Seeing the light!

Can you guess where we are?

This is a picture that was taken right after leaving the Portland Temple a couple weeks ago Thurday night, January, 15, 2009. We had fasted and visited our favorite place ...the temple. It is so meaningful and lovely at night coming out after an enlightening session. This was speical, because I was pondering a simple, eventful question about RETIREMENT! When do you know when it is time to go? Well, the answer was not this year, but soon. We will see...

So do you get the meaning of the caption in the title?

Mom liked the picture because she wanted to position the light just over my right shoulder to give the impression ... "seeing the light!" There is something very special about mom and her symbolism. "I hope you see the light!"

Love,

Dad

Family Letter!

Family Letter!

Dear Family,
Sorry for the lateness in this family letter. So much has been going on lately, that I did not post last week.... sorry! We will be having finals this coming week. This creates lots of work, but is rather simple in theory. I kind of like the slower pace, since we have a few test each day.
Last week was spent attending to family. Cathy was over at the hospital with dad most of last week between Donna and her. I stayed a couple nights with mom. It was real nice to wake up and just walk to school. Remind you of the old days!
Dad is doing fine and has had no reoccurance of the heart attack. There were lots of tests but no real cause was found. He rested all day and as he put it: " I got all the paper work out of the way today." He kept his bathroom and pajamas on to force his rest today.
As I had an experience last summer, you just have great thankfulness in your heart as Cathy expressed in her last blog. I remember Jake asking me if there were any regrets, and I can honestly say, No! Just live your life to the fullest and enjoy each day as it comes.

We got to see the new Jame Bond movie, Quantum Solace, tonight and it was fun to get out with your mom, once in a while.

Well, hopefully tomorrow will be off to the temple. YOU know who's names go on the prayer roll... yes all of yours! We love you all and hope you are doing well.
Love,
Dad

Life is a Gift

Monday afternoon at about 3:00 Grandpa Hill experienced a Heart Attack. The first time I said it out loud it was horrible, it really became real then. I could list step by step what happened to him...medically. But what I want right now to do is just tell the whole world that Guy and I are so very thankful that Dad made it through. Hopefully he will be able to go home tomorrow. As we were driving to the hospital before we really knew that he was going to pull through, all I could think of was that we love him to much to let go and what was he thinking! We all need more time with this incredible man. To gleen everything that we can from him and the way he has lived his life. I have also realized more than ever before that there is no way to separate Mom from Dad because they have become so one with each other that whenever I think of one, the other is automatically part. I think that is what eternal love is. They have figured it out and really have no fear of death, their only fear seems to be no desire to be without the other here on earth for any lenghth of time and how to make each others life as comfortable as they can. Parents are the people that we turn to for whatever needs creep up on us in our lives. Spiritual, physical, mental...it doesnt really matter. Mom and Dad have been that constant in our lives. I remember after my parents passed away that I felt as if I were and orphan. That I had no one. I realized very forcefully on that drive to the hospital that that was never the case. I am tied through a love greater than I knew I had, to these two wonderful people, and to all their family. How can I thank God enough for watching over us all like He has and for giving us more time? We only get to walk this path once, lets be sure to walk it slowly and together all the way huh.

The best of times

Last Saturday Cindy and Jake brought the kids over to visit. (Remember we had used their carpet cleaner and shop vac for the flood in the basement. I offered them a date night if they would come to get it so I didnt have to drive out there) Im so glad they took me up on that offer.We both won on this bargin. Guy and I adore our grandbabies..young and old...especially fun are nights like this when their parents leave and we can really see the kids in action with each other. What delightful kids. Its evident in the way they wrestle around with each other, talk to each other and just basically hang out together, that they love and respect each other. Good Job Mom and Dad! I really really miss all the rest of our family. Its crazy when they are all home and its too quiet when they are all gone. I am beginning to be thankful that we were all stuck in the house together for those 2 weeks at Christmas! It was wonderful to be so stircrazy and to be forced to really rest and play all together without outside entertainment.

What a Man

Its been a cold busy week. I don't know whats up with Oregons weather this year but its been horribly cold. We had that deep snowfall hit during the holidays and this last week we have had artic winds whipping through Gresham that has put it below zero out. The wind is howling day and night nonstop. Some of the winds are for hours up to 50 miles and hour. After all the holiday wet, the trees in the wind are being uprooted. In just one hours time on Sunday I saw 4 different huge trees that had fallen between here and a couple blocks in radius. I didnt include the top of one of our very own bluespruce trees in that. We were pretty lucky that it fell behind our neighbors truck on not on top of it. Guy and I went out in that cold and pulled the thing over to our property as best we could and then daddy decided it needed to be cut up some so that we could move it the rest of the way over. It was incredibly heavy ! I used to think thats what I had kids for, I am so thankful that Daddy was here. Could you imagine me out there trying to use a hand saw on that thing!

The Love of my Life!

Now, how can I top that last blog? All I can say is: Mom is the love of my life , as the title says! Will that do .... words unsaid? If not, a picture is worth a 1000 words!

Anyways, we have been contemplating much lately and attending retirement seminars worrying, and calculating and figuring and refiguring and praying, did I mention worrying?; not committing to anything, yet, but just planning a lot! Stay tuned. Retirement is around the corner 2009, 2010 my best shot, 2011? First, we need to take this to the Lord.... Then we will give you our best shot.

Today, on Sunday, the day has gone well, in between Sunday services, lots of interviews, conversation, chats, and getting to know new members. After going to church as usual and we then went off to the CES Fireside with President Monson speaking to the YSA this evening. What great words of wisdom were given!

#1 We are in the process on the Road to Life! #2 Although this academic preparation is important, spiritual preparation in more important. #3 Take time to serve and bless the lives of others. #4 Listen to the Lord. #5 Don't let "academia" loose your testimony. #6 Live by faith. #7 Years ago for a job interview all they asked: "Are you willing to work real hard?" but now they ask: A.) what degree do you have, B.) what can you offer our company, and C.) how much computer skills do you have? #8 There was great inspiration for Teddy saving those pictures some 40 years later...Theses are just a few random thoughts I remember from the text given.

Then , yesterday we had our Rededication Dinner from 4-6 pm. There was time for testimony, a video of our Stake President and the greatest meal ever: lush breaded chicken Cordon Bleu, steaming green beans, highly popular Costco buttered rolls, hot buttery baked potatoes wrapped in tin foil, dark-brown chocolate cake. Mom came home and said: "Wasn't that the easiest meal we ever cooked?" We took down the tables and cleaned up everything very quickly. Of course, due to the wives of the Bishopric the food was fantastic and everyone went home spiritually fed as well as physically fed. I too, was pleased to have about 35 of the ward in attendance and everything going so well!

Here is a picture of one of the Bishopric members and his wife, Brother and Sister Standing. The Gibbs are just on the other side of the Standings, if only you could see them (for Mike and Mandy). Oh, well.

Well, mom says it time to go to bed.

Love you all,

Your Dad

PS Love the phone calls. Mom say she enjoyed the conversations too!

Good night and God bless!

NOT ONLY FOR TIME BUT FOR ETERNITY

Since Guy and I have been thinking about his retirement, (actually our retirement), we have been forced to take a look at the choices that we have made over our lifetime, and to access whether or not those choices have taken us where we have wanted to go. Its good to look at it and be pleased with the results. We have no regrets. We will never in this lifetime be Rich in the sense that the world views riches. That has never been one of our goals. Money to us has always just been a vehicle to help us go where we wanted. It has never been important to either of us that we ever had excess. Many of the choices throughout our lives have been made with not the worlds idea of the best financial moves, but on what was best for us as individuals and for our family. Financial moves, such as not keeping one of our old homes as we have moved into the next, was mostly based on the ideas that it would take time to maintain both...and it wasnt where we wanted to stress or spend our time. We had decided when we first married that our earthly focus would be on building an eternal family unit and not on building finances. Some people are able to split their focus and still obtain both. I remember once being asked if we wanted to participate in something that woud make us very wealthy. The people making the offer was very shocked to hear that no, we did not want riches and have time to participate. I also remember having Mike look at me in all seriousness one time, after someone had told him that I wanted to be a lawyer once, and he said "Mom, you have to be smart to be a lawyer." I was given the opportunity once to become a fulltime seminary teacher, Jennifer talked me out of that one. Reminding me of the times that I had come to her rescue during school hours and telling me that the other kids needed that love and time too. Staying at home was a choice not always easily made. Guy and I have always known that we would not able to stretch like that and still do what we needed to do. Life always narrowed down to money verses the best use of our earthly time. It was important that we had clear goals in mind especially in the midst of life. We hardly had enough time to breathe while we were raising our troops. Time passed incredibly fast and then they were gone. We have been blessed that we have always had enough to meet our needs. I am sure at times our children would have wanted their parents goals to be more worldly, however if they search their hearts they would know that they are wealthy beyond compare in memories. Memories of their dad and mom living day to day life with faith in them and in who they were becoming and in God. We always believed that they could do anything that they really wanted to. Not only because they were our children, but because they were literally Gods children. That was the goal that we set together when we first started our walk in life as one. That our children and grandchildren would know who they are and that they were loved and prized above anything on earth. That their Eternal Life was worth more than anything earthly we could have given them. Guy was promised that his earthly family would be one that God would delight to exalt if he lived a certain way. As his wife I will one day testify before God that he has lived that way. Money cannot buy that. Nothing can but simply following Gods path. The hardest part of life was to not get sidetracked. Our path has been to choose simply living and keeping the commandments and teaching them to our family. Nothing else mattered then nor now. We have been blessed financially in that our needs have always been met. For us, that has and is enough to feel rich beyond compare. My sweet spouse and I have been together for 34 years now...at first in our marriage we were married but still walked separate paths, each thinking our own was the right and best way. After having traveled the path for years , we began to see the others path and realized that our own ways were not always the best or the only right ones...we began to walk together a little more and a little closer, and by time the kids had all left home, we realized that our paths had merged and we both walked side by side with very few conflicting opinions. I am guessing that one day we will also wake up and realize that the path has always actually had 3 walking it and that we will find ourselves being carried together in His arms along that same path. I can almost see the beginning of that path opening before us. Its been a long walk and Guy and I are both looking forward to turning our lives totally over to Him. Thats been our walk through life. Our simple goal all of these years. Now Mike and Mandy are searching for their own pathway, What an exciting time for them as they figure out the road they want to travel. Isnt it a wonderful thing that we get to chose our own way and not have only one route to exaltation. What is right for one is not necessarily right for someone else, and the fact is, that we each have so very many choices that could work for us. Our path is just the vehicle to get to the end. All paths could, if viewed correctly lead us to exaltation. It doesnt matter if you are rich or very very poor. But in the end, the vehicle is not the thing that mattered. It ultimately is achieving the goal, or whatever your heart truly desired, if you fall short of that, you have failed, even with all the worldly riches you could desire. Life is too short to be diverted. I love that picture of them taken on the day Mandy took out her endowments. They are the last of the troop to start out. Each of their siblings have found incredible spouses of their own and have started their journeys. Each path will be different and unique to each of their own individual talents and desires. Each through prayer will find the right path for them. We are lucky to have family there close by to cheer us on or to mourn with us as life hurls us along. Its my prayer that as you all find your ways, that your paths will merge as your understanding and love for each other grows and that each of you and your children will find the joy, contentment, and yes, the riches that wait for you at the end of the path. That you will merge into one in heart and in soul. I would die without your father. He is the love of my life. Nothing is more wonderful to me after all of these years than to crawl into bed and put my icy cold feet against his warm legs. May you all know this kind of Rich and total contentment.

I'm Really Doing it

I decided that its really time to go natural. Daddy may retire soon and I need to be ready too. If we go on a mission someplace foreign I dont want to have to worry about my hair all the time...and Mike is finally happily married.................................................so I took Mandys advice and finally took a visit to the Beauty College today. I ended up with a gal that only has 2 months left. She did a great job. There is actually quite a bit of white in it so the blending process should go pretty smoothly. Wish me luck! You cant tell from the photos but I actually cut it off short again when Jen was here after Christmas. Looks much much better!

Zoolights

What a fun time we had on Saturday night with the Mt. Hood YSA Relief Society. It was suppose to be an enrichment activity for the sisters, but they always need a few good men along too. Daddy and Br. Standing came as Priesthood representatives. Cathy Gibbs wished she had known they were coming and Jim would have been with us too. It was cold and snowy but that just added to the beauty of the whole thing. I havent been to see the lights at the zoo since Jen was a teenager. It was incredibley beautiful. Throughout the whole ride we kept saying..."so and so, a different one of our grandchildrens names...would have loved this" Guy Guy wanted us all to be able to go together at Christmastime when all the cousins were together this year but the weather made it impossible to get out. Next year its a plan! Empty Nesting takes a little getting used to but I have to tell you that Daddy and I are loving it now. The Young Adults keep us busy and we have learned to love them like they are ours. Cora Lynn moved in downstairs last week and Dee is coming in on Wednesday. The day after Cora Lynn moved her stuff in the basement flooded in Mikes bedroom. The ground is just so saturated. It hasnt flooded like this since 96 and never this much water. We sucked up the water with Cindys carpet cleaner and a shop vacumn ( thanks Cindy and Jake) and stuck 4 high powered fans in and cranked up the heat. Its almost dry and hopefully this recent snowfall wont seep through.

Heres a picture of the girls and the Bishop.

PRISION BREAK MANIA

Mandy recieved a gift this year for her birthday that has kept us in suspense and up late nights for almost 2 weeks now. Prision Break! Since it has been snowing and pouring rain since Christmas, we have been snuggling under the covers and watching Prision Break from morning till evening. In fact, our first thoughts in the morning are...what will today bring to our new friends Michael and Linc! We have completed seasons 1,2 and 3 in little over 2 weeks time. We have survivied it well with only a few squirmishes over whether or not the stop button was pushed while one of us had to leave the room for some reason, or were just too tired for "Just one more" at night or who was taking all of the blankets.( Of course that was my sweet husband) He assures me that he never meant too but the suspense of some of the episodes also had me with the covers held high too. We finished season 1 and bought season 2 just before Mike and Mandy headed down to BYU. We finished season 2 early on New Years eve and while Guy was in interviews I found season 3 online at Target. Guy was going to pick it up for us after his interviews but as he was leaving he realized that he had locked his keys inside the institute building. I am pretty sure it was all the excitement of finding season 3 that caused that moment of lightheadedness. I went to pick him up and together we ventured into the snowy night to find Season 3. By this time in the seasons we didnt want to waste a moment and so I dropped him off at the door to the store to get our purchase while I kept the car running. It was freezing outside and it was taking him way too long...I began to panic that he couldnt find it or that all the copies had already disappeared from the store...so I parked and went in to find him. You cannot imagine the relief in my heart as I saw him coming towards me with a little target bag! It was going to be a great New Years Eve after all. We hurried home as fast as the wintery weather would allow and sank into our warm blankets for yet another night of Prision Break. By time we had completed that season a couple of days later we were both ready to find season 4. I knew then and there that we had become Prision Break junkies and that we would have to go through withdrawls. It was with a sad heart that we finished the last disc of season 3. It wasnt long the next morning before we were both on the computer looking for the next fix. With our limited computer skills we came up with very little. Poor Michale Scoffield was left out there alone and we had no way to find out what was happening to him. At this point we began hitting on our family members to try to help us. Maria was wonderful in finding a site and leading us...but we couldnt access the first part of season 4....thank heavens for a YSA Zoolights trip that night that gave us something to fill the hours. Then joy of joys, tonight we talked with Guy Guy about our problem and he was able to hook us up with a site that we can watch it on the computer. We pulled it up with him still on the phone to help us through the steps and low and behold...there it was! It was the Sabbath...but we had to press the forward arrow on the screen just to make sure it would really run...but mind you...with the two of us together...we resisted the urge...till morning....it is blessedly snowing again tonight. Hopefully Guy will be able to stay home with me just one more day, if not...it will be a long long day alone fighting the temptation to secretly take a peek...I cannot imagine how dreary the world will look once we are totally caught up! But for tonight I will sleep well knowing that its there waiting for me when I wake!

Family Letter for January 4, 2009

Happy New Year! I just got home from church and it is snowing gently outside. Tomorrow is the first day back to school and all is going well. I just finished the tithing settlements and that is a relief. There were lots of snow days and so suffice it to say, it's done! How are we all doing?

We have all the Christmas taken down, the basement flooded in the only bedroom down stairs and the fans have been running for the past two days. It is pretty much dried up. Hope that is over! Not a good sight to see all that water in the basement (it came in from the and sides walls and cover abot half the rug before we discovered it Friday morning). Besides the bedroom there was a good size of water in the basement bathroom under the shower. I used the shop wet-vac to get that up too. The flood level has been really bad ever since Thursday and Friday. Every since it stopped raining on Saturday, things have gone much better. Cathy and I have finished watching the one through third season of prison Break. That is some serious TV viewing since the beginning of Christmas Break. Jen and JP and family came last Monday and left Wednesday, right before the second snow and then flooding. We are into our third snow since the last big one (snow storm). Course, what you consider snow storm is not any thing in comparison. We close everything thing at the blink of an inch of snow! Well, hope your New Year goes well! Keep your calling.

Love,

Dad