Kristen and Logan at the Raleigh airport after flying in from Utah and their visit with Ethan and Adam.

Ian and Merry Grace - ready for church!

Elise beside some beautiful artwork!

Computer Dependent

There was some construction going on between a couple of buildings on campus today, a retaining wall or something, and a wire was cut that no one knew was there. So, I was sitting in my office minding my own business, responding to an email about a committee I'm on and was almost ready to hit send, when everything went down! The outage was partial in our building, but eventually the power was shut off completely to repair the damage to the line. It's amazing how quiet it is with no electrical things running. My computers were silent, my printer, the fax machine, the two-way radio, telephone...all quiet. A co-worker stepped into my doorway and commented that this would not have mattered 200 years ago. He's right. We do so many things with all our electronic devices that when we don't have them, we're almost paralyzed. It's like, "Well, what do I do now? What can I do?" I was desperate to use something electronic, so I got on my cell phone and texted my family (except Logan, who I knew was in school - I didn't want his cell phone to get taken away). Not that I have to have a reason like that to text my family, but I did miss all the instant communication we are so accustomed to. And it was a good reason to take a minute to say hello to everyone. As we all adapted to our circumstances, it was interesting to look around at the ways we made the best of things as some moved into the lobby area underneath the skylight and people started using cell phones for the all-important communication we have to do. It's sort of like when it snows (which we haven't really had any to speak of this year) and we have a power outage. It is inconvenient, but it is peaceful and quiet and for a little while the world slows down - and that part is nice.

I knew this was coming...

I predicted it would be soon! I told Kristen not long ago that I was beginning to feel comfortable with finding their house and knowing my way around a little (I'm so terrible on directions!), so.... I knew they would be moving soon! It always happens! As soon as I get the hang of where they live and how to get there and get around a little - they move! So, I was not surprised to hear they bought a new house and would be moving in a couple of weeks! Hmmm.... is this number....5? in 7 years? and 4 towns/cities? and 4 wards? How exciting!

A little snow

We finally had a little snow. There wasn't much and it didn't last long, but it was pretty.