My visit to Georgia

My week in Georgia is coming to a close, and it has been such a great time. When I was invited to come in November and booked my flight none of us knew that is would be Anthony's final week here with his family before going on his 5 week pre-deployment. He leaves tomorrow, and I feel bad that I took time away from Chelsea and Ethan. I really appreciate however having this quality time.
The first few days were spent with Chelsea showing me some of Valdosta, going on base to do the grocery shopping, and picking up lunch to take on base for a picnic with Anthony, since he had to work.
On Wednesday and Thursday Chelsea and Anthony went to Savannah Georgia to have time together, which left me to have grama time with Ethan. We had this opportunity to decorate the house, make Valentines, bake cookies, make a gumdrop tree, go for walks, play basketball, blow bubbles, watch Elmo, Ethan's favorite and hopefully creat fun memories. I know it has for me. Needless to say this almost two year old wasn't the only one who needed a nap mid day.
Anthony and I had time to go out on a tour of the base, for ice cream, and lunch another day.

It brings me great joy to know my children are happy & raising happy children. I just hope that each moment is treasured since time goes by so quickly,
and these precious little ones are grown up.













As you can see, boys truly will be boys.

Back to school

JoAnna, Rodney & Lauren left on there trip to school in Rexburg Idaho, which leaves the house and the pace very solemn. Rodney only stayed for a few days to get things settled before having to return here for his Marine duty which kept him in Portland for a week. It was difficult for Lauren to be without him, in fact it is the first time being away from home, and at a new school that made it all the more difficult. The good news with all the flooding going on in Washington was Rod's duty kept him here in Portland rather than the scheduled trip, therefore he could leave a few days earlier and surprise Lauren last Sunday night while she was at JoAnna's apartment for dinner. Its good that they all have each other close for extra strength and comfort.
JoAnna was so excited when she left here to get settled into her new apartment, however last Saturday she got a real bomb shell dropped on her with an eviction notice for the end of Winter semester. She signed the contract the end of May 2008 for both winter and summer, but in August the house was sold and has been renovated so they want allot more money for summer semester. The sad part was she only had a copy of the contract that she sighed, not the copy of the one with the previous owners signature, so they will not honor it. That is business. Needless to say what started to be an exciting adventure, soon turned out to be a nightmare that she is learning allot from., but with the help and support of Peter we are in hopes that she will win this battle. Who knows what will happen, but this is an experience that she will never forget.

United from a distance

One of the ways we as a family are united at Christmas is our matching Christmas pajamas. Though it would be great to be closer together this seems to be what we have to work with, and some how I feel a bit more complete after receiving all the pictures and talking to each of the kids.









At this time however I would like all to have a wonderful New Year with many goals outlined, dreams to fulfill, love to share, and service to render as our thoughts and actions unitedly become more Christ centered.

Christmas Eve in Portland

This year ended up being spent at Mom DeRoest's home instead of the beach due to the snow. In fact John & Dale and Mary & Randy had all of there families together.

JoAnna was especially excited since she and Matt coordinated the reenactment of the Christmas story to bring it more focused on the holiday we were celebrating, so after a delicious dinner that mom prepared there was a gift exchange and program. Non professional, yes, but set a tone that was quite enjoyable.








Matt represented Caesar, as Sam played the guitar and Narrated the story. Bob and Natessa were Mary & Joseph. There two boys were the shepherds, JoAnna was the Angel that visited the shepherds, and the three Ferland boys, Randy, Ryan, and Ricky were the three wise men. It was really a fun focus to set the stage for Christmas.

Christmas is here again...

go ahead and say it you know you already thought it..."Stand up and cheer again!" Ok now on a serious note we had our annual Christmas Eve pajama party sent with love from Portland and here are the results...some good, some bad, and some awesome! We did get out earlier this evening to some friends house for a "Southern Tradition" Bon-fire for Santa Clause...either to signal him in, or to set him on fire I'm not really sure what the true purpose was, I wasn't really listening that attentively but it was fun none the less to come together eat some Jambalaya, roast mooshmellows, and be in good company. After our little venture we came home jammied up and took the photo op of the year. Please direct your attention to the crooked photo, this is Ethan's first picture of Mommy and Daddy. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas this year.
Love from Georgia Anthony, Chelsea, Ethan, and Jersey

Pre Christmas celebration" Winter wonderland"

Well who knows what will happen tomorrow. We have had snow for a couple of weeks now, however have not gone anywhere since last Friday night, so the snow has really piled up with no signs of stopping. In fact my car, though it did get cleared off on Saturday, is almost completely covered now.
I think we have now gotten about 18 " of snow depth, with drifts up to 36" in many areas.

Yesterday Peter, Jessica, Ezekiel, JoAnna, Tony, and I had our Christmas celebration with dinner, scripture reading, singing, and Christmas PJ's. The plan was to have Rodney and Lauren here also, however due to the snow they were unable to make it. We had a very nice day. Peter's sister Na, and her daughter came after dinner for a visit. She ended up driving down our driveway and getting stuck. Oh surprise! After getting her pushed out she visited for a little while longer, then headed home. It did give a form of entertainment for some.


Today my boss came to pick me up for work. I spent 3 hours rescheduling patients since the roads are all so bad, and confirming for tomorrow. If all works out we will have some patients come in, but a skeleton crew. Brad will pick me up first, then the hygienist for a 8 hour day. I'll be plenty busy. Needless to say however we probably will not be going to the beach tomorrow, so we loose out there. Its better to be safe, than sorry however.

" Christmas in Zarahemla. "

Tonight we went to our church Christmas dinner for a very enjoyable evening of food, fun, visiting, and entertainment. The theme for the party was "Christmas in Zarahemla", which depicted another time in history when the announcement of the Savior's birth was given.
As you can see we all wore timely clothing to be more a part of the fun and set the mood for the evening.
Dinner consisted of Lamanade (Lemonade), Nephries (Sweet potato fries), Liahoma balls (baked potato's), Kishkumen Kabobs both veggie & fruit, Corihor corn cakes (corn bread), Teancum's turkey, Rameumpton Rice (Spanish rice), Laban head of lettuce (green salad), & Sariah Salads. What a combination to choose from. It was set up in various booths around the room buffet style.
Some of the other booths housed various games to be entertained with.
The evening and program was concluded with the Primary children and audience singing a special rendition of Silent Night. Despite the snowy weather, there was a full house of people having a great time.