Christmas Thoughts

I don't add entries to my blog often (the last time I did was when I got a flat tire in April of this year), but I felt a strong need to add something today.

It is Christmas Day, December 25, 2009, and this year has been an extremely hard year for many families due to the economy. Our family was affected by this, although not as hard or as much as others we know. We have a warm home, comfortable beds, food on the table, clothes on our backs, a job, a beautiful home that is kept clean and decorated nicely and many more things that we take for granted on a daily basis, and for all of this I thank God everyday. But we have been affected none the less.

Our Christmas this year was a tough one. I truly believe in the true meaning of Christmas and remember the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That should be all there is to it, right? However, there's just something about giving gifts and sending out cards that help bring the love of Christ in our lives as well as the lives of others. I like to receive gifts too, who doesn't, but that truly doesn't matter to me. I don't need to have presents under the tree for myself, I only wish it for others.

This year, sadly, we were not able to provide the ideal Christmas morning for our kids like we would have wanted to. We got depressed and sad early on because we could see this coming for some time now and we let it affect our attitudes. We did not take family photos to put on a photo Christmas card, we didn't even take the extra paper cards from years past and write a single Christmas greeting to either of our families or friends. I have been grumpy and short with folks, and people are wondering why. It is affecting my personal life, my work life and my spiritual life.

Last night we had a late night gift delivery left on our doorstep. An anonymous gift that was so beautifully wrapped. We decided to put it under the tree so there would be something for Alecia to open in the morning. This morning Alecia opened it up and it was a book by Glen Beck titled "The Christmas Sweater." I saw the book and had a feeling there was more than meets the eye to this gift. The pages looked a little fluffier than a normal book. Brooklynn started thumbing through the pages and there was a little extra something between each of the first 50 pages. Yes, it was money, but how much I don't want to say. Tears welled up in my eyes more and more with each page that B turned to. I was amazed at the generosity someone had given to us this Christmas season, especially when we chose not to do anything.

I am so thankful for this person, whoever it was, for this more than generous gift. I have my suspicions on who gave it to us, as it just happens to be the same amount we have left to pay on one of our outstanding bills, and only a few people knew what that was.

I have so many feelings and thoughts going through my head right now, I just don't know how to put it all in words. Like I say, it has been a tough year. My thoughts for this next year are some of fear. How do I get off the Titanic and brave the dangerous icebergs and chilly waters that await me. I need not be afraid to leap, but I am. There is so much I am responsible for and I don't want to let others down.

Some of my goals for this next year will include overcoming that fear, looking for a better way to provide for my family and be a more spiritual and loving individual.

Flat Tire

It was Wednesday night and I was on my way to a Stake meeting in East Wenatchee. I had to drop by one of Logan's friends house to pick him up, give him his scout shirt and take him to the church in Wenatchee for YM.

After dropping Logan off, I decided to head north (instead of south) and take the Obadashin Bridge to East Wenatchee. As I was driving over, I heard a funny noise (a light, thump, thump, thump) and thought it was my engine as I could feel the car kind of jerking lightly with each thump. I opened my door slightly (while driving) and could hear the noise on the back tire on my side. I didn't want to stop on the bridge, so when I got off the bridge I pulled into a gas station just as you turn onto the highway on the East Wenatchee side of the river.

After I pulled over and turned the car off, I opened the door and heard the air coming out of the tire, looked back in time to see the air rushing out of it and going extremely flat. I looked at the tire and could see the top of a what I thought was a bolt about a 1/4 inch in diameter.

In my white shirt, slacks and tie, I pulled out the donut spare. Took off the flat tire and put on the spare. Didn't get any grease or grime on my shirt either. I got in the car, called the Stake President to tell him I would be late as I headed for Costco to get the tire fixed.

At Costco they asked if I bought the tires there, and I thought I had, as we had just recently bought 2 sets of snow tires last year for the vehicles. They told me the tires on this car were not bought there and they didn't want to fix the flat as it would void the warranty on wherever I bought it from. I opened the glove box and found out that I had bought them at Les Schwab. Couldn't go there that night as they were closed, so I went to my Stake meeting and waited to pursue it then next morning.

I woke up, called Schwab and they said they opened at 7:30 am. Took Logan to school and then straight to Les Schwab. I was 2nd in line. They took the car in, came out less than 5 minutes later and showed me what was in the tire. I couldn't believe it. It looked like the shaft of a flat head screwdriver, or pry bar, that I thought was 6 or 7 inches long. He said this pretty much ruined the inside of the tire and couldn't be fixed, but since I had bought the tire there just last year, it was still under warranty and they had one to replace it in shop.

After posting the picture to my facebook, I measured the beast. It was actually 9" long. Holy Cow!! I couldn't believe it. I am grateful it could be taken care of quickly, efficiently and professionally. I am also very grateful (in these hard economic times) that I had a warranty on this set of tires so as not having to worry about paying for the repairs.

Rotary Park?...or Rotary Lake

Rotary Park is a newer park just down the street and around the corner from where we live. They took out an apple orchard on a sloped hill and put in grass, a shelter, a playground and a frisbee golf course.

When they were building the park, they leveled off the ground to 3 different levels and at the bottom level they went back up. I would ride my bike by and say to myself "What idiot designed this, they are going to create a drainage problem."

Well wouldn't you know it, they have a drainage problem. Every summer and winter the bottom level fills up with water, they have to call the city and pump it out.

As I was taking my kids to school this morning it was the biggest we have ever seen, and we call it "Rotary Lake." The picture above it as mid-day after pumping all morning. The water level was much higher and you can see traces of the water in the lower left portion. This "Lake" is due to the heavy snow we had the past few weeks and the extreme warmth and rain we had last night. One winter it melted and then froze over and we called it the "Rotary Skating Rink." Kids even brought down their ice skates to try it out.

I can only imagine what is happening up at Mission Ridge Ski Resort. I didn't buy a seasons pass this year and am glad I didn't. The season opened up late and now this. What can you do?

Where Did All The Snow Go?

Just under 24 hours ago there was about a foot of accumulated snow on the rooftops and lawns from the past 3 weeks of snow storms. The piles along the driveway from shoveling were about 3 feet high. It had just snowed 8 inches on Monday

What happened?

Well, yesterday (Tuesday) it warmed up to 50 degrees and rained through the night. When we woke up this morning it was all gone with the exception of some large piles from shoveling and plowing.

In my 14 1/2 years here, I have never seen so much snow dissapear so fast.

My Work Station

I wanted to try blogging from my phone, so I read about how to do it
and am now testing it out.