Year: 2005 Page 8 of 12

We are very much looking forward to our trip to Mexico. Lorena and the kids will be there for just under three weeks. I will be there for a week and a half. I spoke with Grandma Conchita last night. Both she and Grandpa Lauro are very excited to see their two oldest grandchildren. Homeschool is slowing down even further. Kelly is working on the final draft over her research report. Christian has finished the rough and first drafts of his report. Both of them should be finished sometime next week. Math is going well as is reading. Now it is just a matter of crossing all the t’s and dotting all the i’s. We have had a great year so far. Between now and the end of the school year, my biggest goals are getting some maple trees planted that Grandpa Milo got for us, working on killing clover in the lawn, and getting down to 180 pounds before we go to Mexico.

I have decided I need to keep working on both future opportunities I have in the works. First, I need to get the CNC router thing going and second, I need to get my plate reader thing going. I am going to work on the plate reader while I am home alone and the kids are in Mexico with Lorena.

Christian struggled yesterday with his math–not with the complexity, but with the tedium of doing the Singapore “Mental Math”. I think we might be in the middle of end-of-the-year-itis. The big push to finish everything up is going on right now with the next big milestone being the research reports. It will all be over soon and all they will be doing for the summer is Mavis Beacon and less than half of their normal piano practice. We need to start looking for some summer craft and gardening projects.

Ron Voorhees, our partner in Quality Corners, gave us a call yesterday that has me thinking that we might have an uphill battle in keeping our current level of business. One of the biggest owners of our principle customer came into our business last Friday. He had a long talk with Ron and was very favorably impressed with our operation. Word got back to him yesterday through the grapevine, the this man had given a talk to the people in the business to whom we sell. Several of them had been trying to figure out a way to do the manufacturing for themselves instead of buying from us. We think the talk stalled them a little, but it certainly gave us a reality check. We need to make these parts as efficiently as possible with the understanding that we could lose the business at any moment.

UPDATE — I got a call from Dad this morning that Ron got called to a meeting with our big customer on Friday to discuss the prices of our products and our relationship with them as a supplier. I called Ron to talk about it a little. It is impossible to know what they really want out of the meeting, but we believe that it is probably not a bad sign right this moment. We are going to go into the meeting without any expectations, but with the hope that we can negotiate a little bit longer term arrangement than the week to week arrangement we have now. If we can have confidence that we will have the business for a little longer, we can make the commitment to invest in more equipment which, over time will drive our costs and the price of our products down. This should allow us to get more marketshare with our other customers which will, in turn, give us more economies of scale to drive our costs and prices even lower. We hope that is what this is about.

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It seems like a lot of people from meeting have been getting very sick with little time to live. That latest two are one of our workers, Lowell Stidolph and our very good friend Edie Plews. Lowell is around sixty and Edie is probably a little over seventy. These faithful people will surely be missed. There has always been a need to raise godly children, it just seems so much more urgent now.

Kelly and Christian did very well in school yesterday. I worked a little more than usual with Kelly. We corrected the second draft of her annual research report on newspapers and spent probably an hour on fixing math problems she did not understand. Christian finished reading his book on Robert Fulton yesterday and is working hard on getting the first draft of his annual research report on airplanes typed into the computer from his hand written rough draft.

Dad called yesterday. He had gotten us twenty Japanese Lilac Trees. Lorena and I looked them up on the internet. We really did not like them so much because they did not look like they would get very big. They also looked like they would make quite a mess. I called Dad and it felt kind of bad rejecting a free gift. He said he would get some maples instead. Dad and Mom are going to run over to the coast to see Joe and Edie in the next day or two. I hope we can get permission to go, too. It would be nice to see Edie. It would also be nice to spend a day at the coast with the kids.

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We had a marvelous Mother’s Day weekend. On Saturday we took Lorena to breakfast at Elmers. On Sunday, we gave her the presents and cards Christian and Kelly made for her and let her pick out two hanging baskets of flowers for the front of the house. I really think she likes the “picking out” better than the “having”. On Saturday, I mowed the lawn, Lorena cleaned out the garage, and the kids played. Late on Sunday afternoon, Christian’s friend Micah came over and invited Kelly and Christian to go to the park. After that, the kids played a really cool “solve the mystery Nancy Drew computer game. We played it a little more after Micah left. I think this is going to be our summer project. Here is a picture of Lorena and all her kids we took especially for Mothers Day.

Here is Kelly’s article that I scanned for your reading pleasure:

Before we went to bed last night, we had just a little bit of time, so I started reading Swiss Family Robinson. It appears to be a great book. It was written in 1812 and has a theology that is very encouraging and well articulated. We are counting this as our first read-aloud of the summer, but we might finish it before the summer starts if it continues to be as interesting as what we have read so far!

Kelly’s article on the difficulty of math won first place in the writing competition in the Albany Democrat-Herald again yesterday! You can read the article here. I will try to post an image of the article sometime this Friday. I really think it was one of her best efforts. This was the last competition of the year. She won the first competition, too. It was quite exciting for us again. I hope it does not become old hat.

Christian finished his Spelling Power for the year last night. He is spelling at an eighth grade level. It might be that we are getting to the end of the year, but we are starting to feel a little burnout. That is especially true with math. The kids have done absolutely great this year after having wasted a couple years learning nothing in their government school math programs. We went pretty fast this year to get them caught back up to something interesting. Now, though, I think it is time to back things off several notches. We can still move along at a good clip, I just want it to be enjoyable and not onerous.

The CNC router we are having made for Quality Corners will ship to me on Monday. It is going to be really exciting to use and could very well open up some big markets for us. It comes from a company named Digital Cybermation in Pittsburgh, PA. Here is the picture they sent us:

Lorena’s aunt Mina, Martha’s daughter, spent the day with Lorena and the kids yesterday. After swimming lessons, Lorena went over to Tony’s house to pick up her Mina. They made tamales together and, after I got home, we all went to the bible study out in Jefferson at the Myers’ house. Doreen Dutton, one of the workers, was there. Mina knew Doreen’s cousin Carol from when Carol was in the work in New Mexico. The kids got just a little bit behind today on their homeschool work mostly because of Mina’s visit. I gave them a day off on their math today, so they should be able to catch up without any trouble. They are very far ahead on their math. We could not do any more math for the rest of the year and even start in without any math for a couple of months next year and still be ahead. Mina stayed with us last night and will go with Lorena and the kids to piano lessons. Lorena will drop Mina back off at Tony’s house when she goes to Corvallis for her math class.

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I think I loaded the kids up with too much work yesterday. Neither of them did very well on their math, not so much because of the difficulty of the material, but because of the amount of it. Today, I gave them a regular day, but told them that for the math, they would have two days to do it. They are behind on one of their RealScience-4-Kids experiments, but should get that caught up today. They only have that and three more before they have completed the chemistry portion of this series.

Lorena went to a party at the apartment of Annie and Shannon, two professing girls attending Oregon State. Tony, Martha, and Mina were there along with Andrew and Rhonda Gibbler. Andrew and Rhonda are really a breath of fresh air. Annie and Shannon asked Lorena how our kids are getting socialized if we have them in homeschool. It is such a silly question coming from a professing person. It would even be sillier if they knew Kelly and Christian. I guess I should not be too harsh on them; their presence at Oregon State, living on their own during their freshman year explains a lot.

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I remember those last few weeks before the end of the school year when no one really wanted to be inside studying. The weather was too nice to be closed up in a classroom and we had been studying for a long, long time. We are in those days now. There is a little difference in that our classes are a lot more interesting than those of the government school and the materials are certainly better, but we have been studying for a long, long time. The kids are looking forward to finishing up so they can start their summer of swimming, reading whatever they want, playing with the neighbor kids, and regularly complaining of boredom. The upside to our finish date is that we will be finishing a couple of weeks ahead of the government school kids. We tried to take off the same number of days as they, but they took off so many that we just could not keep up. We started earlier than they, too. In one sense it will not be so good because the kids will be off for quite awhile with only themselves for companions until the other kids get home in the evening.

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With only four weeks until the end of the school year and the sun shining, we spent one of our laziest weekends ever at the house. Mostly, the kids just played with the neighbor kids and Micah, the grandson of our neighbor, Vicky across the street. Micah is a great kid who gets along with Christian better than just about anyone. He stayed with us while Vicky and her two daughters went off to a Mothers Day dinner at Vicky’s church. Lorena and I relaxed. The cats joined us.

This will change rapidly as Lorena gets to the end of her semester and the spring cleanup gets into full swing. We have decided not to go to Mexico until the very end of June or the beginning of July. It will be extremely hot in Monterrey at that time, but the timing will work out way better. Maybe next year we can work it out to be there during the allergy season. Not only would we miss the allergies, but also the weather would be much more temperate.

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This is another editorial that I wrote for the monthly newspaper editorial contest. The topic was the challenge for me at first but then Mom suggested math. I wrote it like a poem and had lot’s of fun. I probably won’t win the contest this month since I already won it the first time and they haven’t published my essays since.

The Most Challenging Part of School so Far this Year

Math. A never ending story of decimals, fractions, ratios, and multiplication that seems to prevail over me and frustrate me again and again. But when I conquer the plague of numbers and figures that torment my mind, what a good feeling it is to know that I have mastered something I once thought difficult. And then comes yet another tempest which I must learn to brave as I sit with a pencil in my unmoving hand, until I have it! Firmly locked in my mind never to be forgotten or neglected unless I let it go.

When the school year is done I might be joyful that I am freed of the digits and shapes that had been so awful to me, but soon I find myself yearning for math yet again. I’ll never know when I’ll have to pull out of my knowledge some combination of numbers from the constantly growing jumble of my mathematical mind to solve a problem. But when I do I must remember that I could not have done without that wonderful, horrible, challenge. Math.

We took a few pictures of the kids in the new clothes Grandma Conchita sewed for them and sent up with Mina when she came to visit Tony and Martha. I put these photos up in our photo gallery along with some others of a dinner we had for Mina, Grandpa Milo, Grandma Sarah, Tony, and Martha. We had a super time when they came over last Sunday. Here are is the one of Kelly with the Mexican skirt and blouse Grandma Conchita sewed for her:

Here is one of Christian with the lab coat Grandma Conchita sewed for him:

Quality Corners had is having its most profitable month ever this April. We have could very double our sales next month while we increasing our margins. Our margins are increasing now because we are getting economies of scale in general and more fully automated processes in particular. Grandpa Milo called last night and said that if this thing lasts, it something for which we should be very thankful. He said things like this only happen once a lifetime. In that light, I realize I need to be a good steward and hold to the truth that all things belong to the Lord. We are in a very good neighborhood for Kelly and Christian right now. We have a wonderful house. We have a great Sunday morning meeting, we are a close enough to my family that we can visit, but not so close that we have any issues. We are in a relatively homeschool friendly state even though it is way, way too liberal. I think God has put us in a fine place to raise our children. Even though I have had the wrong priorities about money and place, he has graciously changed those priorities toward ones that are in line with his own heart; ones that will bring contentment. I am thankful.

Kelly and Christian did a great job in homeschool yesterday. I mowed the lawn last night and we still had time after everything was finished to listen to Adventures in Odyssey on the computer. Christian did his flashcards in under two minutes for the first time! The reports they are doing are really amazing. Kelly’s report on the history of writing and newspapers is almost through the second rewrite. Christian is still handwriting the first draft of his report on the history of aviation from his notecards. For fifth and third grade reports, they are awesome.

We are going to Tony Nelson’s house tonight along with a good sized group of other people. Kelly and Christian will get a chance to play with Lenore, Miles, Neil, Osten, and Phillip (Jay and Karen Nelson’s kids). Then on Saturday, our plan is to spend some time working on Christian’s AM/FM radio kit.

Lorena thinks she did OK on her College Algebra midterm last night. She has been pretty discouraged about this class because it is so difficult. It will be great if she gets a good grade. She is very smart and has studied hard. I think she will do just fine. Hopefully, she will receive the test results tonight. Kelly, Christian, and I went to our Wednesday night Bible study last night in Jefferson at the Myers. On the way to meeting, we ran through the Jack-in-the-Box drive through. The kids shared a Panido ham and turkey sandwich while I got a hamburger. I have to quit eating like that. I left my billfold in the car after meeting, so I guess I will go without lunch today to make up for my gluttony! Lorena and the kids have to go to the Hickenlooper’s house in Jefferson for piano lessons today. That is the opposite direction from Corvallis, so there is not much chance I will be able to get any money or food until I get home.

I spoke with the CNC router guys again today about the machine they are building for us. Supposedly, I am going to get an email with an image of it today so that I can look at it and it can ship out to us. I hope it does not take too much longer.

We are going to Tony and Martha’s house tomorrow night for dinner.

On Thursday I have to fly to San Jose to visit a company named Western Digital for ATS. This is the first time I will be away long enough that the kids will have to do two days worth of work before I do the correction. It was bound to happen pretty soon. I am amazed that it took so long. I really think it will go OK. Our system works fairly smoothly and the kids have not trouble getting the work finished. We will probably have to do something over the weekend, but it should not be too bad. Lorena has her first math mid-term tonight so I should get off a little early to get the plans made up for them. We have our Wednesday night Bible study tonight, too, so our schedule might be just a little tight.

I DON’T HAVE TO GO!!! We figure a way how to engineer a possible solution without the aid of vision. It could be a real coup for us. We will get the part in from San Jose tomorrow which will give us a chance to do some engineering while holding the part rather than just looking at pictures.

Kelly and Christian had their last swimming lesson of this session today. They will have one more session between now and the end of the school year. Neither Kelly nor Christian passed on to the next level, but both of them are very close. Christian is on level six and Kelly is on level 9. The highest level is ten before they go into life saving. I hope there is some way I can keep Kelly interested and continuing to take level ten until they have both completed that level. At any rate, Kelly will have level ten for next year and I expect Christian will move quickly now through levels seven eight and nine.

I did not get home from work yesterday until about 6:30 PM. When I got there the kids were playing. Kelly had done just about all of her work, but there were a bunch of things Christian had not finished. It was a little frustrating for all of us. We ended up not getting to bed until after 10:30 because of all the catchup work we had to do. Even then, we did not quite get it all done. Today, I really hope we can do better. The kids do not have piano lessons, swimming class, play groups, or anything else so they should be able to get it all done. The only thing we have on the docket is Lorena’s math class this afternoon.

The very good thing that happened yesterday was that the FM radio Christian and I are going to put together this summer came in the mail yesterday. It looks pretty complicated, but I bet we learn something. The instructions on how to put the kit together are written in the form of lessons on how an FM radio works. It is a great concept and I hope it works well for people our age.

I did not get to talk to Ron last night about what is going on at Quality Corners. Grandpa Milo is heading over to Idaho today to pour a couple of concrete slabs; one to support the new blower system and one to support the screw compressor that we own. He is driving over with Del and Alice Weber because Del is going to help them install a machine transition the he and Grandpa Milo built. My CNC router has not yet arrived. I am getting a little frustrated with the whole deal. I am going to start calling them every day until the router arrives.

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The following is an image of Christian’s and Kelly’s last chemistry experiment from RealScience-4-Kids. They set the experiment up on Saturday, the day before the picture was taken. In this picture, they are sitting waiting for breakfast on Sunday morning (note the bible in front of Kelly she is reading to get ready for Sunday morning meeting. After meeting, the kids took down the chromatography stripes for analysis and recording in their experiment log.

Lorena’s Aunt Mina came over for dinner on Sunday after meeting along with Tony and Martha. Grandpa Milo and Grandma Sarah came along, too. After we ate a wonderful dinner, Kelly and Christian both played the piano for us and quoted their verses. Kelly has memorized Psalm 91 in both English and Spanish while Christian has done the same with Psalm 8. I am going to have to record their verses and their music on the camcorder while they are still well practiced.

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Estamos muy animados tener a Mina aqui en Los Estados Unidos. Especialmente porque ya puede decir que ha estado en la tierra prometida de Oregon!!!

Este noche, Lorena habia planeado tener una fiesta de algo se llama Pampered Chef. Es una junta que es MUY de la moda aqui en Los Estados Unidos ahorita. Todas las senoras se junta para chismear, reir, comer, y hablar de comida. Esta bien padre. Mina vino con Marta para ver los implementos que esta vendiendo una de la Senoras que esta involucrado en eso se llama Sandra Ramey. Sandra tiene una hija que es sierva, una hija viviendo en Nuevo Zelandia con su esposo de alli, y un hijo que esta en el naval trabajando un submarinos contra del terrorismo bajo del mar. Son muy buena honda. Es una de las familias con larga historia como entregados aqui en este parte de Los Estados Unidos. Voy a poner mas fotos y cuentos cuando los tengo!!!

We went over to Heather Eblen’s house last Sunday for lunch after the fellowship meeting on Sunday morning. Heather’s computer is on its last legs. It is about 13 years old and loaded with memory, but just does not have enough juice in the processor to run Windows XP. The IT department where I work throws away old computers they cannot use and that are not powerful enough to donate to schools. I asked them for one and they were happy to give it to me. I will load it up with Ubuntu Linux and get it onto their cable modem today and tomorrow. All Heather really does is email, websurfing, and letter writing. This will be great for that. She will have plenty of memory to everything she needs to do. Right now, I think there is 128 megabytes of memory, but I think she has 256 on her computer at home, so all I will have to do is trade the memory out and she will be off and running.

Sandra Ramey will be coming over tonight to lead a Pampered Chef party that we will host at our house. Our neighbors across the street, Gina (the mother of Hannah, Jacob, and Halley) along with Alexa who owns a couple local rental stores, Martha and her mother Mina, and Lorena will all attend. They have such a great time together and Pampered Chef really does have some cool stuff. Christian and I are going to hang out in the bonus room and play FreeCiv on our little two computer network if we can figure out how to get the computers to talk to each other.

Donna Floyd’s mother Selma Sterling died a couple of days ago, so I called Al and Michele (granddaughter) Rizos and Ron and Donna. We had a great talk on the phone. Donna has been a real pillar in dealing with her mother and in speaking with Donna, it sounds like Ron was a super help, too. I hope this frees Ron and Donna up enough that they can come up and visit us now. It would have been great to have them with us this year at the ski trip.

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