Monday, August 18, 2008

Juking and Stair Stepper Destruction

*Note: If you make it to the end of this post there is a special video, but you can't watch it unless you read the WHOLE thing!


My week started out with a BANG! To tell the truth, it was more like a SNAP! I decided it was time to intensify my workout on the non-All-Body-Attack days. I tacked on 20 minutes to my regular forty minute regime on the mini-stair stepper to get the sweat factory producing again. Just after the forty minute mark I braced myself for the twenty extra minutes when the quarter of an inch thick metal cable broke. How do you break a metal cable? That’s a rhetorical question. I’m just glad I broke the machine and it wasn’t the other way around. I feel like I’ve gotten 45 dollars out of it anyway.

On Wednesday we went with the missionaries to teach Carlos. For family home evening Ryan and I practiced teaching the second lesson. I even made plan of salvation figures in Spanish for the occasion. When we got there we all noted a few ominous signs. The garage door was closed, and there was no movement inside the house. After knocking three times without a response, the missionaries left a “The Truth Restored” card (It looks more professional than a sticky note) on the door.

On the way back to the car, the junior companion asked a serious question. “Where did you get Bella?” I wasn’t sure if he was referring to the plan of salvation, or something else. “The name! The name!” He emphasized with boiling cheeks, “I just want to know where you got the name.”

We fed the missionaries on Saturday, before going to Carlos’ house again. The garage door was shut and nobody opened the door. That’s when I learned a new word. “Juked,” in missionary lingo is derived from its usage in the sports world. Dictionary.com elucidates, “1. To make a move intended to deceive (an opponent).–noun 2. a fake or feint, usually intended to deceive a defensive player.”

Although we didn’t get to speak Spanish with Carlos, we met the most wonderful man in Lawrence. His name is Jimmy Dean. He showed us the picture they took of his twenty year old son three days before he was killed. He clapped his hands and smiled when the missionaries taught him the word of wisdom. “You guys are helping me turn my life around. I haven’t had a drink in three days. I want one real bad, but I’m going to turn my life around. I’ve been feeling good ever since I met you guys.” When they told him that God commanded us to pray always, he asked to say a prayer right then. He reminds me of a man I met in Luquillo, Puerto Rico named Edwin, except Edwin never could kick the drugs.

Ryan was featured on the front page of the Ottawa City Herald this week. He even made the “picture of the day.” The journalist posed him greasing a lawnmower, and even told him how to do it so that it looked real. If you want to read it, click here. The only misinformation she gave in the article was regarding his backpack. If she had opened it she would have found it stuffed with snacks, not books.

The population of Lawrence is about to double. Ryan has helped about ten families move in the past two weeks. Instead of bouquets of freshly sharpened #2 pencils, “back to school” brings large Penske vans, along with hordes of freshmen in matching T-shirts, roving the campus in packs. I’ve only seen something similar when I step on an anthill.

Ryan has been enjoying his last week before school starts. We took a break from broadening our horizons with Mark Twain. Instead, we’ve been rooting for Michael Phelps, Dara Torres and Shawn Johnson. I didn’t think it was possible, but a couple of races got my heart rate up like speaking in sacrament meeting. To Ryan’s delight, he discovered that you can find and replay any event in the Olympics on-line. He spent two hours watching the Redeem Team womp on Greece.

As for Bella, she’s been getting comfortable in the crook of my arm. Bella squirms so much that I have a hard time putting her down when she is in the mood to cuddle. She’s been feeling quite cuddly lately. I’m getting really good at being one handed, and using my toes to pick things up. I think she might be feeling a little too much love though. I didn’t think it would harm anyone to let her chew on me while I put the dishes away, but she left a puce, mouth shaped mark on my shoulder. People will think Ryan put it there, but I don’t mind.

Well, the poll results are in. It appears that most of you want to see older videos of us. We will try to put one video per week on the blog. Our history as a family is relatively short, and our time with a video camera is even shorter, so the videos won’t be too old. We love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Ryan, Celia and Bella


This video was taken last Sunday. We have decided we sound ridiculous when we talk to Bella.

1 comments:

Milly said...

wow, it sounds like you have had a busy week! That is so great that you get to go out with the missionaries so often. I love sharing the gospel still, and am constantly looking for ways to do so. Bella is so stinking cute! I just can't get over it. I can't wait to see her basketball moves. She looks so feminine, and then you throw the ball in there, and it is too cute.