Hello from the Colorado Thompson Bentleys

Hey Everyone! This may be a little tricky for Rick, so you will have to settle for me until he figures it out. Cora made it into the Young Author's Tea at her school. She was one of two kids from her class nominated to attend a special tea and listen to a local author talk about writing. She felt really honored and is published now. Linc is talking a lot as some of you heard first hand while we were in Utah. He is really into cutting things with scissors too like our cell phone power cords and blinds. And, he is loving turning the hot water heater off - showers have been a little cold around here. Brig has been sickly this year and just got over another cold this week. And Lydia is talking a lot and had the same cold as Brig. Lincoln clearly is looking smarter on this diet!
Life is quiet and uneventful. Rick will be working a lot of moonlighting jobs within the next two months. I keep telling him I don't care about the money - I just want to keep all the stuff. (Name that movie!) Steve and Rachel and family spent the day with us today watching conference. We love having them around ... we wouldn't mind a few more people moving out here.
It was great to see you all and can't wait to reconnect in July.
Lots of love! Rick, Marisa, Cora, Linc, Brig, Lyds and Clyde

Dear fellow bloggers,

As it may be for some of you (read: "the boys"), giving birth to my monthly blog article does not come easy for me. Like bearing my testimony at fast meeting, I just can't think of anything very interesting or different to say. I find myself trying to become invisible, hoping your devoted Mother will forget that I have not yet contributed anything this month. But alas, the woman never forgets such things, and she must have inherited from her Mother a natural gift for motivating shirkers (from the German word "schurke" meaning scoundrel) to do their duty, "ahora mismo, no mañana." I told her my mind was as blank as it was the first time I tried to call a girl for a date and that I had nothing to say, so she suggested the following:

Right after I was called, the Temple Department told me to choose two counselors, one to be the Temple Recorder and the other to be the Temple Engineer. When I told them I didn't know anyone in Tampico, let alone anyone qualified for these two positions, they had me call the Temple President for recommendations. He advised me to keep both of his current counselors because they both had a good retirement and no one else was as qualified as they were (He was right) but the Temple Department sent me back to him to get two or three names of alternative candidates. He gave me three names, but said each one had problems: one worked five days a week as an insurance agent, one liked to sleep in and had little money for buses, and one had been released from a stake presidency because he was difficult to work with. After two General Authorities investigated for themselves, I was allowed to keep the old counselors for 3-6 months until I could find replacements, but President Mickelsen instructed me to visit other wards or stake conferences in our temple district every week until we found the right people. I've been doing that for over five months now, but the longer I looked the more I realized that the best candidates were probably already temple workers.

It has not been an easy decision. Ideally, there would be two candidates who would stand out from the rest in terms of their health, age, dependability, free time available, ability to serve as the recorder or the engineer, having a strong wife (to be Mom's assistant), sweet personality, and other factors. But each candidate had shortcomings and it was hard to balance their pro's and con's fairly because a lot of my information was incomplete or it came from people with obvious biases. Chosing the engineer was the hardest because I went back and forth between two very different people for a long time, first favoring one and then the other. It seemed as though the only feeling I was getting consistently was confusion. Fortunately, there was really no absolute deadline so I just took my time and continued to gather more information. One of the things I did was to interview the candidates themselves, without telling them specifically that I was considering them.

I had been thinking and praying about this more intensely for the last several weeks and had begun to feel somewhat positive about someone who was not recommended by the previous temple president (probably because he works most days as a contractor), but last week I took it a step further. After going on an endowment session I decided to remain in the celestial room a little longer to see if the Lord would give me a more definite feeling. This time, rather than trying again to compare this man logically with the other leading candidate for Temple engineer, I just told the Lord that I felt comfortable with the idea of working with this man but I wanted to do what He wanted me to do. I told Him I had tentatively decided to choose this man but if the Lord wanted me to choose the other candidate I needed to feel something that would change my decision. Almost immediately I felt relief and a warm feeling about the man I had chosen. I felt reassured that if he were called he would be able find the time to devote to his calling. I also felt good about other concerns I had had about him earlier. Mom also feels good about this choice.

This was not as life-changing or dramatic as some of my other spiritual experiences I have told you about in the past, but it is one that I will remember because it taught me once again how essential it is to rely on the Lord for guidance rather than to try to depend completely on my own reasoning and logic when I make decisions like this.

Abuelito

Shhhhh! Mary's Got a Secret

Now this story need to start at the beginning... maybe not the beginning, we'll jump ahead. You may know how much trouble our green Passat has caused over the years. Well, it reached it's pinnacle last weekend. Zach didn't have patients on Thurs/Fri so we decided to go on a trip to Moab/Arches Natl. Park to bike and hike. 10 miles outside of Green River, the infamous Passat began to buck on the freeway... NOT A GOOD SIGN. This just got worse until we couldn't accellerate without it getting more severe. Everytime our car has a problem my stomach drops and my heart jumps to my throat and I think "what now!" This was no different. We are on the side of the freeway (see photo) and LUCKILY we had cell phone service to call AAA to tow us. BEST THING WE EVER DID! AAA ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE IS MY BEST FRIEND! Do you know that in the last 3 years we have used AAA to tow our car... 6 times! This was the last straw! We waited for 2 1/2 hours for the truck and then it was 2 hours to get us to Grand Junction where there was 1 place that works on VW's. We luckily have Krehl and Amy there (the ones we went to Hawaii with) and stayed with them all weekend while the Passat was being fixed. So much for our vacation plans. But we still went hiking and biking and got to do it with them which was great.

Needless to say, I had had it with the Passat and it was decided no matter what we were selling it! We have spent the last 7 days since it broke down going to dealerships, researching and discussing what we should get. Finally it's been decided. Zach went skiing with his family today and I went to look at a Grand Caravan we found online last night for a great price. Well, I bought it and he doesn't even know yet. That's right, Zach is skiing and has no idea I purchaced a minivan. I took it over to Charlie for his stamp of approval though. We got a great deal and had discussed everything beforehand so I know it's fine but I am really enjoying the knowledge that I went and did this with Kaitlyn today by myself. It's a lovely dark blue and when I called to tell Dad, he was REALLY proud of my color choice so I decided that it must be a good decision.

If it's an interesting story, I'll have Zach blog his reaction to the purchace. He'll find out about it tonight when we're all together at Sharon's for dinner. I'm loving it.

Here are some pictures of me landing on Bald Mountain above a town called Hood River, OR on the north side of Mount Hood. This mountain is only about 4,000 ft. elevation so most of you are reading this higher than I got on my flight, but it really was a nice flight. My instructor got out and took the picture. I'm almost done with my training. I will hopefully be done by July so I'll be a full fledged, fully certificated helicopter pilot by then. It's really fun and I really like it. Rachel and Josie are doing really good, other than the fact that mom sent her a psycho doll from Mexico for Easter. Maybe I'll send a picture of it next time. (Don't worry mom, Josie loves it. I'm just a little wary of the little beast). Enjoy conference everybody. Love Dan and Rachel and Josie and Kee

The Gehring 5

I was just reading everyone's entries, when I looked at the top of the page and saw all the buttons all of you say are always there to edit the blog. I decided I couldn't wait until Matt got home to write. It was too exciting to do this the easy way. In other words, instead of Matt's eloquent words, you once again get to read my everyday text ;)

Our family is doing very well. Peter is not quite walking, but has advanced to standing by himself, crawling down stairs head first (which he hasn't fallen yet) and eating our plants. He now has 6 teeth and has started biting off the top of his bottles - good thing I am no longer nursing. Eliza is talking so much. She wants to make sure you know she is two everytime Sam tells someone he is four. She loves pink and is so excited her cousin just gave her a ton of pink clothes. She also knows almost as many letters as Sam and continues to sing daily. Sam is loving the Spiderman bike he got for his birthday and has even done the entire loop on family walks. He is signed up for a soccer team that will start the end of this month. Matt will probably be the coach as he got succored in when he went to sign his life away I mean sign-up (He had to sign three waivers one saying he would be a nice parent and one of the others said his child might experience emotional and physical trauma. Are we sure we are ready for this?).

Sharon and Matt have been working in the yard. Some of you have seen what we started, but the rest will have to wait until July when you come. The Moores thought we were putting in such an effort they brought us chocolates to make us feel better. I really enjoy being in the yard, which is good as I will primarily be in charge of caring for Matt's grandparent's yard as well as this one.

Matt's two projects up at Hill Airforce Base will finish in May so he is pushing forward, but is still allowing me to attend Women's Conference with my friends May 1 & 2. Thanks to everyone who will help me with my kids.

We have had fun seeing people this past month and even had a great visit with the Lander cousins as their oldest grandson, Brian leaves on his mission today and we attended his "non-farewell." They still have cabins available if anyone would like to join us in Wyoming for fun. As of now, Matt and I are the only ones.

Love you all,

Matt, Sharon, Sam, Eliza, and Peter

You've seen the pic, now hear the tale

I posted some pics a few days ago, so you've all gotten to see our little ones who seem to be growing like weeds these days.

Our big news is that Steve is getting so old he is walking around with a cane. Poor guy. Something "bad" happened to his hip about a month and a half ago, and then it just kept getting worse until he couldn't get out of bed a few times. Finally he went to a doc, who was absolutely no help, and then a chiropractor, who might be helping some, but it's hard to tell. Steve started out by using his old crutches, and then finally broke down and let me buy him a cane this week. We hope he is on the mend, but wouldn't be all that surprised if his right leg just fell off one day.

Rachel is messing around with stuff like reading, indian meditation, story writing, reading, and preparing gospel doctine lessons. (Steve assures everyone that he wasn't the one who slated me for this calling...but as far as I know, I haven't driven anyone away from the church yet.)

Israel was asked for words to describe his mom during Cub Scouts. His answers: dictator and thief. I think the dictator part is self-explanatory, but the thief? So...I told them two weeks ago that I was putting their allowance in cups as small change, then taking some away whenever their rooms weren't clean or they weren't ready for school on time, etc. He decided that this meant that I was stealing his money and then he wouldn't be able to pay all his tithing, so I was really stealing from the Lord, too. *eyeroll*

Cecelia turned 5 and was so excited we all thought she might burst. Levi started soccer. Elijah now has his own palm pilot. (Steve's old one, we aren't really buying him stuff like palm pilots.) Francesca is trying very hard to fall down the stair, but we haven't let her yet.

And that's it. Love you,

Steve-Rach-Eli-Is-Levi-Cece-Ches

Mom & Grandmama

APRIL BENTLEY BULLETIN BLOG
Happy Birthday two dear one year olds: April 14th Josinette's
April 23rd Francesca's

Saturday it was our turn to open the temple at 6:00 a.m. When we arrived about 5:45 we found President and Hna. Treto already there, as well as two of our faithful temple workers. Our 7:00 session was filled with local people. By the 8:30 session the buses had arrived from Victoria and Vales and we had to set up all the folding chairs we had to squeeze everyone in. The baptistery was overflowing with eager youth. I was especially touched by two of the young people. A sweet girl in a wheel chair and a blind boy who were there with their friends to serve in the House of the Lord.

There was a beautiful bride and groom, and a family who had come to be sealed. The family had an interesting story. While they were getting their paper work taken care of I greeted the couple, Hno. Y Hna Cruz, who had come with them as their “acompanantes” (I can’t remember the word we use in English). I asked them if they were relatives. “No, we are their Home and Visiting Teachers.” I learned that the family had been inactive members of the Church for many years, but they continued have contact with the Church through the Cruz.’ Visits. As the family returned to activity the bishop called the Cruz’ to teach them the Temple Preparation Classes, and now they were accompanying them to the temple. What a testimony of the power of Home and Visiting teaching. The couple’s 13 year old son and 9 year old daughter were also there to be sealed to their parents. The girl had a lovely dress her mother had made for the occasion. Hna. Esparza called me to look at it as there was a very, very pale cast of pink in the shimmer of the skirt material. I was reminded of my experience Thursday night. Another family had come to be sealed with a 15 year old girl who had saved her money to buy a lovely white dress for the occasion. It had short sleeves and came just below her knees and Pres. Treto had told her she could not wear it. When I learned of the situation, this sweet girl was nearly in tears. I visited with her and offered her one of our dresses with long sleeves and skirt, but she wanted to wear her dress. Fortunately, I had just had three darling bolero jackets made for our brides. With one of these, and long white stockings she was covered from head to toe in white and tears were replaced with smiles, and a happy memory of her first temple experience. Kathy Barnes Walker’s words rang in my mind, “Better a broken rule than a broken heart.” (Kathy is Pres. Hinckley’s daughter and the Matron at the Salt Lake Temple), Our 9 year old got to wear her dress too.

Our young bride and groom were radiant. He was a returned missionary and all of his family were there. In fact, it was a day of double rejoicing for his parents as his younger brother was entering the temple for the first time before leaving this next week for his mission in Tuxla Guiterez. The bride’s family are not members of the Church, but the groom’s mother accompanied her, and the obvious love between them reminded me of Ruth and Naomi.

When I was giving the name for our 10:00 session a sister broke down and began to cry. I hugged her and told her that after the session if she wished to talk to me I’d be available. Two hours later she found me and through her tears she told me that her x-missionary husband who she had been sealed to and was the father of their two young children, had been excommunicated last Sunday and had abandoned the family. What can you say to someone whose heart is broken? I just listened and cried with her. Another woman asked me what last name she should use in the name booth, her maiden name or the name of her husband, the father of her children, who had just divorced her. Such heartaches.

The Esparza’s son and daughter in law with their darling 9 month old baby came to pick up their parents and I got to hold little David. It felt so good to hug this sweet baby and think about our five little ones born last year. I’m so grateful for our web cam and Vonage phone that keeps us in close contact with the family.

This being the last Saturday of the month Pres. and Hna. Moss were going to come at the 2:30 session with the missionaries who were ending their missions. Carol had spoken with me earlier and we had made arrangements for her to come in the morning to be baptized and do the initiatory work for the mother of one of her missionaries who had died just a year earlier while he was serving in the mission field. What a privilege and blessing it was for me to officiate in English with the assistance of Hna. Perez sealing in Spanish, as this mother received her preparatory ordinances. Carol then took this mother’s name (Silvia Romero Acosta) through the session in the afternoon. As they were leaving she introduced me to the son, dear Elder Aguilar. There was no doubt in any of our minds that his mother was in attendance and had accepted the work done on her behalf.

Bro. and Sister Rollins from Layton had come to pick up their son as he ended his mission. Sister Batt (she and her husband serve in the mission office) told me of the touching scene when Elder Rawlings saw his parents for the first time on the temple steps. They ran to each other and embraced and he exclaimed “You came, you really came!” That was a “heart camera” moment. Although it was our turn to leave the temple early we had stayed so that we could be there to take these three American women through the veil in English.

When we finally turned off the lights and locked the doors of the temple we had been there for 12 hours. It sounds like a long time, but the hours always fly past when we are serving the Lord in His house

detroit is bigger than your city......

The remarkable thing about this past month is the notable contrast between; vacation and school/work, homework and not, quiet and screeching, uncluttered and disaster relief, crusty and moistly dribbly, not too smelly and quite too smelly. Dave went on work trips to new york and las vegas while the kids and Kar did homework. Then… we switched all that and the kids took spring break while Dave took a week off. We mostly played, and uncluttered the house, and ate food, sometimes we slept and went on family adventures like visiting the natural history science museum at the university of Michigan and the ford rouge plant. Maddies favorite exhibit was most likely the family of possums, “this is the cutest photo ever”. Josh enjoyed the big canoe and checking out germs in microscopes… he also enjoyed the full immersion surround sound movie of “making trucks”, a complete multi-sensory experience. Kar I’m willing to bet liked having everyone around, she wasn’t outnumbered even once for a whole week. Dave still likes dinosaur bones, and mammoths, and all those cool stuffed predatory birds as well as wolves, and little weasles, and ……… being with Kar and the little people. Jake liked to pretend he was the snarling wolf, even the day before we saw it.

Other highlights this month:

- Josh lost his tooth in a croissant, and got a bulls-eye shooting a bow and arrow.

- Maddie sang in church and gave a talk all in one day, and is a serious math whiz.

- Jacob has cheeks that are so pinchable people can’t stand it. He can get from sitting up to his belly and then back to sitting up again, and can do “mountain climbers”. No crawling yet.

Kid quotes:

“Homework kills trees. Play video games.” –Josh’s slogan, lifted from a t-shirt we think

“You’re the graham cracker fairy’s secretary.” -Josh, to Dave (long story)

“Jake is our sensei!” –Josh and Maddie (as ninjas)

“Bugs Bunny is really….intelligent.” –Maddie, with crack analysis on her first experience with watching Looney Tunes

“Pronoun trouble.” -Daffy Duck (I get into pronoun trouble all of the time)

Will and Cora are playing together and wanted to write some jokes for their cousins.

Cora: Why do birds fly south in the winter? Because it's too far to walk.

Will: Knock, knock, who'se there?Shelby? Shelby who? Shelby comin' round the mountain when she comes!

Emma: Why wasn't Cinderella very good at soccer? She kept running away from the ball!

Cora: Why didn't the skelton cross the road? Because he had no guts to do it!

Emma: What does mother earth use to fish? Her north and south poles!

Cora: knock knock...who;s there? Easter bunny...Easter bunny who? knock knock...Boo...boo who? Don't be sad, the Easter bunny will be here again next year.

Caroline: knock, knock...who's there? Little old lady. Little old lady who? I didn't knock you could yoodle!

We hope that brightened your day! Love, Kathy, Cora, Will, Emma, and Caroline

More...with boys!

I got my boys to hold still for a couple pics. Here they are:

Ches, Cece, and the boys are hiding

Mom wanted to see some pics of the kiddos. I have lots of the girls, but my boys usually run away when I get out the camera, but here's a couple of them:

Grandma

I just looked at these short cuts of movies I took last week at the Benemerito Ballett Folklorico. I thought you'd enjoy a quick taste of Mexico. I also thought my 18 girls (grownup and small) might enjoy dancing along with the fun music. Much love, Mom-Grandma P.S. I guess I can't put all these on. Enjoy the one!

Josinette's New Shirt!

Although Josie doesn't actually own this shirt, we thought you'd get the general idea.

Steve's family has Graphophobia

See, I got your attention. Now you are going to have to look that up. As it turns out, we are still alive, but have dropped such menial tasks as writing about family matters. We have installed 1400 sqft of carpet downstairs and in our master bedroom, which makes it nice for walking around barefoot. I'd put a picture in, but I don't have one. In other news, Rachel is enjoying her new stint as gospel doctorine teacher (I hesitated for a long time on this one, but she hasn't driven anyone away from the church yet -- that I know of). Levi has just signed up for soccer and is really excited. Elijah is going to try out for Jazz band on the saxaphone. He is getting to be really good and has a natural ability for music. Israel is a great friend to his little sisters and is really growing up. Cecilia is happy as ever and is enjoying her pre-school where she has learned her phone number and address. Francesca is crawling- not normally, but with one leg in front of her and one in back. It is kinda cute. Dad and mom have put a bunch of work into the basement and it really doesn't look the same as it did before (read, we wouldn't be too imbarest now if you came and visited). Steve is still looking for a job, we can't decide if we want to stay with intel and move to China, or look around colorado springs. Well China might be a stretch, but it has come up. We may come to Utah for spring break. It would be fun to see everyone.

Love Steve,Rach,Eli,Is,Lev,Cece and Ches

Wish You Were All Here!

Zach hitting some great waves

I saw a fish that looked like this!
HAPPY, VERY HAPPY!

This is just a quick update to tell you we are having a FANTASTIC time here in Maui! Thanks to Kathy and Charlie and Sharon and Matt for their help with Kaitlyn. So far we've only been here 1 day and we've had a great time. There are whales breaching out of the water all over. When Zach and our friends went scuba diving and I snorkeled above them, they didn't see much, but I saw a sea turtle that came up right in front of me, a morey eel, and LOTS of fishies. Who knew, maybe snorkelings always the way to go. We're having a great time, love you all!


Mary and Zach

Rachel (Dan's) is an incredible artist

So if you haven't clicked the link on the right hand side that has Dan and Rachel's blog...you are missing out. Check out the pear Rachel painted in the class she didn't want to go to.

Obviously, Rachel, I have lots to learn about you.

Sharon

Hello Family:

Although there are no buttons to easily connect like all of you have on our toolbar, we have figured out how to work around the system.

The Gehrings are doing well. All of the kids sound like they might die of coughing attacks, but Dr. Bentley said we are not sick. We just have to convince everyone that hears us of that. Including the people in the checkout line as we bought 3 grocery carts full of food storage last night. The checker said, "She is going to throwup she is coughing so hard." Matt nor I knew how to answer that one.

Sam had a great 4th birthday. He got a Spiderman bike and some dinosaur things. His three favorite things right now are Spiderman, dinosaurs, and horses. He rides his stick horse around the house saying giddyup all the time.

Eliza has this girly flair in her that will most likely baffle me for the next couple of years. She loves shoes and is very particular. She is very decisive about which hair clippies to wear. She plays teaparty and dolls, etc. Thankfully, she still loves to read. She hasn't gotten to the point of choosing out her outfits, and if I say it just right I can usually get all of her "likes" to match.

Peter has been getting two gigantic front teeth. I don't ever remember my other kids crying so much. He is miserable, but we are almost done with the process. He is standing, cruising, and even climbling stairs. So far no walking or falling down stairs.

Matt is toying with the idea of purchasing a fishing boat much like the one grandpa used to have. He really enjoys fishing and he had a lot of fun with Uncle Bruce last summer when they went out on the lake.

This weekend is the Benefit Bash for Sam and Caroline's preschool. I am the co-chair and next year I will chair the event. It is a lot of work, but has proven to be a lot of fun as well. I guess I should wait until after this weekend for my real opinion.

Hope all of you are doing well.

Sharon and the crew

your smart mama

The real truth is that I TAUGHT KATHY how to do this over the phone, so I guess I'm the smart one in the family.---- Actually, I must confess Mary taught me first. Then I taught Kathy and Dad.

hi. this is kathy and sharon. sharon came to see how to do this and I am pleased to report that for once, i am smarter than her and I could show her how to do a thing or two. Now that she has been tutored by me, she is ready to do her own blog. kathy

p.s. Sharon is now writing...if I can't figure this out when I get home, I will concede to Kathy's statement. Do realize...I do not have the line that says create blog, etc on my computer. I hopefully can figure it out now that I know what I need to find.
Sharon

p.p.s. I am still smarter! Kathy

kathy @ co.

This picture of Thomas at Christmastime is typical of him. He's happy as usual!

Will's birthday "cake" lemon merangue pie (he wanted Grandma Bentley to mail him one).

Kid's quotes:

Will (at the movie theater watching "Enchanted") "The only thing worse than this is "Barney"!

Caroline (during sharing time in Primary when I was whispering to the pianist) "shhhhhh!"

Will (talking to his teammate) "We have a makeover basketball game tonight." (He meant make-up)

Things are going well for us here. My major achievement for the month is figuring out how to do this blog. Will and Emma were home from school sick today with pneumonia. So far Thomas and Caroline are fine but Charlie and I got it too. Will's baptism on Sunday was wonderful. He was so excited about it. We were really proud of him. The only thing that would have made it nicer would have been if all of you could have been here for it. We love you! Kathy and Co.


Peter, Sharon, Mary, Kathy and Thomas at Jungle Jim's in January.

Grandpa's Musings

Carramba, we have a good life here! The weather has mostly been in the high 60's and los 70's for several weeks, except once when we traveled south 200 miles to Papantla and Poza Rica, where it was in the 80's. But the tropical scenes, ancient ruins and local color made up for the slight discomfort when we left our air-conditioned hotel and car. See Mom's blog for illustrations.

Yesterday, we went to the beach to look for seashells for our nietos (grandkids) and found a lot, many of them in unusual shapes and/or colors. A strong east wind and a high tide brought big waves almost up to where we were walking, leaving lagoons that gradually flowed back into the ocean. We always see lots of seagulls and sandpipers but yesterday 15 or 20 large pelicans flew over us twice in V-shaped formations like canadian geese or USAF fighter pilots. We didn't want to go (Tuesday is our day off from the temple), but it was lucky we left for home when we did because two nice highway patrolmen drove up just as we got back to our car, saying that they had come to check on the new car someone reported was abandoned.

Our service at the temple is peaceful and pleasant, with nice people around us and something meaningful to do all the time. We never feel bored because we're always so busy. Although we miss our family, we can talk to you whenever we want and so we have never really been homesick. Best of all, we have each other all to ourselves all the time. What a great way to retire!

Abuelito Antonio

Birthdays & Anniversaries

Samuel Bentley Gehring the 4th (his "Golden Birthday" he is 4)
James Edwin Bentley the 25th (his "Golden Birthday" he is 25)
Cecelia Ruth Bentley the 31st (she is 5)
Mary & Zach the 1st
Dad and Mom the 22nd
Dan & Rachel the 25th

Dan, Rachel and Josinette

These are the most recent pictures my mom has on her computer, and that's where we have internet access, so this is what you get. Josie's growing up fast. She had fun with the Christmas ornaments, loves playing with blocks and loves taking baths pretty much anywhere! She still isn't crawling, so we're trying to have her spend some more time on the ground. We're trying to make sure that someone doesn't pick her up every time she peeps.

Last Saturday Dan was going to take me on my first helicopter flight, but the weather didn't cooperate. Maybe we'll have some cool pictures from the air to post soon. He's liking school and hoping to be an instructor by the end of the summer. We will look forward to a paycheck instead of a bill from his school. haha. Everything's going good!

Mexico ruins

Mexico Mom

Tender Mercies: Feb.20st 2008
We stayed overnight Sunday in Poza Rica. Not wanting to drag a big suitcase I put a few items in a plastic bag. We got home Monday afternoon and I went right in and began to make dinner. Tuesday was our “day off” at the temple so we stayed home and I didn’t have to get dressed up. Wednesday morning we had an early morning temple session. No where could I find my makeup, curling iron, brush etc.. I had casually looked around for these things Tues, but not anxiously as I wasn’t going anywhere. When I could not find them, after an exhaustive check it occurred to me that Toney had taken out the garbage when we had gotten home from our trip.
The garbage man comes on Mon, Weds and Fri mornings. I decided to walk out to the dumpster on a chance that the truck hadn’t already picked up Monday nights garbage. Talk about tender mercies, I spied almost on top a black garbage bag like those we use. I untied it hoping not to find too much that was gross inside, and low and behold inside, near the top, was a blue plastic bag I recognized. Sure enough, it had all my personal belongings! As I walked back to the house the garbage man around the corner. Thank you, Thank you,

Papantla conference Saturday-Sunday,Feb.23rd- and 24th 2008
I am sitting in the car in the parking lot of the Papantla Stake Center. We left the temple early to make the four hour drive here in time for the priesthood session of conference. We’ll both speak tonight at the second session and in the morning. It was a beautiful drive through lush green hills of banana and citrus groves. This is in the northern edge of the state of Vera Cruz and is the beginning of jungle terrain. We saw many eagles flying and now that I’ve the windows down I can hear a multitude of other birds. Tajin, a famous archeological ruin is close, and we plan to visit it before driving home. Tomorrow after conference we will drive along the gulf coast and do some exploring. This is a very old city without the charm of the touristy colonial centers we love, but with lots of local color. This is where the famous voladores (the Indians who “fly” from the tall poles with a rope tied to one leg) originated. Along the streets I’ve seen men and women in native dress with baskets of fruit or flowers on their back or head. The terrain reminds me of San Francisco and between the modern cars one can see donkeys loaded with jugs meandering up and down the steep streets. As in every city the LDS chapels are some of the best maintained and nicest buildings.

Yesterday in the grocery store there was a young couple maneuvering two carts each with a baby inside each. I admired the children and asked their age. She responded in beautiful English that they are 2 months old twins and that at home she has triplets and a six year old!!! I congratulated her for her courage, and promised it would get easier as they got older.

I, with my assistants, are finally putting into effect sister shift coordinators. I have resisted doing it as I wanted to get a feel for how best to rotate assignments and I’ve wanted to personally keep my pulse on things, and get acquainted with the sisters. I’ll still coordinate our Wednesday morning session, but Dad instigated coordinators with the men soon after our arrival, and has been anxious that I do likewise. I still feel like I’m having to “invent the wheel” when it comes to a lot of basics I took for granted in the Salt Lake Temple. Things such as, teaching the sisters that every job is important and needed whether it be officiating in a session or ordinance or washing, ironing and folding clothes, taking out the garbage, putting on toilet paper rolls and replacing paper towels etc.. There has been a tendency to “pigeon hole” certain sisters to certain tasks, and slowly, hopefully, I’m getting them to take turns and learn each station. They have never had anyone assign lockers to the patrons, and so the sisters would come in and bang open the stall doors frantically searching for a free locker. After a session sometimes we would have 5 sisters waiting to get into the same locker area where another sister was dressing. It isn’t a huge problem during the week days when our sessions are small, but on the weekends when we get bus loads of people we have had real problems. We’ve now got locker numbers on the stall doors and a sister to assign the lockers. We also have a sister now in the Celestial room when the patrons come through the veil, and a sister greeting near the recommend desk. I’m seeing some good things happen and things are running a little smoother—that is if all the workers show up for their shift. If not we scurry just to cover the “must dos.”

We’ve even managed to get the sisters in Preliminaries to slow down and rotate after each five names. Well, that is unless it is one of the two evenings when “the dowager queen,” Tampico’s first temple matron, Hna. Saldivar, is working. She is a darling character. She in her late sixties, but is still very commanding and in charge. She owns and is still the full time director of her own private school. She is a fascinating study, and we’ve had some great talks. It has helped that I’ve asked her advice and listened a lot. Finally, one day she gave me a hug and told me, “Thank you for loving us.” I do love these sweet people and I do understand that everyone was quite apprehensive about having foreigners come be in charge of “their temple.” It has been such a blessing that Dad’s family is from Mexico. As soon as I say that and explain that we’ve lived in Latin America 8 years and love the people everyone seems to relax. As I alluded to, there is a “pecking order” of sorts among even Church members, Hna. Saldivar is definitely at the top and comes to the temple with strikingly beautiful, large jewelry which she does not remove. I’ve read the manuel to the sisters about being examples and not drawing attention to ourselves by what we wear etc., and some are beginning to take the hint. But, all I can do is to teach them correct principles and invite them to live by them. Soon after we arrived, Hna. Esparza told me a cute story about meting Hna Saldivar in Liverpool, the big, lovely department store here. Hna Saldivar inquirered as to what she was doing to which Hna. Esparza said she was looking for some small ear rings to wear in the temple. Hna. Saldivar said, “Oh you are going to be a Pharisee.” Hna. Esparza replied, “No, I’m going to be obedient.” I love it. And I think we are making progress even with Hna. Saldivar as last Thursday she removed her beautiful necklace before going into preliminaries.

We are headed home now after a great conference. What was truly amazing was that the accompanist for one of the songs was a child and they had an 8 year old boy sing a solo that was perfectly on pitch. All the children were dressed in white. The boys wore ties and the girls had a small ring of flowers in their hair. I was so touched that I completely changed my talk and geared my remarks to the children. I loved greeting the children after the meeting. They are so beautiful and sweet. A dear sister gave me a little note afterwards and a vanilla bean that she had tied into the shape of a flower (vanilla is one of the big crops here). Presidente Marin gave us a bag of peeled oranges and jicama sticks to eat in car on our way home. He raises both on his little farm.

As for our Tajin adventure, is a vast maze of ruins well preserved. We were glad it was overcast and there was a bit of a breeze as it was humid and hot. The voladores preformed every hour on the hour and were every bit as good as those in Mexico City’s archeological museum. Added to their show was a fabulous group of Indian dancers with huge feather head dresses. Their loins were girded with leather, their chests covered in wide Egyptian style necklaces, their ankles and lower legs layered with small, wooden bells. It was better than anything we ever had seen in Mexico city’s Zocalo. There were also artisanias unlike any we have seen. It was thoroughly enjoyable.

The Colorado Thompson/Bentleys

I feel seriously mentally challenged. I'm sure that there are going to be lots of the same pictures - so please forgive. We are all recovering from big time illness over here. Rick, Lincoln and I all had the flu and have been sick for 3 weeks now. Lydia was sick too, but not with the flu.

The diet is going really well. We actually feel really happy about the food and rarely feel like we are missing out. Cora is so happy with how she feels that she refuses to eat anything not on the diet - even at school when they are eating cookies, brownies, cupcakes or candy. She is really impressive. It is helping her though and school work and concentration have changed dramatically. She just entered a contest called the "Author's Tea" where you submit a narrative at the school - a few will be selected to have a special tea. She fiinished it this morning and said, "I am so proud of myself." Cross your fingers.

Linc is making progress but he was out of school for two weeks, so ... it is hard to say really. Although, the teachers all say that they see HUGE changes in his eye contact. He plays one on one with classmates now (typical peers) and is not having a hard time with it, and church no longer makes Marisa cry so that is huge progress too. He goes easily with his teacher and never fusses for the whole two hours. If some of you didn't know church has not been any fun since July - Lincoln would scream the whole three hours, bite his hands and sometimes strangers on lucky days. We are amazed though that all of a sudden it is fabulous. We keep wondering if we endured to the end and now all is going to be happy.

Brig is adorable. He is at the cutest stage. He has become a serious artist. He is taking swimming, gymnastics and goes to pre-school everyday. He is very tender and sweet, especially with little kids. He has a real interest in reading and writing and practices all the time.

Lydia is fun and crazy. She gets into everyting. We've never had a child quite like her. One of her favorite past times is tipping all of our chairs over - including the piano bench. She loves to take out every pot and pan and lid in the kitchen and she is very good at pulling all the toilet paper onto the floor and shredding it. You can imagine Marisa's fun filled days. She is talking a lot and has a huge personality. She is a lot of fun.

This is a great idea for the Bentley Bull. I hope we don't mess it up too much. We love you all - talk to you soon. R,M,C,,L,B,C, AND C

Will Belongs To The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

We had such a great time celebrating Will's Baptism tonight!!! I took as many pictures and video's as I could to share with the whole family so you can all feel like you were right there in the mix of it. The Baptism was really special and Charlie gave Will a beautiful confimation blessing. So it's official... At 7:05 pm on March 2nd, Will Crump was perfect!!! Enjoy the pictures and video Will made.

Trying to join the electronic generation

Hi everyone,

Mandi, this looks cool. We are children of the 80's who are technologically challenged, so this will be short, and may not work but we'll try...

News:
In February Dave went on three trips: Toronto, San Francisco, and Spain. He's a traveling maniac, but has been home for a little bit. He's thinking about resorting to underhanded tactics to keep up with the priests in basketball. He and Josh gave each other haircuts today. Speaking of Josh, he's been writing books about dragons and crystals, and wakes up at 6 am to play his gameboy before school so that he can make sure he gets his 1/2 hour allowance a day, and not run out of time. That's dedication to Pokemon. Maddie likes to pretend to be a rat, and wrapped herself up in a blanket as a "human cuddle" for Kar's birthday. When she found out that our neighbor had a heart attack, she wrapped up a bag of cheerios ("they're good for your heart! It says so on the box"), made her a card and went over by herself to visit and cheer her up. All her idea to welcome Miss Ann back home from the hospital. She's awesome. Jacob spits up on everything, but is still very cute. Rolls, doesn't crawl yet. Thinks his brother and sister are the cat's pajamas. Kar turned 33, and was royally celebrated by the fam. She also got diagnosed with something random called Hashimoto's Disease. She's embracing her Asian side, evidently, and also has other random medical stuff going on blah blah blah. Thankfully everythings treatable and/or operateable (is that a word?) so we're just dealing with stuff as it comes.

Kid quotes:
"Ait! Ait! Ait! Ait!" -Jacob
"Geesh! It's like we're the native Americans, and you're the Continental Railroad." -Josh, when being forced to relocate for the second time
"I have made the cichin clean. Love: Maddie." - A note taped on the fridge after Maddie had voluntarily cleaned the kitchen for Kar's birthday, including sweeping the floor and emptying the garbage. Her idea. :)

We love you guys,
DKJMJ

The Williams: Reporting for Duty

Nice work Mandi! This is a fantastic way to keep in touch. I love sharing pictures it's a heck of a lot more personal. These are some recent moments in our life. To your left: We didn't have a light fixture to hand my orange peel snake from so I had to do the cupboard. Zach was so confused when he walked into the kitchen. I needed a mom moment and thought my snake the perfect medicine. As you can see, Zach came around to appreciate the delicious aroma. :)

We've had a great month. It feel like I haven't spoken to all of you in a life time because Zach's last message was a bit skimpy. We are so excited to be prenant! The due date is October 1st which is a long ways off. I haven't felt so hot but I don't get really sick like so many of you do either so I really can't complain. I just feel darn strange. The smells are POWERFUL!!! Way more than with Kaitlyn, or so I remember. Life is good though. We have a moving date for Canada too: Memorial Day Weekend we set sail on I-80 to pass through many states on our journey. Zach's mom will be coming with us which is a huge relief and we'll stop in Omaha for a night and then make it to Detroit by day 2. Woo-hoo! Can't wait!
So this picture of Kaitlyn kills me. There is nothing like bare skin, cool leather, and a silky blanket when your watching the tube, right! You should all try it sometime. Kaite is growing up right before our eyes! She has so much she wants to say and is finally trying to say it. She doesn't actually say more than mama and Dad-dad but she signs all sorts of stuff and will go on and on when she wants something speaking a really highly evolved dialect of 20 month old. it's exciting. She loves her Dad and calling people on the phone, she LOVES puppies, and "shows". When she gets excited she will sort of hop or skip to get where she's going. I love it!
The other news around here is that on Wednesday Zach and I are heading to HAWAII for our final fling before the grind of more school. We decided when we sold our house that we'd go on a trip and planned this way back when. We can't wait! We're going with our good friends from school Krehl and Amy. It will be a BLAST! That's the scoop from us here in the valley of frozen tundra. We welcome Spring!!! Check out our family blog at zachandmary.blogspot.com
Love, Z. M. K. and pigeon.