Greetings from LA

    I have been living in LA for about 14 years now, the longest that I have lived any where.  Nels and I are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary this fall.  We added to our family 2 years ago when we got a Vizsla puppy named Ned.  He is a cinnamon-colored, short-haired dog with a lot of energy.  He keeps us fit with regular walks and playing with his ball but is also wonderful at snuggling and cuddling.

    I graduated with my masters in social work 11 years ago and have been working in the field ever since.  I am now a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.  I work at a residential treatment facility for delinquent teenage girls as the Clinical Director.  This means that I supervise the therapists and oversee the clinical aspects of the program.  It can be a little hectic at times, but I love it.  Nels is working in customer service and as a consultant for private banking.

O.K. I did it! I got a picture on of our family. Our oldest Megan is just finishing 6th grade and loves the theatre. Kyle, 10, is our little athlete playing whatever sport is in season. Tyson, 7, keeps us hoppin' in so many different ways but has a smile that lights up a room. Lindsey, 3, is our baby and runs the show so to speak. Bruce works at Sportsmans warehouse and I am at home running kids from here to there and trying to stay on top of the domestic stuff. We are looking forward to seeing the family this summer!

Quick Stephanie & Family Update

Hi Family!

Just wanted to give you a quick update. We are LOVING living here in Alaska. It has been a great move for us and allowed us the opportunity to redefine ourselves and our family. Our little boys, all five of them, have acclimated to the cold and dark without a glitch. The sunshine on the other hand makes bedtime a little bit more difficult, but hiking, picnics, late night football games much more enjoyable.



Our newest addition, Warner, is now 7 months old. He is sitting up and crawling everywhere. The lucky little boy is cutting 3 teeth.

The kids are out of school! And so is Eric. He finished his dissertation this semester and is an official PhD man We are thrilled. Summer has officially begun for everyone. We went camping over Memorial Day weekend at Denali National Park. It was spectacular. We hope to get out this summer and see more of this great state.

A mother moose calved in our neighbors yard yesterday. We get moose in our yard all of the time. Other Alaskan perks: lots of sunshine, lots of green trees, lots of friendly neighbors, and NO political campaign phone calls! Hooray!

Stephanie & Family

Memories of Grandpa

(stay tuned. . I'm going to scan in a picture and post it someday. . . )

I wish I had more memories of Grandpa but I don't (even more unfortunate is that I never even met Grandma). I was 7-ish when Grandpa died . . . but I do have these three memories:

1. Grandpa snoring on our couch. I remember Grandpa would come over for dinner. Sometimes alone. Sometimes with Arlene. After dinner he'd go into the living room and fall asleep sitting up on the couch. I remember thinking he was the best snorer in the entire world.

2. Sugar. I remember Grandpa holding the reigns and convincing me that I wasn't going to die while riding the horse. There was something in the way he looked at me that was reassuring.

3. I remember playing in the farm house while Grandpa played cards with my parents. I just have this vision of him with a handful of cards and a very serious look on his face. We cannot play Rook with my own parents without my father mentioning that Grandpa would do this or that when playing Rook.

Wedding bells this summer

Greg and Jess Embley are engaged to be married July 1, 2008. They met last summer when they were both EFY counselors at BYU-Idaho. Jess graduated a year ago in English and Greg graduated this spring and is interviewing for jobs right now and waiting to decide where they will make their first home. Both will be 24 years old in July. We are excited to have Jess as part of our family.

Christmas Memory

My memory is a little hazy on the fine details of this story. . . but I remember one year Mother getting a juice pitcher and glass set for Christmas. The juice pitcher had a wallpaper print between the two layers of plastic. The packaging declared that it was "non-breakable".

Can you guess where this story is going?

Mother was admiring the pitcher when Dad took it, and with the good intentions of putting the declaration to its fullest test, threw the pitcher on the ground.

I guess we know why companies put all those silly exceptions on product info sheets (do not put the blow dryer in water, do not eat this poison, do not throw your new presents on the ground . . .)

Compassion

  Here is something I read on the Internet said by Karen Armstrong, author of "A History of God".  "Compassion is not  popular a virtue.  Very often when I talk to religious people, and mention how important it is that compassion is the key, ......... people look kind of balked, and stubborn sometimes, as much to say, what's the point of having religion if you can't disapprove of other people.  And sometimes we use religion just to back up these unworthy hatreds,....  And a lot of this talk about love and compassion can be on the rather sloppy level .....  compassion is hard.  It's nothing to do with feeling.  It's about feeling with others.  Learning to put yourself in the position of another person.  There were years in my life when I was eaten up with misery and anger (this was after she had spent seven years as a nun in a convent).  I was sick of religion but when I got to understand what religion was really about, not about dogmas, not about propping up the church, not about converting other people to your particular wavelength, but about getting rid of ego and approaching others in reverence, I became much happier.  But you have to go a long journey ....  that takes you away from selfishness, from greed.  And that leads you to value the sacredness in all others."