Our New Friends and a New Venture

Last July we welcomed our new friends, an Afghani refugee family, to America. The past 7 months have been one of the greatest blessings of our life. It has been amazing to get to know them and recently we have begun work on a project to help this family to use their skills and talents to become self-reliant.

Turning lemons into lemonade. When their power was shut off for several days in October because of a mix up with their bills we spent a fun evening eating donuts by lantern light. 

At Christmas time we went with our volunteer group and our family downtown to see the lights at Temple Square.

As we were leaving Temple Square Mike explained to them that the buildings we'd visited, the temple and the tabernacle, were built by refugees many years ago when they settled here.

With no men to help provide for this large family, we knew it would be a more difficult challenge for them to support their family. While the oldest daughter of the family was able to get a part time job at Walmart, the mother was not having any luck finding employment because her English was progressing so slowly. As we came to know the family more, we learned that the mother and her oldest daughters are highly skilled seamstresses. The mother was so skilled she could make a dress from just looking at a picture and getting some measurements. When we discovered this - Mike hatched an idea.

One thing we've learned over the course of Jessie's high school experience is how hard it can be to find suitable dresses for dances. Especially if you want something unique and/or something modest. What if we found a way to link her skill with the demand for dresses that we see. We wondered if it could work. We posed the idea to the family, who enthusiastically agreed. We wondered how they would be able to acquire the quality machines that they would need if they were to really make this work. We wondered how best to structure our venture. As we worked these things through in our minds and made it a matter of prayer,  things began coming together, the solutions presented themselves and the way opened up.

Our first step was to ask them to make a dress for Jessie, and the daughter of some friends who were willing to join us in the venture. The only machine they had to make the dresses was one from Costco that was generously gifted by my old friend, Wendy. Not a professional machine, but in the hands of a master...

Here they are adjusting the sleeve on the dress they made for our friends' daughter

Part way through their work on Jessie's dress an Afghani man, a neighbor and friend, took it upon himself to purchase a professional grade machine for them with the understanding that they would just pay him back as they were able, without any time frame attached. He has become one of our best resources, showing up to translate complex ideas, facilitating, researching and helping us stay connected. A humble, quiet man - here in the U.S. because he was an aid to American troops in  Afghanistan.

Here they are at work on their new beautiful Juki machine

With those first few dresses under our belt we put the word out that our refugee friends were making dresses and the first real orders came in. We're still working out our process and streamlining as best we can for now, but I think we're onto something. We have felt guided every step of the way.

We are calling our new venture, "Panah" - which means "refuge" in Dahri (their language). We hope to move things forward enough to help employ other refugee women, all here without husbands, to be able to support their families.

Our love for them grows. I jokingly call the mother my little sister, because she is a year younger than me, but she is my elder in terms of experience and strength.  

I'll keep you posted.

Crossing the Finish Line

Five years and six races later I am hanging it up as the official race planner / timer of the NPA 5k/1 mile fun run. It's been a lot of fun, and at times a lot of stress. I have gotten to know some great people better, and we've made some awesome memories.

 

**Sigh**

 

But life goes on.  Next year I plan to participate as a private citizen. :)

 

This year the kids put up some great times. Noble decided he was going to see how fast he could run the mile. He ran it in 6 minutes 11 seconds. He didn't beat his previous record of 5 minutes 46 seconds...so he was a little bummed, but he still won by quite a bit. 

 

 

 

The next runner was some awesome 2nd grade girl about a minute behind Noble. Then at around 7 min. 30 sec. this guy who had run the whole way CARRYING his baby, crossed the finish line.  That's hard core.

 

 

Tillman came in with his friend at about 8 minutes, Grace about 10 minutes.

Sully finishing strong with a time of 12:16.

 

Here he is with our old friend Michele Rosqvist who ran the mile with him so I could take care of business at the finish line and Mike could direct traffic out on the 5K route. She saved the day. I am so thankful for good friends.

 

Tillman, Sully and our neighborhood/carpool buddy at the finish line.

 

Jessie finishing strong in the 5k. I don't remember her time, but it's faster than I can run.

 

A good time was had by all.

It's a little sad to step away from something you've been a part of from the beginning. But in other ways, I am happy to let others take it on.

 

 

 

A Vote for No Change, Followed by A Change in the Weather, and the Making of Champions

**Disclaimer - before you start reading - this is a mega-post, and all over the map. But it's good stuff!**

Mike worked hard this past Election Day as a poll manager. Ahead of the election he had several training sessions, spent hours prepping the voting roles, and set-up the night before. On election day he was at the poling place from 6 AM until 9 PM.   Everyone should have the experience of working an election. It is such a fundamental and important way of serving in a free society where we all have a moral duty to help carry the load of governance, helping people to exercise their agency.  We take so much for granted.

The night before Election Day. More prep work.

 Speaking of Election Day...I know I am not the only one who found it hard to sleep Tuesday night. The presidential election was a big disappointment for approximately half of the country (at least among those who bothered to vote), myself included. Not the kind of disappointment that goes away the next day. The kind that fills you with foreboding. Life goes on...but down a path I hoped it wouldn't go. Still, I am an optimist. I believe all things work together for the (eventual) best. So, onward (not so much "Forward") - remembering to pray for our leaders.

Bringing us to Thursday...when the weather looked like this...

70-ish degrees. One last mowing.

Only to wake up Friday to this...

30-ish degrees. The first snowmen of the season.

And then on to Saturday, which looked like this...

Holy smokes, what a day! Noble's team played their championship game in whiteout conditions with over a foot of fresh snow on the ground.  

I am telling you, this was the best day of football ever! 

Sidelines lined with huddled die-hard fans trying to stay warm, dads working to shovel the yard lines before the game just so the players and refs would know where they were (Mike was soaked with sweat after that), hot chocolate,  players slogging through deep snow every play (sometimes the snow did the tackling), fumbles, face-masks packed with snow after a tackle, warming the game ball over propane heaters to try to keep it flexible, cold feet, and a championship shut-out to show for it at the end of the 4th. 

Bingham - 19.  Bountiful -0.

Chillin' on the sidelines. (Beth was awesome! 8 months pregnant - in a snow storm...to watch a football game. Love her.)

Noble on a tackle.

White-washing.

Noble - gunner on kick-off team.

Super fans - Cousin Hal and Grandma Sullivan. Casey and Helen and their posse were troopers!

Celebrating another touchdown.

Noble in pursuit.

Post game with Coach.

More dedicated fans - some from out of town. Thanks to everybody who came! We had a blast!

CHAMPIONS

Brothers

Time to bring it down...

***Now, I know when we started down this road I was hesitant about football. I worried, and wondered about the wisdom of Noble's choice. In retrospect, would we do this football thing again? Was it worth it to let Noble fulfill this dream? Absolutely. Everything about this season and this experience was meant to be. Amazing things happen when you let kids choose and grow. I am just glad I was along for the ride. (It has been So much FUN!)

Thank you, Noble. You are a champion. 

Llamabots

We didn't exactly know what we were getting ourselves into when we took up coaching Noble's Lego Robotics club. But we have had some good times with these guys over the past several months. Week in, week out we learned a lot together. Sometimes it was all Mike and I could do just to keep order with a crowd of 9 to 11 year old boys.

In the now designated "LEGO ROBOTICS ROOM"

(previously known as the Vampire Room)

On tourney day... we were informed of some rule changes that made a few of our program strategies un-usable. Our guys had some tense minutes as they tweaked the robot and reprogrammed under the gun. Well done guys.

 The robot games. I showed up just in time to see their last robot game, which also turned out to be their best heat. Woohoo!!!

This year FLL had a lot more teams register - so we had preliminary tournaments instead of one huge, all-day tournament. We didn't end up advancing to the championship tournament. ( Noble's team finish last year.)  But honestly, we were pretty happy with our showing, considering our inexperience and that the oldest kid on our team was 12. Not too shabby. If we get up the gumption to coach again next year, I think we could be a force to reckon with. he he he.

The best part of this whole thing was that we got to know these awesome kids & their parents better.  

The kids had some good times, and learned a lot.

Thank you Parachuting Llamabot Ninjas.

P.s. Noble put together this little vid during an unsupervised 15 minute lull at the tournament. Just another case of our kids blowing past us. We didn't even know we had movie making software on the laptop.

It's not high entertainment...just a bunch of 9 & 11 year old kids yelling and laughing. But we were impressed.

Christmas 2011 Greatest Hits: Vol. 1

It kind of feels more and more like the events of our lives seem like stepping onto a wild ride, where we just hang on for dear life. I know it has something to do with the demographics at our house, and this phase of our lives.

And yet, the magic is alive and well.

I kicked off December by organizing the ward Christmas party. I had never done anything like this before. I don't think I'm good at this kind of stuff in general. So naturally, I worried a LOT. But I have learned how to delegate to and pep-talk people who know what they're doing (Go Team!). I think it came off well. And I got to know some really great people better.

Snow fall in the gym.

  

Sully: nervous/STOKED to see Santa.

Ang with a couple of the gals after the crazy.

...And the month proceeded with the usual excitement...
A little after school festivity with Abner.

This was a pinnacle year for Sully, who ate up every aspect of the Santa myth. He was  as obsessed with Christmas as he was with Halloween a couple of months ago, and at times he had a difficult time separating the two holidays. I mean they are both a kid's dream come true. So we had some discussion about scary witches and skeletons coming to town along with Santa. He had it pretty much straightened out though by the time the big day arrived.

Holiday confusion

Here's a bit of video of S. expounding on Christmas.

"Ginger-bread mans" with Sully.

 Noble's now annual rendition of the nativity in Star Wars Lego's - the 2011 edition.

And as a side note, this photo sort of sums up the state of our snow-fall so far. The sad remnants of Sully's little snowman in our front yard - made after the one weak snow storm we've had this winter. I think that was about 2 weeks ago.

No white Christmas this year.



Look for more highlights coming soon in Greatest Hits Vol. 2.

Any Weather is Good Enough

I'm just going to get this post out of the way now. I have a little time and as long as I keep brooding about how things went down this morning, I might as well write about it.

Just to sum up - the school 5k this year threw us for almost every imaginable loop, from city permits & surprise health department inspections to a race course fiasco AND...

Snow.

This was the race site as we arrived this morning for set up. 

More concerning than the snow though, we discovered that on the 5k route the river had risen since our course inspection two nights ago, covering the trail with 8 inches of water at .5 miles in. We did an emergency re-route 45 minutes before start time (thank goodness Roy brought his bike and I had the GPS with me). We also found out (the hard way) that the little 1 mile "Fun Run" loop trail that we ran two years ago has been completely reconstructed. Two years ago we used a little loop trail around the fish pond as our fun run. I ran it as part of the Utah Marathon Relay a few years ago as well...so I thought I knew the course down there. Since I'm 7 months pregnant, I didn't run the course in preparation this year. Oh man, I wish I'd taken the time to walk it.

Apparently, since the last time I ran it trails, underpasses and bridges connecting nearby neighborhoods have been added and the landscape totally reworked. So I sent out our little herd of young children and parents with strollers down the trail with, "It's really easy. The trail just goes around a little fish pond, and you loop back. You can't get lost. Ready, set...GO." 18 minutes later NO ONE had finished - and I started to freak out a little. I sent my bro-in-law out on bike to find out what was happening. About that time we had a few runners come up the trail, and I was informed that a lot of people had gotten lost...some of the kids were up in a neighborhood, one kid was yelling for help (turns out that kid was Noble). My heart totally froze. I began to envision lost children, a fast river...you can imagine. I got a little panicked. I spoke with a few other parents who came past - and they made me a little less anxious - that most runners were on the right path by then. Several parents had followed the front-runners (all kids) to turn them around, Mike went back, my bro-in-law on bike collected the stragglers, and my brother, Casey, went back to guide the approaching 5k-ers (who were to finish along the same route) around the fish pond. Everyone made it in. No one got permanently lost, no police involvement, no angry mob of parents... But still, it makes me sick to think what might have happened. How can a tiny little thing like a 1Mile fun run go so terribly wrong? I have learned my lesson: NEVER ASSUME YOU KNOW THE RACE COURSE WITHOUT DOUBLE-CHECKING.

The funny thing is, in previous years I've actually lost sleep the night before worrying about logistics and details and what-ifs. This year I was feeling pretty confident, thinking this was our third year - on a familiar course - nothing to sweat. That will teach me. Later, before awards, I apologized for the mix-up, my co-organizer blamed it on the snow and the high water on the trail earlier that day - and all the chaos and confusion that caused at the last minute. Most (not all) people seemed to be cool about the mistake (as long as every one's kid had made it back in one piece...*shudder* It scares me to death.)

Other than that - and a few other dramatic moments - we had a very successful event. I was totally surprised at how many people turned up to run, even with the snow. We auctioned off a LOT of stuff. The Jimmer Fredette signed ball alone brought in over $700!

Mr. C. won the first annual pancake eating contest. Our timing guys pulled off their job without a hitch. (I don't think I could have coped with a timing failure on top of everything else. Thanks Elevated Racing.) 

Zeke turned up to show solidarity.

So - definitely a net success. But I would be good with less drama next time.

In other news, Jessie is competing in her first horse show of the season today. I'm going to go watch her now.

A Good Day for a Race

Lone Peak in the morning sun. Could you ask for a more beautiful morning?

We had our 2nd annual NPA 5K /1 Mile Fun Run on Saturday. Overall, things turned out really well. Elevated Racing (Royson & Bendy) did a fantastic job timing our race, and everything on our end went pretty much according to plan. We ran into a few glitches including runners switching races without notice (messing up some of our results), & me misplacing my GPS just when I needed to measure out the mile course with our volunteer.... but other than that we had a great race. I think we had 260 (ish) runners this year, and well above that for breakfast. It looks like we raised over $10,000 again this year for the school - and that's cool. Thanks everyone who supported us / our kids. Noble wasn't able to repeat his Mile win of last year - (some teenager took it this year) but he was close. Tillman wasn't far behind Noble. Mike stayed with Grace - who spent the race repeating the word "PAIN" as she ran (ha ha ha). They finished in about 13 minutes. The awesome part is that a 13 minute mile earned Mike first place in his age division. We were laughing pretty hard about that. He was able to pull it off mostly because the other guys in the race his age were pushing strollers. Jess ran the 5k with her friends - and did pretty well. This was her second 5k ever.

We spent the rest of the day watching our little nephews (Mike hooked them up with a little something from the ice cream truck.)

AND we went out to see another home...we put an offer on it yesterday.