but nobody was hurt (the up part) Anyway, this guy is suing us and State Farm because our insurance company thinks that Marie was only partially to blame. They're only willing to pay half. The kid did have his blinker on and didn’t turn. The guy was very nice on the phone and apologetic that he was going to do that but it still made for a downturn in my day. My day had a bit of an upswing when my husband calls and tells me he’s in town because he caught an earlier flight home. (12 hours early) I told him of the guy suing us and he made some silly comment about the guy being a crybaby and told me he’d call the insurance company to find out what’s going on. Yea!! I love it when he takes care of stuff like that. This was a definite upturn in my day. This was tempered by another swift dip as I find out that our fixer upper house in Kenai had another glitch. The plumbing and heating guy was there working on it (finally) and the city inspectors drive by, see the truck and went in to ask the guy where his work permit is. I didn’t even know you had to have a permit to have your house worked on. Who told the city they could make you pay for fixing up your house?? Depending on how many square feet they say is being re-modeled, we’ll have to pay up to $1000. The short climb in my rollercoaster ride was falling faster and steeper in this latest plummet. My day rose slightly as I cleaned the house. There’s always a lot of satisfaction to clean and make everything orderly. It was also garbage day and so we collected all the garbage and I had my boys take it out. Again, the gradual incline of my rollercoaster ride had another dip. I discovered (after the garbage men had left) that I inadvertently had thrown a paper bag away that had $30.00 in cash. Why did I get up this morning!!??? My mood was not looking very bright. My downs greatly outnumbered my ups and it was not looking pretty. Rachel could tell Mom was not very happy when she had her snarly hair brushed out. The kids could tell it was not a good day to ask for extra cash or favors when they saw the stern look in her face and little pouts of steam coming from their mothers ears. Mom was about ready to pop a cork! About that time my husband calls again. He listens as I vent and lament the kind of day I’ve had. Then he asks me if I want some good news. YES!!! My rollercoaster has dipped as far as it can. I need to climb another hill just to get back on level ground. He tells me that I’ve been invited to accompany him on an exclusive fly in fishing trip with Wells Fargo on their corporate jet. This isn’t the typical Alaskan fly in fishing trip either. I’ve been on those where they fly you in on little puddle jumpers drop you off in the boonies for a week and then pick you up all stinky and weathered. This trip will be more relaxing and catered. I catch the fish and someone else takes them off the hook and cleans them. All in all I’d say my evened out in the end. There were a lot of ups and downs but I endured and even felt pretty good at the end of the day. Today, however, I’m hoping for a nice quiet merry go round ride. May 22 Excuses! Excuses! Excuses!Why have I been so bad lately at blogging and emailing? Here's what I came up with...
1) Nothing to write about (Sometimes it's pretty boring here and I'd hate to put everyone else to sleep.
2) Beautiful weather... Warm, sunny, gorgeous outside... who wants to be stuck inside...
3) Moments of depression- where I don't feel like doing much of anything
4) Stupid computer!!! I can't even tell you how many times I'd go on to someones website to leave a comment and had the stupid computer freeze up on me. I must have tried at least a dozen times on oldfarmboy's blogs and never could get through.
5) all the back to school stuff going on. (Barbecues, helping in the classrooms, field trips, finals, concerts, special trips to the school for this and that...)
6) Laziness
7) Games, Games and more games!! We are the most game playing family ever I think. It doesn't matter if it's card games like Rook, board games like Monopoly, videogames, computer games, dice games, Dominoes, physical games etc... The Thomas family plays games..... DAILY! So, being part of that family means that if I do come inside and have time to blog or email, chances are I'm going to pull up the computer games I've become addicted to and play that first! I'm considering attending "game-aholics" anonymous so I can admit I have a problem.
8) Kid distractions. Jen getting home from college, Marie crashing the car....again (I'll talk about that in my next blog. At least now I do have something to talk about) Jen getting a new job, Marie looking for a job.
9) Church obligations-
10) New computer (After my stupid computer {4} caused me so much grief and after I prodded and hinted at my husband for several weeks, he bought me my own laptop. YEA!!!! I'm back in business. However with the new computer I suddenly had 100's of files to transfer and things to set up etc... I'm still not finished but it's almost as much fun as playing games. Yes I did get some good games on my computer too, but that's not the point. I couldn't electronically transfer everything because they're different versions and not compatible. Basically I'm also a computer retard so things take me twice as long as it would for computer literate people.)
There they are. My lousy excuses for being such a slug in cyberspace. Now that I'm armed with my new laptop (that hopefully won't freeze on me) I can once again blog and email and surf other webspaces without interru..."What? A new game on Big fish called Peggle Deluxe???? Wooo Hoooo!!"
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