29 August 2021

 Becky went hiking with Helen and some other young women in our ward early Wednesday morning. Smoke from nearby fires obscured our views. For the left are Lila, Ally, Nikki, Luci, Sarah, Annie, Sierra, Emma, Olivia, Kate, Addi and Helen.

Later Wednesday morning we went pear picking with the Thurmans and Prices. It's always more fun to work alongside friends.

Helen took Gibson out for smoothies afterwards.

Gibson went to Craterworks on Thursday to help Nathan prep for the coming school year. School teachers are learning about the valuable experiences available through Craterworks and Nathan will be busier than ever. Gibson, Eddy and Jason will all be working as peer teachers this year to help with other school groups. This is a photo of Gibson watching a 3D printer make a plastic pineapple and a game piece.

Abe crossed the halfway point of his MTC experience this week. He spends long days learning through zoom classes and studying and he is learning Korean at an impressive rate. The library is strewn with his books and papers.

Gibson played in his first high school soccer game. He is on the JV team. Brandan and Becky drove to Roseburg to watch him play where the air quality was slightly better. In the photo, Gibson is wearing a white uniform. He plays right defender and his jersey is #12.

22 August 2021

Abigail stopped by to say goodbye on Monday. She left for college on Tuesday. She moved into her dorm a couple of weeks before school starts so she could start training with her cross country team. We're so excited for Abigail and all the good things ahead of her. From the left are Gibson, Helen, Abigail, Jason and Alena.

Pear picking is still going strong. We picked for a couple of hours for family night.

Against the odds, Gibson continues to make progress on his Eagle project. This week he led a group of volunteers to assemble the furniture pieces. Over the past year he cut out and stained the wood with help from Brandan and a few friends. This is a photo of Gibson explaining his project.

Here he is showing the elders how to use a Kreg jig to drill pocket holes for screws.

Here they are assembling a table.

A doll cradle was the smallest piece and the trickiest piece of furniture. The boys glued the cradle together. Later, Brandan and Gibson decided it would be better to nail the cradle together and so they finished it up at home.

Abe came over to the Arboretum during his lunch break and drove in a few screws.

He also adjusted a tree tag on one of the trees. Installing tree tags was Abe's Eagle project, completed 4 years ago.

Here is the group with the completed furniture.  We built 3 adult sized benches, a child sized table, 4 child sized benches and a doll cradle. The furniture will be arranged in a small cabin at the Arboretum after the city moves some junk they are storing in the cabin. We finished Tuesday with grateful hearts for all the help and for seeing the project through. From the left are Elder Mason, Jason, Brandan, Gibson, Elder Maddox, Jack, Cameron, Elder Driscoll and Elder White.

Becky, Angel and Helen hiked to the top of Wagner Butte on Thursday. None of us had hiked this trail before. The 10 mile hike was well worth the view at the top, obscured by smoke from nearby wildfires, but still impressive.

We could see as far as Mount Shasta, although Mount Shasta is not in this photo.

The trail was a steady climb through forests and meadows. This is a photo of Helen on the way back down.

Thursday was one of the rare afternoons this summer where it felt lovely to sit outside. The air was fairly clear and it was not too hot.

Luke invited Helen to go zip lining on Saturday. Helen had a terrific time zipping above the trees.

Today was stake conference. Because of the surge of Covid in our area, the conference was broadcast and only those participating in the program attended in person. Helen and Gibson performed in a string quartet so we got to go. From the left are Josh on viola, Gibson on cello, and Molly and Helen on violins. Rebeka accompanied on piano. They played Come Thou Fount and The Lord is My Shepherd.

You can't discern Gibson's sartorial splendor from the photo above so here is a photo of his outfit. He's wearing a face mask printed with swordfish, a dragon tie and bat-moose socks.

15 August 2021

Abe has never eaten shellfish before this week. Becky is allergic to shellfish and with Abe's multiple food allergies, it seemed unwise to risk a possible anaphylactic reaction. However, with Abe moving to a coastal region of a foreign country and after consulting with 2 allergists, we decided it was time to determine if he is allergic or not. The first step was a blood test. His doctor felt like the results from the blood test showed a low probability Abe was allergic so the next step was an oral challenge. Becky picked up a piece of steamed shrimp from the grocery store which Abe took to the allergist's office.

The regimen at the doctor's office was more complicated than we expected. First Abe ate 1 gram of shrimp and waited 15 minutes to see how he felt. Since he felt fine, he next ate 5 grams of shrimp. This used up the piece of shrimp Abe brought from home, so one of the office staff drove to the store to pick up more shrimp. She also bought some cocktail sauce so Abe didn't have to eat plain steamed shrimp.

Abe repeated the process, each time eating a little more shrimp and waiting to see how he felt, until his final dose of 40 grams. He ate about 10 shrimp altogether. Great news! He felt normal the entire time and is not allergic. The doctor told him he should keep eating shellfish weekly to keep his body used to it and make it less likely that he would develop an allergy later on.

On Wednesday we went with Abe to the airport to say goodbye to Jake. Jake left for the MTC in Provo. He'll spend a couple of weeks at the MTC before heading to Ghana. 

Gibson is in the final stages of his Eagle project. This week he drilled pocket holes in the pieces to prepare to assemble the furniture.

Mask mandates returned this week with the extreme rise in covid infections in our area. No one likes wearing a mask, but the combination of the delta variant and low vaccination rates have created a crisis for our hospitals. We especially like this sign's reminder to be kind.

Pear picking started on Friday. Pear picking is something we have been able to count on every year, even the past two years with the pandemic and horrible air quality due to forest fires.

After picking pears, we drove go-carts. It's been a long time since we've gone, but Gib is a natural.

On Saturday Abe has free time from home MTC, but he is still limited in his choice of activities. Working on hobbies is okay (unless your hobby is something like water skiing) so Abe used his arduino to program a tiny video game that is operated with a joy stick.

8 August 2021

Abe needs to exercise for 30 minutes every morning so Gibson and Helen take turns riding their bikes with him while he runs a couple of miles. This is a photo of Abe and Gibson starting out earlier this week.

We had a couple of nice weather days this week with cooler temperatures and less smoke. Abe did some language study on the patio.

Abe has to watch missionary safety videos every week. Gibson thinks the videos are pretty funny.

Helen went to a backyard dance with some of her friends. From the left are Lexie, Helen, Molli, Elizabeth, Annie and Talli.

On Saturday, Abe, Gibson and Becky hiked the Bandersnatch trail. We tried hiking it this spring, but ended up getting stuck in a creek. This time we carefully located the trailhead, about ¼ a mile from where we started last time. The real trail is very clearly marked. There are a few art pieces at the beginning of the hike. This is a statue of a pacific fisher.

Here is another sculpture.

It was a hot, dry hike so we stopped for gelato and sorbet afterwards.

From the top, we tried vanilla bean, salted caramel and lemon basil. Delicious!

Abe has lots of zoom meetings and time scheduled for studying, but he also has blocks of free time. He helped make dinner on Sunday.

He also put 2 puzzles together this week, nearly by himself.

1 August 2021

 Abe started home MTC at 7:30 Monday morning. He listened to his first devotional on the patio.

For most of the week he's used the library for his zoom lessons and study area. 

This is a photo of Abe's district. There are 11 elders and 2 teachers. The teachers are Sister Partington on the top row and Brother Huckvale on the bottom row. All of the elders are going to the Korea Busan mission except Elder Gertsch (3rd row, 4th box) who is going to a Korean speaking mission in Morristown, New Jersey. Abe's companions are Elder Lowder (1st row, 1st box) and Elder Pratt (2nd row, 3rd box).

Gibson finished his chess board. It turned out beautifully. He and Nathan, his Craterworks teacher, call it the tournament board because it looks so nice.

On Friday after Brandan got home from work, Becky and Abe drove up to our stake Aaronic Priesthood camp with Brandan.

Gibson went up Thursday and came home on Saturday. He sprained his ankle on Thursday night, but was able to stay and participate in most of the activities. His favorite activities were archery and knot tying.  This is a photo of Gibson and Eddy.

We stayed for the testimony meeting and enjoyed feeling the Spirit in this beautiful setting.

Helen talked us into going hiking on Saturday morning and then slept in. Brandan, Becky and Abe enjoyed the hike. Saturdays are Abe's P-days (p is for preparation) and he took a break from studying to rest and relax.

On Saturday evening Brandan and Becky joined some friends for an unusual concert held among the trees on the Britt Trails. Seven small ensembles performed along hiking trails. The audience hiked at their own pace between the musicians and enjoyed the music along with the natural sounds of birds, insects and thunder. The trail ended at an amphitheater were we finished the concert by listening to a larger orchestra perform together. It was a fun night with beautiful music and the chance to catch up with friends.