Naughty - But For a Good Cause
So the best thing that happened this whole past week was the arrival of the Whitworth Family!! After traveling for 3 days from San Antonio, Texas to our home in Idaho Falls, Amber and Weston made it safely with all their worldly possessions in tow.
Weston's mom, Kathy, had a fun idea to round up family members that are in the area to be part of a welcome parade. So, with posters and decorations in hand and attached to cars, everyone lined up along the sidewalks to cheer and wave once the caravan pulled up. Weston and Jared (his brother-in-law) arrived first with the moving truck.
Weston had an app on his phone that allowed him to track Amber's car, so we had a really good idea when she would be turning the corner and coming down our street. Amber traveled with Amy (Weston's sister), who was a tremendous help with Abby and Gwen along the way.
Once Amber parked the car, she made a beeline straight over to me for a beautiful mommy/daughter hug. What a relief that they made it!
It was a most unusual time to travel when COVID-19 restrictions cause difficulties with even the most basic needs. Amber reported that they had to go to three separate places in Gallup, NM just to find a bathroom that was open to the public. With so many restrictions in place, many restaurants are closed (except for some drive-thru's), parks are closed, and apparently so are public restrooms, at least in New Mexico. That made it a little tricky to be traveling with small children. They could not play in a McDonald's Playland. They could not play at a park during lunch breaks either. So Amber had to be creative in order to help the girls get their wiggles out each day. She is always great at that, so I was not too worried. :)
We were just a little bit naughty because we disobeyed the rule that we're not supposed to have more than 10 people gathered at any given place, and we're supposed to stay at least 6 feet apart. We didn't really do that either. As much as I like following the rules, this was one time that I felt okay about throwing the rule book out the window!
Here are most of the Whitworth clan, those that live nearby and were able to come give a whoop and a holler of welcome to Amber and Weston:
Left to right: Clark, Lydia (holding Emma), Tyler (holding baby Parker ) Kaylie and Addison Whitworth; Bella and her father Caleb Whitworth (wife Crystal and daughter Melody stayed in the car); Mike and Kathy Whitworth (Weston's parents); Amber (holding Gwen), Abby, Weston, and then me on the end! Not included in the photo were John and Holly Whitworth, Weston's uncle and aunt.
A few minutes later, Grandma and Grandpa Harmon arrived to join the welcoming party! They stayed in their car and visited through the window. It was super cold and it didn't help that the breeze was coming from the frigid Canadian north. Amber didn't seem to mind much, though. She had been looking forward eagerly to seeing her grandparents again, so it made her super happy to spend a few freezing minutes visiting with them.
And the next morning, our back yard neighbors, Don and Helma Blatter, came by to welcome the Whitworths too!
My Dad, John Snider: (Willits, California)
My sister, Melanie, with two of her children, Natalie and Caleb: (Mesa, Arizona)
My brother, Ryan, with his wife, Karen, and two of their children, Blake and Lily: (Napa, CA)
My youngest brother, Michael, was not able to join us. He was taking care of his two little boys, Jaxon and Logan, while his wife was at work. Logan wasn't feeling well, and was asleep on Michael's chest. He felt it best not to disturb him at the time. We will catch them next time! :)
And Charmaine caught a picture of me, too:
It was really fun to do that whole thing. It felt as close to a family gathering in the living room as we could get. I hope we do it again soon.
I cleaned out the craft room this past week, getting rid of a bunch of stuff and organizing the rest.
I finished cleaning out the bedroom for Amber and Weston, too.
That's pretty much been my life for two weeks. Cleaning, de-junking, and downsizing. Boring perhaps, but oh so satisfying.
Now that young children are here, the pace has certainly picked up. As the weather begins to warm up, we will be spending a lot more time outdoors. I helped Weston set up some of the girls' toys out in the back yard for them to play on. And when Jacob and Hannah come back up this next week, we have big plans to make a corner of the back yard into a sweet play area for our grandchildren. Next week I hope to have photos of our progress.
News from Scott:
I learned a shocking bit of news last weekend about what's happening where Scott is. I came across this news article:
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/04/13/worlds-militaries-face-new-enemy-virus-outbreak.html
The shocker was when I read down to where the subtitle says: To Wage War or Fight the Virus.
It described how the Houthis (pronounced Hooties) down in Yemen ignored the cease-fire during the coronavirus outbreak and instead fired missiles at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Well, hello, my HUSBAND is in Riyadh!!
I quickly asked him about what happened, and all he could discuss was the information that was in the news article itself. I remembered back to a particular day, a few days prior to seeing this article, where Scott's day was unusually busy. I remember that I hadn't heard from him all day, which was very unusual. I finally called him late that afternoon, only to hear him say, almost out of breath, "Sorry! I got called into work early because some stuff was happening. I ended up staying there for 4 hours! And now I'm hurrying home to eat and shower before going to my actual shift that starts soon! Can I call you tomorrow?" Of course, I told him, and then we hung up.
As I remembered that day, I asked Scott if that was the day that they got fired upon. He said yes. So he worked for 4 hours, then took a short break, then was back at work for 12 or so more hours. But he couldn't tell me anything at the time. That is so crazy!
I do know that things were quiet for a while over there, because of the coronavirus in Iran particularly. I theorized that if military and political leaders - and their family members - were testing positive for the virus, then perhaps their scheming plans would be set aside if nobody wanted to meet to discuss a war for a little while. But alas, even a pandemic cannot keep an angry group at bay forever.
I am praying more fervently now that my husband will be kept safe every day. And I just want him to come home. Especially now that I'm home and settling in. I hope the time passes quickly until I can see him again. Right now that time still looks like it will be late July-ish.
Papi waving to his granddaughter, Gwen on a video chat:
So for now, we're just adjusting to a new normal. A year with fun little girls to play with. Projects on the horizon. And a husband to get back home safely.
Weston's mom, Kathy, had a fun idea to round up family members that are in the area to be part of a welcome parade. So, with posters and decorations in hand and attached to cars, everyone lined up along the sidewalks to cheer and wave once the caravan pulled up. Weston and Jared (his brother-in-law) arrived first with the moving truck.
Weston had an app on his phone that allowed him to track Amber's car, so we had a really good idea when she would be turning the corner and coming down our street. Amber traveled with Amy (Weston's sister), who was a tremendous help with Abby and Gwen along the way.
Once Amber parked the car, she made a beeline straight over to me for a beautiful mommy/daughter hug. What a relief that they made it!
It was a most unusual time to travel when COVID-19 restrictions cause difficulties with even the most basic needs. Amber reported that they had to go to three separate places in Gallup, NM just to find a bathroom that was open to the public. With so many restrictions in place, many restaurants are closed (except for some drive-thru's), parks are closed, and apparently so are public restrooms, at least in New Mexico. That made it a little tricky to be traveling with small children. They could not play in a McDonald's Playland. They could not play at a park during lunch breaks either. So Amber had to be creative in order to help the girls get their wiggles out each day. She is always great at that, so I was not too worried. :)
We were just a little bit naughty because we disobeyed the rule that we're not supposed to have more than 10 people gathered at any given place, and we're supposed to stay at least 6 feet apart. We didn't really do that either. As much as I like following the rules, this was one time that I felt okay about throwing the rule book out the window!
Here are most of the Whitworth clan, those that live nearby and were able to come give a whoop and a holler of welcome to Amber and Weston:
Left to right: Clark, Lydia (holding Emma), Tyler (holding baby Parker ) Kaylie and Addison Whitworth; Bella and her father Caleb Whitworth (wife Crystal and daughter Melody stayed in the car); Mike and Kathy Whitworth (Weston's parents); Amber (holding Gwen), Abby, Weston, and then me on the end! Not included in the photo were John and Holly Whitworth, Weston's uncle and aunt.
A few minutes later, Grandma and Grandpa Harmon arrived to join the welcoming party! They stayed in their car and visited through the window. It was super cold and it didn't help that the breeze was coming from the frigid Canadian north. Amber didn't seem to mind much, though. She had been looking forward eagerly to seeing her grandparents again, so it made her super happy to spend a few freezing minutes visiting with them.
And the next morning, our back yard neighbors, Don and Helma Blatter, came by to welcome the Whitworths too!
The yard looked like this briefly while everything was sorted from the moving truck, with Weston and Amber making decisions on whether to keep something here or to take it out to the storage unit.
Slowly, but surely, the house is getting organized on the inside too. I worked my tail off for 2 weeks cleaning and organizing the inside to make room for them, as well as putting things where I wanted them to be for my own use. Today is a great day to take a break on the Sabbath, to rest from our labors and to focus on our connection to the Savior a little more. I'm sure our lower backs will be very grateful, too.
As far as the rest of the week, I had the most fun with my whole Snider family on a group video chat last Easter Sunday. My sister, Charmaine, and her daughter, Mari, organized the whole thing. We chatted back and forth for about an hour, with technology cooperating for the most part. My dad lives in a pretty remote and forested place, so his internet capability isn't quite what he would like. But we were patient when he would try to talk, and were just glad to have his participation.
I took several screenshots of our conversation because it was just so fun!
Here is my sister, Charmaine, with her daughters Mari and Ana: (Ukiah, California)
My Dad, John Snider: (Willits, California)
My sister, Melanie, with two of her children, Natalie and Caleb: (Mesa, Arizona)
My brother, Ryan, with his wife, Karen, and two of their children, Blake and Lily: (Napa, CA)
My youngest brother, Michael, was not able to join us. He was taking care of his two little boys, Jaxon and Logan, while his wife was at work. Logan wasn't feeling well, and was asleep on Michael's chest. He felt it best not to disturb him at the time. We will catch them next time! :)
And Charmaine caught a picture of me, too:
It was really fun to do that whole thing. It felt as close to a family gathering in the living room as we could get. I hope we do it again soon.
I cleaned out the craft room this past week, getting rid of a bunch of stuff and organizing the rest.
I finished cleaning out the bedroom for Amber and Weston, too.
That's pretty much been my life for two weeks. Cleaning, de-junking, and downsizing. Boring perhaps, but oh so satisfying.
Now that young children are here, the pace has certainly picked up. As the weather begins to warm up, we will be spending a lot more time outdoors. I helped Weston set up some of the girls' toys out in the back yard for them to play on. And when Jacob and Hannah come back up this next week, we have big plans to make a corner of the back yard into a sweet play area for our grandchildren. Next week I hope to have photos of our progress.
News from Scott:
I learned a shocking bit of news last weekend about what's happening where Scott is. I came across this news article:
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/04/13/worlds-militaries-face-new-enemy-virus-outbreak.html
The shocker was when I read down to where the subtitle says: To Wage War or Fight the Virus.
It described how the Houthis (pronounced Hooties) down in Yemen ignored the cease-fire during the coronavirus outbreak and instead fired missiles at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Well, hello, my HUSBAND is in Riyadh!!
I quickly asked him about what happened, and all he could discuss was the information that was in the news article itself. I remembered back to a particular day, a few days prior to seeing this article, where Scott's day was unusually busy. I remember that I hadn't heard from him all day, which was very unusual. I finally called him late that afternoon, only to hear him say, almost out of breath, "Sorry! I got called into work early because some stuff was happening. I ended up staying there for 4 hours! And now I'm hurrying home to eat and shower before going to my actual shift that starts soon! Can I call you tomorrow?" Of course, I told him, and then we hung up.
As I remembered that day, I asked Scott if that was the day that they got fired upon. He said yes. So he worked for 4 hours, then took a short break, then was back at work for 12 or so more hours. But he couldn't tell me anything at the time. That is so crazy!
I do know that things were quiet for a while over there, because of the coronavirus in Iran particularly. I theorized that if military and political leaders - and their family members - were testing positive for the virus, then perhaps their scheming plans would be set aside if nobody wanted to meet to discuss a war for a little while. But alas, even a pandemic cannot keep an angry group at bay forever.
I am praying more fervently now that my husband will be kept safe every day. And I just want him to come home. Especially now that I'm home and settling in. I hope the time passes quickly until I can see him again. Right now that time still looks like it will be late July-ish.
Papi waving to his granddaughter, Gwen on a video chat:
So for now, we're just adjusting to a new normal. A year with fun little girls to play with. Projects on the horizon. And a husband to get back home safely.
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