Hello everyone,
I can't take credit for my title. I heard it this week and it was attributed to Oprah, but I love every new year and I remain optimistic that each new year I'll do a little better.
What an interesting holiday season this has been! Snow kept us in for many days, so we have enjoyed more than our usual share of games, movies, and home-cooked meals. Hey, it's been cheaper than usual, too. We've had a great time together!
It all started on Wednesday, Dec. 17 with our no-snow snow day! The predicted snow did not arrive and I should have spent the day at school (even teachers don't want to go to school on a snow day). I did spend the day grading journals at home and made a quick trip to downtown Seattle with our friends, the Ormes. The snow started Thursday, continued Friday (friends picked Blake up at the airport that night), continued Saturday (Blake and Lance had a good trip to the airport to pick up Sara and an interesting ride back home. Since I-5 was closed, they were diverted to 99 and ended up in downtown Seattle navigating the hills in order to get to I-90). We've missed the Highlander, our 4 WD vehicle which now resides in UT!
By sometime Sunday, we had 11 inches of snow and we were basically trapped at home until the 26th when we finally ventured out again. The Camerons picked us up for church, Sherm Bigelow took us to the grocery store, and Jan Orme took Blake and me to the Eastside for some shopping on Christmas Eve. Sara went to the Seiberts for a sleepover, but Lance won our award for being housebound from Sunday the 21st until Friday the 26th. He was very glad to go back to work!
Our three elders joined us for brunch and their phone calls home on Christmas morning. We had friends over to play games on Sat. and Sun. evenings.
Blake and Sara head back to school tomorrow. Sara needs to get settled in her new apartment and they've been on the phone with friends making plans. We've almost finished packing up the Christmas decorations. I don't like to do this until New Year's Day or later. However, since Sara leaves New Year's Day, I opted for doing it earlier and having her help.
I was reading some articles on Meridian this morning liked a quote from a talk by Spencer W. Kimball. Here's a quote that I loved from the article:
"Let us “be of good cheer” (D&C 78:18), for the Lord will, as he has promised, lead us along and show us the way. He will help us as we decide from day to day on the allocation of our time and talent. We will move faster if we hurry less. We will make more real progress if we focus on the fundamentals. We will even come to know more as we serve more, for as we learn to bear more we are made ready to hear more (see John 16:12 and Mark 4:33)."
I love this counsel: Hurry less, focus on the fundamentals, and serve more!
You can access the entire talk (it's a keeper) by going to the May 1979 Ensign - Spencer W. Kimball, “Let Us Move Forward and Upward,” Ensign, May 1979, 82.
Happy New Year and let's try to do a better job of posting to our blog in 2009!
Love,
The Behnke Bunch - Ramona, Lance, Blake, and Sara
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Our precious present!
More pictures are to come when I have more time, but you can see our beautiful Rachelle Dwynne at http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/BabyDetail.aspx?BirthId=443f0083-f020-465d-8990-a452a08b55b3
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Hunter Newsletter 2008
Hi everyone! We hope that you are all doing well. We thought that we’d catch everyone up on what we’ve been up to this last year.
Katie is still the librarian at Mark Twain Elementary School. She has a fantastic job. Part of her responsibilities include reading stories to the children and helping them find books. Anyone who attends her school can tell you that Katie is somewhat of a superstar there. All the students like Katie and treat her just like a celebrity. Whenever one of her students sees her around town they excitedly call out her name and say “hi”. She receives multitudes of compliments too. Often these compliments come first hand from the students. Other times, the kids tell the parents how much they like Katie and then the parents will mention it to Katie when they see her. Among the compliments she has received from her students are that she is beautiful, and looks like a princess and is “cool”. You can’t get better than that! One student told her that she was sorry that she was moving to a new school because she said that the librarian there probably wouldn’t be as cool as Katie. Katie also gets many offers from students to volunteer to help her in the Library during their school recesses. Sometimes they are too young to help her and Katie tells them that they must be in a higher grade. The students then optimistically exclaim “Oh, OK. Next year then!” Of course, we can all understand why the students all like her so much. Katie is a lovely, kind, helpful person with a very likable personality.
When Katie is not working, she finds time to read and work on the fantasy novels she is writing. Katie and I also enjoy reading together. During this past year we have read together The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
I am still working on my Ph.D. studies at the University of California, Riverside. This will be my last year of studies though as I hope to graduate in June, 2009. I am beginning to search for potential employment for after graduation. Right now I am leaning towards a job with a government agency like the Environmental Protection Agency. But I am also applying for industrial and academic positions as well. I still have about 6 months before I graduate, however, so we probably won’t find anything until my graduation date becomes closer.
Opera House in Sydney, Australia
This summer Katie and I went to Australia for two weeks so that I could attend a scientific conference held in Sydney. I presented my research on the potential risk of pyrethroid insecticides to aquatic animals. At the end of the conference, I received an award for the Best Student Poster Presentation. That was exciting. While in Sydney, Katie and I took time to sightsee. We visited the National Maritime Museum, the Sydney Aquarium and Wildlife Park, and of course visited the famous Opera House and saw the Harbour Bridge. We spent about a week in Sydney. After that, we took a train north to Brisbane to visit my brother Shawn, his wife Jane, and their son Leroy, and my sister Maryann who is currently attending film school there. It was fun seeing all of them. Katie and I also went to the Australia Zoo (Home of the Crocodile Hunter). At the zoo we saw some of the famous animals unique to Australia including koalas, kangaroos, and wombats and Tasmanian Devils. Overall, we really enjoyed our trip to Australia. We thought that the places we visited were very beautiful. One drawback to the trip, however, was the higher prices in Australia (due to a weak US dollar). We also weren’t too terribly thrilled with the food there, but it was tolerable.
Wesley and Katie in Brisbane, Australia
This Christmas, Katie and I will be visiting my parents in Pocatello, Idaho and then spending New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day with my brother Nick and his family in San Diego, California.
We wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a very happy New Year!
Love,
Wesley and Katie Hunter
Katie is still the librarian at Mark Twain Elementary School. She has a fantastic job. Part of her responsibilities include reading stories to the children and helping them find books. Anyone who attends her school can tell you that Katie is somewhat of a superstar there. All the students like Katie and treat her just like a celebrity. Whenever one of her students sees her around town they excitedly call out her name and say “hi”. She receives multitudes of compliments too. Often these compliments come first hand from the students. Other times, the kids tell the parents how much they like Katie and then the parents will mention it to Katie when they see her. Among the compliments she has received from her students are that she is beautiful, and looks like a princess and is “cool”. You can’t get better than that! One student told her that she was sorry that she was moving to a new school because she said that the librarian there probably wouldn’t be as cool as Katie. Katie also gets many offers from students to volunteer to help her in the Library during their school recesses. Sometimes they are too young to help her and Katie tells them that they must be in a higher grade. The students then optimistically exclaim “Oh, OK. Next year then!” Of course, we can all understand why the students all like her so much. Katie is a lovely, kind, helpful person with a very likable personality.
When Katie is not working, she finds time to read and work on the fantasy novels she is writing. Katie and I also enjoy reading together. During this past year we have read together The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
I am still working on my Ph.D. studies at the University of California, Riverside. This will be my last year of studies though as I hope to graduate in June, 2009. I am beginning to search for potential employment for after graduation. Right now I am leaning towards a job with a government agency like the Environmental Protection Agency. But I am also applying for industrial and academic positions as well. I still have about 6 months before I graduate, however, so we probably won’t find anything until my graduation date becomes closer.
Opera House in Sydney, Australia
This summer Katie and I went to Australia for two weeks so that I could attend a scientific conference held in Sydney. I presented my research on the potential risk of pyrethroid insecticides to aquatic animals. At the end of the conference, I received an award for the Best Student Poster Presentation. That was exciting. While in Sydney, Katie and I took time to sightsee. We visited the National Maritime Museum, the Sydney Aquarium and Wildlife Park, and of course visited the famous Opera House and saw the Harbour Bridge. We spent about a week in Sydney. After that, we took a train north to Brisbane to visit my brother Shawn, his wife Jane, and their son Leroy, and my sister Maryann who is currently attending film school there. It was fun seeing all of them. Katie and I also went to the Australia Zoo (Home of the Crocodile Hunter). At the zoo we saw some of the famous animals unique to Australia including koalas, kangaroos, and wombats and Tasmanian Devils. Overall, we really enjoyed our trip to Australia. We thought that the places we visited were very beautiful. One drawback to the trip, however, was the higher prices in Australia (due to a weak US dollar). We also weren’t too terribly thrilled with the food there, but it was tolerable.
Wesley and Katie in Brisbane, Australia
This Christmas, Katie and I will be visiting my parents in Pocatello, Idaho and then spending New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day with my brother Nick and his family in San Diego, California.
We wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a very happy New Year!
Love,
Wesley and Katie Hunter
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Baby countdown!
I've been scheduled to be induced for this Sunday (Dec. 21st) if Rachelle doesn't come before then. (She's not due until the 27th, but the doctor thinks she is big and wants the delivery to go as smoothly as possible.) Anyways, we are very excited to see our little angel and hold her in our arms. I'm sure everything will go fine, but we would really appreciate it if you guys kept us in your prayers that day!
Love,
Becca, Michael, Aaron, and Nathan
P.S. We will try to put a picture on here as soon as we can.
P.P.S. Check out our blog http://beccamikey2002.blogspot.com for more about our month (including snow here in Bryan!)
Love,
Becca, Michael, Aaron, and Nathan
P.S. We will try to put a picture on here as soon as we can.
P.P.S. Check out our blog http://beccamikey2002.blogspot.com for more about our month (including snow here in Bryan!)
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