Ready or not, Here Comes April

Well, surprise! The blog let me in. He must have been in a good mood today because last week I had my calendar in front of me and I was ready to report on the month of March BUT Bully Blog wouldn't let me in. I'd better hurry and get this off before he changes his mind.

Now what have we been doing this past month anyway? Well, for one, Doug has had about three retirement functions (you'd think they were real anxious to say goodbye). There was the faculty forum where he gave his "last lecture", then the annual March Spring social where all the faculty, current and retired, get together for a nice dinner at the Wilk and those retiring get honored. Doug is the only one retiring this year so he had the whole honoring thing to himself. Then there was a noon hour faculty reception where Doug and I stand in line to shake everyones' hand while they hurredly say how much they'll miss you while they eye the table to see if there's any pizza and rootbeer left. There's one more function left---a dinner at the new Hinckley alumni center for all retiring professors of the whole campus. It's all beginning to look very real. Things will really get real when he has to move out of his office and we have to find a new home for all those books and files. I have no idea where we'll put them because I've pretty much filled up all the shelves and filing cabinets at this house. Maybe Doug could buy the place next door and we could just visit each other once in a while.

And here's a new wrinkle. We were planning on putting in mission papers in January, or having a call by January, but upon inquery we find BYU-H would very much like Doug to come there for a year as a volunteer visiting professor or a self-called mission. The idea does have some appeal, though it's not quite the kind of mission I invisioned for us---the sacrificing hardship kind like a humanitarian post in Mongolia, or a prosyliting mission in the Phillipines. Well, maybe we have to work up to that. Anyway, it would be a fun place for you all to come and visit, wouldn't it?

Thank you all for joining us in our family fast for Zak. I personally don't know quite what to pray for, for him. I hate to see him and his family suffer but on the other hand this could be just the kind of experience he needs to find his spiritual roots again. So, to answer my own question, I'm just praying that his heart will be soft and ready to knock on the Lord's door for help. As I told Zak, as long as you have to have this experience, make it count for something.

Conference was so fun! It was great to be in Salt Lake for the weekend. Thinking to call the Jensen's to borrow their condo was a stroke of inspiration. It worked out so well. Doug had his AMCAP meetings Thursday and Friday and I got two full days of Family History research in at the library. Then, when Dave and Logan and friends came into town we were right there within walking distance of the temple grounds. Jonathan and Drew joined us, as well as Daniel and Adam and we had a great time. While they were at priesthood Saturday night I just walked down to Desert Book, enjoyed their Ladie's Night Out activities---though they aren't as much fun as they used to be. I didn't see anybody I knew and it just isn't the same without the little cups of bridge mix and homemade cookies. Everybody gathered at the condo afterwards for chili and pie and a little birthday celebration for Drew.
Doug and revived one old conference tradition Saturday inbetween sessions. Remember when we used to stay at Grandpa Brinley's basement condo or even when we stayed in a hotel for conference how we used to go shopping at the DI on 7th street in between conference sessions? This time Doug was looking for a power cord replacement for his projector. He didn't find one there but we had fun looking around anyway, and remembering those "extravagant" shopping sprees of yesteryear when everybody got to choose one thing to buy.
IT was fun to hear from all of you again. I'm glad we're back on track. Love Mom and Dad