chance meetings, typhoons, and plays and more

Headline News:

Shelly update! 

Shelly was in a sedated coma and they had a hard time getting her to wake up from it. It took many days, but she finally woke up from her coma and is making progress, though she is jaundiced and has a fever. Sam says she is weak but getting stronger. He was told 3 different times while she was sedated that she wouldn't make it. We are so glad that she fooled the doctors. Sam credits the Lord (and so do we) for answering our fasting and prayers the way we were hoping as to what brought her through.



Michael and Jiaxin bump into each other. Jiaxin flies to Cali on Tuesday.

Michael has been praying everyday that he would get a chance to see Jiaxin in the MTC...but since Jiaxin was only going to be there for 3 weeks and they are at 2 different MTC campuses (Michael at the NW corner of BYU and Jiaxin at the NE corner), the weekly devotional was thought to be their only chance to meet up. Well, Michael had to go to the other campus in order to get one more vaccination shot. When they were done, he had a strong feeling to go and eat in their cafeteria. This is what happened in Michael's words:

So were getting our food and when I look up I see Jason. I just yelled out his name and he turns and starts running towards me! I almost literally dropped my tray. Were in the middle of everything and everyone and were just embracing each other in a much needed hug. Jason started crying into my shoulder saying how glad he was to see me because he leaves [Tuesday]. He leaves [Tuesday} and other than this devotional, I probably would not have seen him. By this time I had started tearing up. He told me that he missed home and everyone there. We literally just stood there talking and crying and hugging and by this time my companion and two of our sisters were there and met him. I have talked so much about him to my district and I am SO HAPPY I got to see him. When he had to go I literally just turned to my companion and my sisters and cried. It was hard to see him walk away but I'm glad I got to see him and hope to see him on Sunday before he leaves.


This is what Jiaxin's emails to us said about the encounter (he replied to 2 different emails, so we got 2 responses):

I totally cried when I saw Michael during lunch. I told him that I miss home, and he said me too. We will be alright, and I will see him again at the choir this Sunday for the last time within 2 yrs.

and the 2nd email:

He came to the Main Campus for some immunizations, so they stayed here for lunch. I was barely done with my lunch and he just walked by me and shouted Jason really loud. I was surprised. He told me that he has been praying everyday to see me. I guess his prayers have been answered very well. I'm leaving on this coming Tuesday morning at 4:30, so don't mail any letters to the MTC, just mail it to my mission address from now.

If you know Jiaxin, please take time to drop him a note. He needs all the support he can get since no one in his family is a member of our church.

 Elder Jiaxin Zhao
California Arcadia Mission
170 West Duarte Rd
Arcadia, CA 91007



Typhoon hits the Philippines.

This is my sister's youngest boy, Jacob. He roomed with Michael, Jiaxin, and Ryan at BYU-I winter semester and is currently serving his mission in the Philippines. He is on an island that was in the path of the super-typhoon Haiyan. Although his island, Busuanga, received heavy damage, all missionaries are safe and accounted for. :)

Below is a map with Coron, the city on Busuanga that Jake is in, marked with a purple pin. Below this map is a small map of the typhoon's path (if I blow it up, it gets too fuzzy). Can you tell that the typhoon passed right over Coron?

Dream job comes to an end.

After 7 weeks of being Mrs. McGowan (math), I will be free lance again. She has healed from her surgery and is ready to go back to work. Next week I am already going to be Mrs. Moore (ag science) and Mrs. Wright (resource science and reading/English). Sigh. I will have to interpret lesson plans again. I will have to take roll again. I will have to deal with students I don't know again. I will miss being the help and now will have to be in charge again. It really was a dream job, subbing for Mrs. McGowan. Several of the students were sad to see me go, which made me feel good.


RIP Pete.

Pete was 9 1/2 years old when he quietly passed away on Saturday, November 6th. My plan had been to take a similar photo as the one below before Ryan left on his mission because I knew the chances weren't good for Pete to be around when Ryan returned. I forgot to get that photo. :( So here's Pete as a youngster with a 10 year old Ryan. Pete learned to talk...just not in recognizable words. He would repeat the same things over, so you knew he was saying something, you just couldn't figure out what it was. He did occasionally say "pretty bird" but my family didn't believe me when I said that what he was saying. Years ago the kids used to play a Nintendo 64. Pete picked up one of the weird noises the game made, and that was recognizable. I will miss talking to you Pete, but I won't miss cleaning up the little feathers and seed hulls that would escape from your cage.

Blast from the Past: The above is a photo of me with one of my parakeets, Captain Pierce. We lived at 191 Captain Pierce Rd in Scituate, Massachusetts at the time. I was there from age 9 to 12, so I was close to Ryan's age when he got his bird, too.

Time Share opening night on Friday

The play Time Share is being performed at 7 pm on 2 days this week (Nov 15 & 16) and 2 days next week (Nov 22 & 23). Hannah's in it. She's not only in it, she is selling tickets for it. Hannah is pre-selling tickets for $1 off the regular admission price (regular price is $6 adults/$5 CCHS students/ $4 younger students and seniors).

To see the trailer the kids made, go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB9AEAQ9LaM

(ooo...I just learned a new trick! I can now post a video and not just share a link!)

Blood drive on the 16th

Glen's NHS kids are having a blood drive on Saturday November 16th from 8 am - 1 pm at the LDS church on N. Taylor. If you would like to donate blood and don't have an appointment yet, log on to www.BloodHero.com click "Donate Blood" and use sponsor code N1171 or call Glen (423-2181 x230) and he'll log on and set up an appointment for you.


Eric's b-day on the 20th

Eric's 22nd birthday is November 20th. Please send him happy birthday wishes either to his email account which he checks on Saturdays (elder.perazzo@gmail.com) or drop a card in the mail addressed to:

Elder Eric Perazzo
c/o FCHH Mission
JSMB--East 3rd Floor
15 E. South Temple St.
Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3460


Neat measuring trick from Penny

There is a lady that Glen helps occasionally as she is single and not in the best of health. In order to thank him for all he has done, she came over Friday night and cooked us dinner (Mediterranean stew). It was quite good. Anyway, she taught us a trick that I love that I want to share. She's had a varied life and she used to draft for McDonnell Douglas. If you need to divide your paper into columns or rows or make a table, this is the way to make evenly spaced sections. Of course, with computers that can make their own tables, this isn't as useful as it used to be, but I still think it's a really neat trick. (and maybe every one older than I am already knows this trick...but it was new to me)

Decide how many sections you need.  We are going to make a 5 x 9 table.

So we need 9 rows on the 8 1/2" side of the paper. Instead of taking 21 3/5 cm or 8 1/2" and dividing it by 9 and trying to get even rows, like I used to try and do, I now know to just put the zero of the ruler at the left edge of my sheet of paper and angle the ruler so that I have the number of rows that I want (9,  in this case) on the opposite edge of the paper.  I mark each inch.

I go ahead and move the ruler down the paper and make a second set of dots so I can line up my ruler along the 2 dots to make a straight line. When I do this, I have 9 evenly spaced rows.

 Now, I want to finish my table by adding 5 columns to go with the 9 rows. I moved my ruler so that instead of using inches, I was now using cm. I put the 0 on the left side of my paper and chose 30 cm for the right side and then marked every 6 cm.  (6 x 5 = 30).  (Use whatever works for your size paper and the markings on your ruler.) I slid my ruler down the page and repeated the process and made a 2nd set of dots. I then laid the edge of my ruler along the dots and drew my line and I wound up with a 5 x 9 grid/table where the spaces are the same size.

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You can use the centimeter or inch side, whatever will give you the number of columns you want.  Mark your numbers.  Then draw your lines. It takes much less math than the other system I used to use.

Fun stuff.

Good week.