A Post by Dad

This morning you hear from me. I'm up a little late this morning, as it's only a bit after 6:00 a.m. I've enjoyed the postings here, especially the photos (and yesterday a motion picture featuring grandkids and a slide!). Do you remember there was a slide originally? We tore it out because it was dangerous. There was a broken piece of metal that we wouldn't fix and you kids could get cut, so we yanked it out. It wasn't a pretty colored slide like the new one, just dull metal.

You may remember the Public Defender, Phyllis Morris, came to see me about a month ago and informed me (and others) that we were losing our deputy five status, which meant a pay cut of about $500.00 a month. My deputy five status was for subject matter expertise in immigration law. I told them I would continue to assist in the area in spite of the pay loss, for a number of reasons, and I have done so. But now, I'm not losing it: that decision was recently rescinded. People tell me it was announced in our budget meeting when Phyllis and Steve (the accounting guy) came down a couple weeks ago to chat with us. I was present at that meeting, but don't remember her saying that. It went right over my head.

Your mother built a table out of scrap wood. It's solid, it's ugly (it's odd pieces of scrap wood after all), and it's amazing. It fits under her work bench in the garage. A garage has never been this organized for us. Very nice.

Nick is feeling, and behaving, very humbly the past few days. You guessed it. Mom took him down the hill and had his nails trimmed, his beak trimmed, and his flight wings clipped. He even let the sister missionaries hold him, and one of them was able to scratch his head. Funny how his attitude improves with a little wing clipping. Although, if you think about it, the same may be true for us. We "get our wings clipped back" a bit, we get a little more humble, our attitudes improve. I'm not going to develop that thought any further but leave it for you to think about. I will point you in a direction, though. Read Elder Hugh B. Brown's address about when he was passed over for promotion in the British service, and the currant bush. You can find it by going to the church website, http://www.lds.org. It's an article entitled "The Currant Bush," and it's in the January 1973 New Era. I encourage you to read it, to print it and keep it around in your homes. I encourage you to think and pray about it.