Virginia Ross Family

You all okay? I keep hearing about the tornadoes and hoping everything is fine for your family...

Praying you are all safe and not scared.

Bread

I would like the recipe as well.
A couple of days ago, I made a whole wheat loaf in my bread maker with wheat I had ground some time ago. The flour was too dry for the amount of water that I used and it was a hockey puck, but it still tasted good. I will try again with your recipe. We are trying to use up stuff in the pantry. I have some purchased whole wheat flour that I need to use. We have tried the bread maker a couple of other times without great success. I used to make great bread in our old one. I haven't been as please with this one. It may be that I am just a lousy bread maker!
We opened a can of dehydrated eggs dated 12/76. They didn't look good, so we tossed a couple more cans of eggs. So much for rotating and using our year's supply.
Mom

Yummy

I'd love the recipe, Michelle--for both the bread and the honey butter!

Me the Molly Mormon

Last night I had the Molly Mormon Moment to mention (I enjoyed the alliteration there). I made wheat bread with wheat I canned and then ground myself!! HeHe... and it was YUMMY! It was my friend Cindy's recipe that I will post if anyone wants it. I wish I could post you all a thick slice with Honey Butter!

something to remember

It was fantastic to see all who could come to our 2nd farewell. The song was incredible and the warm well-wishes are going to help us through the next 18 months.

On a side note: Rex came up to me and said, "You are so funny. You use funny words." I asked him what words were funny. He said, "When you said someone ate out of the garbage." I asked him who I said ate out of the garbage and he said he didn't know. (I guess that is just as well, right Nicole?)

I love my grandchildren more than I can say. They all hold a special place in my heart... for eternity.

Love Dad

Page Farewell Take 2

Wow! What a great weekend! Good weather, good food, good company...what more could we ask! We really enjoyed going to G&G Ross' farewell last Sunday and I think it was really great for the grandkids to hear from them one more time. Thanks for your great example to us Mom and Dad! You are going to be great missionaries! Thanks Martins for hosting all of us even when you had so much going on. It was great to see everyone!

OLD!

Happy Birthday Lauren! 18 is a BIG one!!! How exciting! Happy birthday to Kim, Theo, and Brad this last week too! Aren't Rex and Mercy Aries too? What's with all the rams?!

Too Techie!

OK-so I decided I needed to not only get more techish, but I needed to do better on the whole journaling front as well.
Crazy me, so I decided to make a Blog! hee hee. I don't know how to tell you to get there except to tell you to click on my profile on the left of this blog, then click on 'My BigG Life' I don't know how to have guest posts and stuff and I would like to link stuff...but don't know how..so I will keep reading the little helps and see how it goes! Feel free to check it out! :)

Link to it here

Follow the Prophet?

Corbin reported something from Primary yesterday that gave Theo and I a good belly laugh; although, I hope it isn't a poor reflection on our parenting skills. Apparently the Primary president asked the kids who the prophet is. Our normally shy (bordering on mute in public forums) little Rex raised his hand. When she called on him his response was......wait for it.....MITT ROMNEY!!!! Jinkies!

Miracles

If you don't think that miracles are possible in this day and age, consider this: Yesterday I was in the process of carrying Mom's quilting machine down to the basement. It had just been to the repair shop. As I was carefully negotiating the steps, I looked down to see how many steps I had left. I guess my bifocals caused me to misjudge, but I thought I was at the bottom. Well, I still had one or two steps to go. So, I stepped off... into thin air and went tumbling sideways down to the floor.

Remember, I was holding a 30 - 40 pound machine... that is very expensive. My mind told me to save the machine, at any cost. I did. By all rights I should have broken at least a hip, leg, or arm... or all three. But, I not only saved the machine, I came away with one tiny bruise (which I may have already had).

The Spirit confirmed to me that I was saved injury because I am needed on a mission. It was a very humbling experience, and even more humbling witness.

Look out, West Indies!!! Here we come!!!

Love Dad

Count us in

What kind of items can we order? We are OK with wheat. We need sugar, rice and perhaps some beans and macaroni. I still need to finish the inventory of the freeze dried items.
Will you be doing it right away?
Mom

The Crazy Sister

So I have, of course, been watching commodity prices and noting the growing list of countries that are outlawing food export in anticipation of a shortfall. As the dooms-dayer you all know me to be I am going to put forth some ideas...
It is likely I will be encouraging this on a ward basis, but are any of you interested on a family basis in building our year supplies? Walton feed out of Idaho is a good resource to browse. What would you all think of putting in a family order? Consider your storage space and let's figure out our best ways to put some away for a rainy day...

www.waltonfeed.com
www.providentliving.com
www.beprepared.com

(Non) Farewell Take 2

We have confirmed mom and dad will be speaking in Page 5th Ward on April 20th at 11:00 am. We are very excited about their willingness to come down here and have a send off from the people they have loved and served for so many years! I have had so many people in our stake that have expressed their happiness for mom and dad's decision to serve a mission. So many people want to know where they are going, what kind of mission they will serve how long they will be gone, if they are excited, nervous, anxious.....I don't know if mom and dad even have an inkling of how the people of Page still think about them and wish them well! This is still their home.

So here is the next step...What a wonderful opportunity for us to get together again and wish them well and show our support one last time. I think the Lord knows how much the people of Page love mom and dad, and who is to say that He didn't want them to speak here one more time before setting off on their mission? We have been blessed to have a little extra time to say our goodbyes. We should use this chance to fulfill dad's wish to hear the Ross children sing!!! (-: Our little ward is not as blessed with as much musical talent as some other wards, and a musical number is a rare occurance. I know you are all so very busy. We have a lot going on too (Theo's sister is getting married on the 19th here in Page), but we can pull it off! I know we can!! I hope you will all consider coming to the Ross (non)farewell one more time! Let me know!

Family Reunion

Hi everyone! Our family sure had a good time in SLC last week. Thanks G&G Ross and Hannay Crew for letting us crash your pads. I am wondering if everyone is going to try to go to Page next weekend for Mom and Dad's Page Farewell...it seems very fitting that they should have a farewell there as they lived there 20+ years. I am in charge of a two day Relief Society 'get-away' to Albuquerque on that weekend, but I think I have resolved it so I can come to Page. They were very involved in Page and I am glad my kids know a little of their legacy there. I hope their mission plans are still moving forward! Nic-please see to it that we have good weather, as John thinks he can fit the dirtbikes into the truck ;).

I am also wondering if we have settled on final dates for the reunion... I think we had talked about starting on a weekend and going into the first couple days of the next week in June... is that still a possibility Brad? Nic and I kicked around some ideas of stuff to do and thought it might be fun to hike the 'Y 'on the day of Ty's tournament at BYU! What do you think? Are you guys looking for ideas or do you have it pretty well mapped out? We are trying to firm up other dates in the summer and would love to have the final word from Brad & Keryn. Thanks guys! Nic and I also agreed that one of the hardest parts of putting on a reunion is settling on the date!!

Oh-Ohhhhh That we could stay longer!

THANK YOU!!!! Mom, Dad, Kim, and Hannay crew, thank you so much for all your effort in making us comfy this weekend! We are so blessed to be a part of this family. Virginia Rosses, you were missed! We are sure looking forward to seeing you this summer! I am trying to set-up mom and dad for a speaking engagement here in Page over the weekend of April 20th if anyone would like to come. The weather here is GREAT!

Missionary Update

There has been a bit of a "possible" update to our mission situation. We got a call from the first counselor in the West Indies Mission Presidency this morning. He would like us to report to the MTC on May 5th and to take the "Office Training Class." This is conditional on the mission getting permission for us to go the the MTC a week early. So... we need to be ready to report on May 5th, but we need to wait until they call us again with the authorization. Isn't life exciting.

He also threw another curve at us. He said that most of the couples bring two computers so that they can both work on them at the same time. I am confused as to why Mom and I would both be working on the computers at the same time... but who knows.

And now to a much more important message... We can't thank you all enough (those who were able to be here) for coming to our farewell. The love and support will carry us through our mission and beyond! My only regret is that the "Ross Quartet" didn't get to perform in the sacrament meeting. However, the performance at Kim's was very special. Kim, your recollection of my request for you to help me with singing the bass part of a song was especially touching to me. I must have been truly exceptional in the pre-mortal world to have deserved such a wonderful wife and family... because I sure haven't been that great while on earth.

Nicole, let us know as soon as possible about speaking in Page. If not, we will probably come for Rex's birthday.

I love you all!
Dad

Missionary Update

We received a call from the stake president letting us know our new entry date to the MTC is May 12th. It seems our visas won't be ready in time. There is a minimum 60 day waiting period before the issue of a visa to Trinidad Tobago. We will still give our talks next week.
They have secured an apartment for us on Tobago. We aren't sure exactly where it is located yet. We don't know if it is furnished or not.
The bishop told us this morning that we can do a musical number if we wish. He got word that it is his choice. We have to decide really soon. Any takers?
Mom
PS. Martins, great pictures! It looks like you had a great time without me.

The Magic Kingdom

The Martin family has just returned from a whirlwind adventure at Disneyland. It was kind of a last minute decision to leave behind all the work we have to do on our addition and just cut loose. We had a great time! We drove to Las Vegas on Sunday, in a SNOW storm, and spent the night. Monday, we arrived in sunny California and headed straight to the beach. That evening we kicked off four days of Disney mania. We didn't even loose anyone this time around! Rex got to meet Woody in person. Bowen had some swashbuckling fun on the pirate island. Corbin got to train with a Jedi, and Drake was the big brother taking the younger guys on all the big rides. Best of all, we got to be together as a family. We didn't worry about anything but being together and having a good time! That is the most magical kind of fun there is!

Orange Curtain Photos

Here are the orange curtain photos.

For Fun From FR06

Here is a fun pic from 06. Does anyone have the orange curtain photos? Did any turn out...?

I am very anxious to see photos from both Nic and Kim and their Spring Break Extravaganzas!

Reunion Photos from '06

So, you remember how I gathered up all the photos from the '06 reunion to distribute to everyone on DVD? Well, gave Mom a copy and I guess I never got out the rest of the discs. How scandalous! The master copy has been done forever, but I just never got them out.

Since Michelle was looking for photos, and since there are a lot of photos on that disc that people might want, I've put up the T-shirt pictures in a private Picasa web album. You can browse them online, see a slideshow, or download the full quality images.

Reunion

The Hannay teens are very busy with camps and trips & EFY this summer. Lauren will be working full time to save for college. As for the dates you mentioned... Eric & Ty will be gone until June 28th. There really is no week until Aug. that all our kids will be home. So plan around everyone else... most of us will see you there!

Reunion Date Feedback

I didn't get a lot of feedback from people about bad times for the reunion this summer. (Nicole gets the prize for providing the most info.) Based on her schedule, we've tentatively selected June 26-29. That is one week before July 4th weekend when we've usually done it. Any thoughts or push back on either date? I'm particularly interested in hearing how this will work for the Virginia Rosses.

Waiting

Well, we are just marking time before we start packing. We have completed all the major items. Most of the things left can't be completed yet.

We will start in Tabago. There isn't a couple there currently, so they are searching for us a place to rent. We will move to Trinidad the end of August when another couple goes home. If we go to Trinidad first, before going to Tobago, they want to show us the apartment. She says some of the couples have nicer apartments, but ours is less expensive and in a nice neighborhood. It is is Arima, which in the upper third and in the middle of Trinidad, so no evening dips in the ocean. It is a good sized city. We borrowed a map from someone who was there on a humanitarian mission in 1991. She shared lots of stories and information with us. We still know very little about Tobago, except is has some really nice resorts. I imagine a lot of the members are the maids, cooks, etc, in those hotels.

Be sure to have the kids bring swim suits for the farewell weekend. Deb is coming at 9 pm on Friday and flying out at 9 pm on Sunday. We will just do Sacrament meeting on Sunday and have lunch in case anyone needs to leave to go home.

Counting the days,

Mom

truck for sale

Hello, Ross Clan,

I'm afraid Mom and I are going to have to sell my precious truck. Mission preparation expenses and an enormous tax hit this year have made it necessary. But we are okay with it. I look at it as a sacrifice that will come back to us in many ways on the mission.

So, if you know anyone who wants a "perfect" 2003, F-150, Ford pickup, let me know. Kim is posting it on KSL.com. I am asking $13,500. It really is like new. Ask around.

Love, Dad

Priesthood Ban

We noticed that Mom and Dad had been reading up on the Priesthood Ban in preparation for their mission. I thought I would share a couple of online resources that I've particularly liked.

• An article from Meridian Magazine.
• A blog post about the subject, with an especially touching story in comment #5.
• I attended a conference where we say the trailer for the movie Keryn mentioned in a post below. I blogged about that session of the conference which included commentary from Darius Gray, one of the first members of the Genesis group in Salt Lake. The post gives my summary of what I heard, and then there are a couple of follow-up comments from one of the creators of the documentary that are also very informative.
• Finally, here is a book review of the book that started the discussion for us at Mom and Dad's house.

If you'd like to e-borrow a book from me, here is a temporary link to a PDF (40 MB) of a recent biography of President Kimball. It was one of the most informative books on church history I've ever read. It includes a few chapters on the lead-up to and aftermath of the revelation on the priesthood.

Gideon Update

Mom mentioned that she wanted another Gideon update on the blog. As a proud father, I'm all too happy to oblige. He is doing so well! He is quite mobile these days, crawling around the house. He doesn't do stairs yet.

We have a therapist come to work with him once a week to work on strengthening his muscles. He wears little plastic boots that help him stand up. He loves to stand up on your lap or on the pew at church. We're trying to help him learn to stand up and to cruise around on the furniture, but he doesn't yet have the muscle strength and control to do it. He is improving, though.

Gideon still has, and may always have limited bowel control. There may be things that can be done to strengthen those muscles, but it is hard to tell at this point. Always having a poopy diaper can cause quite the diaper rash on occasion, though he doesn't seem to have much feeling in his bum, so it hasn't been a source of serious discomfort for him. (Hey, you said you wanted to know!)

He is doing lots of babbling these days, he just learned today to identify his nose on command, and he's got a few words which seem to include amen, mommy, and yeah.

He has a very good temperament and we feel ever so blessed to have him in our home, even when he tears the leaves off my plants and eats them, causing him to throw up on the carpet where dad has to clean it up. :)

Authoring on the Blog

I'm happy to make as many accounts as we need to post to the blog. I sent you an email to mail@slross.com with an invite. If that email doesn't work, send me a note with another email I should use to send you the invite. Once you get the invite, you should be able to post to the blog under your own name.

Help Brad...Please

Brad I was wondering how I can get a sign in on this blog under my own name, instead of Skip's. I have an account with blogger and I think that would work but, I'm not sure how. Anyone is welcome to visit my blog, mostly pictures and thoughts on our family, http://lewisross.blogspot.com .I was hoping Brad could help me with a few technical things...Please? Laurene

Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons

Mom and Dad--when we were at your house on Saturday, Bradley mentioned a movie about black Mormons called "Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons". It won't be released on DVD before you leave for your mission, but providentially enough, it will be premiered at the Foursite Film Festival in Ogden on Saturday morning at 11am. I thought I'd let you two know in case you wanted to go see it. Apparently at least one of the directors (Margaret Young and Darius Gray) will be there for a Q&A afterwards, too. All the information about where to go and such is at the film festival link. Advance tickets apparently can be purchased here.