january

 Hello everyone! We have taken about a month of sick leave here in Arizona. It's a fun cycle, one of us gets sick and then we pass it to everyone else in the house.Whoever gets sick the most wins! I wish there was some kind of grand prize or something. We have spent most of January sick, but we have had some fun in between.

I asked Joel to make a fish face

Some of the things the kids have been up to:

*Joel has passed of 4 of his 6 IEP goals. These include things like talking to other class members, putting away toys at school when asked, and staying seated for story time instead of running around.
*We also found out that Joel qualifies for an state sponsored IPAD program, where the IPAD comes loaded with speech apps for him to help him communicate.
* He is still speaking in scripted language a lot. An example of this is Joel will start saying "P, P, where is the P.... there it is! P I E spells pie!" (this is from an episode of SuperWhy, as is almost everything he gets "stuck" on). According to his therapists, this is his way of "practice talking". It does get old after while, so there are two ways to deal with it-- #1 is to jump in and say "P I E spells pie, no way! How about CAT spells cat?" and kind of redirect him that way. #2 is to redirect him by pointing out things around you or things you are doing. "Look Joel, I am taking BIG steps. Can you take BIG steps with me?" He usually will repeat the last bit of what you say.
* We are working on NAMES a lot with Joel. We are constantly showing him pictures of people, and saying "Who is this?" If you see us soon, don't feel sad if he doesn't say "Emmalee!' or "Whitney!" right off the bat. He still doesn't say Mommy! We've found that the more you reinforce it with him, the better he gets. So don't be afraid to make him say "Hi" and "Grandpa" or whatever, that's what he needs and wants to say, he just is struggling with getting it out!

* Miss Charlotte, where to start... she has been doing great at speech therapy and occupational therapy. She really is pretty focused when she wants to be, which is great. We are really trying to just encourage her to talk. That means talking a lot TO her about what we are doing and then just giving her time to babble and squeak and whatever she wants to do.
* Charlotte has been staying with a neighbor a couple of times a week with some little girls. It gives her a chance to be out of the house and be with other people, which is great for her.
* Charlotte also thinks she is a "tinker fairy". If you have seen any of the Tinkerbell movies, she loves those! She has her own special corner where she steals toys and random things from around the house and then just fiddles with them and makes towers and piles. It's pretty cute, although sometimes I find some weird stuff in there.

Her tinker corner has all sorts of treasures, like a tape measure, Joel's favorite truck, a water bottle top, and an old milkshake cup. I have no  idea where she got that from, probably the garbage.

So, that's what we have been up to. Rob is super excited to start his vacation tomorrow, and even wore his Mickey Mouse tie to work to pep him up. We're excited to see most of you!

Tenders Mercies part II  - Sorry it has been a while, and please post when you can.  I would love to seen the older grand children post if  they have a few minutes as well as all of the rest of you.  I do understand that we are all busy.
The next tender mercy from the Lord in my life has been owning my own business.  At the time I often did not understand the blessings of owning my own business.  Although there were times when things were lean, we were very blessed and the Lord took care of us.  It was a great blessing to have my children work for me and with me.  I know that espically Robert and Kristina did not always see it that way.  I had both of them  driving for me the day that they got there drivers license, caused Rob a lot of extra stress as I tryed to line him  up with girls that worked in the building or for me.  Kristina was late for her own graduation because Dad made her finish her deliver rout before she could go.  Aubrey had several bumps in the delivery cars and thank goodness was never hurt.  I think I fired most of the kids at least once even if they did not know they had been fired.  Had child labor to the max as I had all of you working as cleaning crew almost the minute you could walk.  Pined Bradly against the coolers a couple of times.  Gave you all the opportunity to delivery to scarey parts of Ogden, had most of you call crying because you could not find an address, had you help people in ways that may have scared you for life.  And best of all had the opportunity to teach each of you that people are children of God and that no matter what their circumstances in life they all deserved a chance.
Next we have been blessed to travel as a family.  I was taught this from  my Father who believed that an annual family trip was very important.  I know some of you missed out on some things because you had to be with your family so much.  I will alway hold dear the seven kids who when on a trip to the East Coast and Church history tour in the old "white whale" van and got to count off by seven for Grandma Winter every time we stopped for a potty break or gas.  The disneyland and disneyworld trips that financailly should not have been taken.  How no matter how many times we went to Disney World, I would still get lost and loose my temper.  Does anyone remember the Wendy's order of  "I will have one number one, one number two...on the one number eight.  Who can ever forget "the Florida Island", the Indian Burial ground, the canoeing with the gators, swimming with Manoties, and true life hillbillies.  The Hawaii trips with buggy boarding, snorkeling, kayaking with "Maggie", pearl stands, purple potatoes, little granddaughters and the Ocean, Grandma Winter's Bag, and the international sign for turtles.  I could go on for hours about the great times I have had with each of you on trips.
Last we have been blessed with goodly parents.  I am  glad that each of you have memories and great experiences with your grandparents.  I would like to share with you the feelings and experiences that I had with one of my best friends before his death.  My Dad loved his family, he always did.  I remember at a young age the great fishing trips and wood cutting trips that I had with my Dad.  The last few months with Dad was a tender mercy for me.  I remember when we first found out about the cancer, the spirit told me that Dad would not recover from this.  The next few months where hard but where every tender.  Those who had the chance to go to Bryce Caynon and be with Dad and Mom  for their 50th Wedding Aniversery, know that Dad was blessed to be able to enjoy that moment.  Dad's last public outing was to Fremont's presetation of  South Pacific in which his grand daughter Milly was the star.  It was with pride he hollered out "hey that's my granddaughter you are kissing".  Brad and Aubrey who where serving on their missions at the time, along with Amy and Jeremy, where always on my Dad's mind.  He constantly was talking about his four missionary.  Last I would like to share with you an experience I had with Mom  and Dad about two weeks before he died.  I had come to visit and check on Dad.  He was asleep on the couch at the time, Mom and I did not think too much of that as he slept alot during those last few days.  His neighbor and her granddaughter came over dressed in their Swedish coustoms to celebrated the Christmas season.  Dad did not wake up for them.  I remember the little girl sawing "what is wrong with him, he will not wake up to see me".  After they left I tried to arouse Dad but could not get him  to respond.  I told Mom  that she had better call my sisters because I was sure Dad was going to pass.  After about 30 minute in this continued state, Dad all of a sudden woke up and ask us what was wrong.  I told him  that we were sure that he was in the process of passing to the other side.  He told us that he had, he was sitting very peacefully my a large window just waiting.  Some one came to him  to ask if he was ready to go.  He asked if it would be ok if he could wait until after Christmas with his family.  The angle told him  that it was his choice if he wanted to go back.  Dad said that is when he woke up.  We did get Dad for Christmas and he passed a week later.  I remember giving him  a blessing to release his spirit if it was time, he died the next night.  I remember being very calm  during this whole process, until after I helped the nurse prepare his body and came back in to see Robert and Kristin.  I know Robert remembers how I lost it.  Robert, it was important for me to have that chance to let my Daddy go home, thank you, I know that was not easy on you.  Kristina was expecting Quincy and could not travel to see her Grandpa's funeral and I know that was hard on you.  Dad knew and was OK with you not being there.  I miss my Dad, but I know he is doing many great things.  It is OK for all of us to think about the little things that he did for all of us and I know that he has been there for all of us since his passing.   To be Continued........

God's Tender Mercies
Last week in High Priests we where discussing the Tender Mercies of the Lord in our lives.  The things that at the time seem not that outstanding, actually ordinary, and certainly not a miracle.  But later in life as we look back we realize just how much the Lord blessed us with a tender mercy or miracle.  I would like to share with you just a couple of the Lord's tender mercies in my life.
While serving my mission in Pohnape I was blessed to stay in one area for almost my whole mission.  I had the opportunity to make life time friendship that have blessed my life.  I met a young man toward the end of my mission by the name of Steksin Diopulos.  Little did I know at the time the great friendship and love that I would develop for Steksin and his family.  Most of you children have been involved, and sometimes annoyed with these special people.  Perhaps you sometimes wonder why your Dad does the things that I do to help out these people.  I do not pretend to understand or know the relationships that we had in our pre-earth life.  But I believe that we did know certain people and developed special relationships with these people.  I believe that Steksin and I did know each other.
The next tender mercy was to meet and fall in love with my special companion.  Susan Inez Frandsen was a room mate with my sister Debbie at BYU when I was serving in Micronesia.  Susie was a dancer and quite the flirt, from what my sister Debbie tells me.  When I first met her she set my heart into quite the flutter.  We started dating and then Susie got very involved with the dance company at BYU and I did not get to see her that much, so figuring that she did not care that much for me,so I started dating other young ladies.  At the end of the semester I happened to cross paths with Susie and she asked if I would like to pick her up after her last final. At this time we had not dated for over a month and I had given up on Susie.  Had we not crossed paths that night, I believe that we would not be married today.  I picked her up and we talked and went to the park where we played on the swings.  Perhaps that is why most of my kids feel that a date to the playground swings is the most romantic place to be.  We dated through the summer and then in the fall after the Woman Conference we took a walk and ended up at the Provo Temple.  That night I asked this wonderful of God Daughters to marry me for time and all eternity.  I hope you all know of my love for her and the rich way she continues to bless my life.
We have been blessed with seven wonderful children.  The birth of all of you has been a tender mercy in my life.  One of  the things I will always remember is our trips together.  We took a trip to the Church history sites and the US history sites. While in Carthage, Il. we visited the Carthage jail.  We all felt the spirit as it testified to us about the truth that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that he sealed his life for Jesus Christ.  While on the way back from Carthage to Nauvoo I felt that I needed to testify to my children.  I do not know if any of you remember that ride but it is one of the special tender mercies that came into my life as I testified to you.  This is one of those special witnesses that I was given to know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ upon the earth, and I dare not deny that witness.

To be continued.......