February 17, 2008

SnoWork

Can you have too much of a good thing? Well, this last month, we have confirmed that you can have more good stuff than you can handle. Take snow, for instance . . . please. The white stuff kept falling and falling and falling. For a week running, my shoveling average was twice per day. Sometimes generous neighbors with four-wheelers helped out, but our walks demand handiwork. Snow accumulated to such a point that there was no where else to put it. In some of the later snowfalls, I would have to walk with a shovel-full to a place where I could drop it, or launch it over my head to have it land on the top of a six-foot-high pile. There is a picket fence to the north of us that is now buried completely. But every time I am tempted to complain, I remember that we are in the fifth or sixth year of a drought. Really, I hear no-one griping about the volume, probably for the same reason. The snow also gives us a better chance to serve and be served. And for a while I enjoyed the illusion that I was lifting weights as much as Michelle does. Last, but certainly not least, Cache Valley has managed to get through the worst season for inversions with only one pollution red day. All in all, the snow is a really good thing. We have just run out of places to put it. Work! While the snow has been piling up, so has my work. Six-day work-weeks are standard now, peppered with wee-hour marathons. There is not time enough to fit it all in, but while it lasts, I am swinging that sickle! Trying to shoehorn my output into a limited timeframe has helped me be more efficient and better at setting and holding to priorities. My clients are happier, and so am I. The downpour has given me (and Michelle) the confidence to hire more help, namely Jeff and Melissa, and there is a whole new treasure of good things inherent in that situation (potential challenges too, but we'll take them along with the blessings!) And like the snowpack promises overflowing canals and a full harvest, so all of this work bodes well for our cash flow, meeting current needs and retiring debt. Work is truly a blessing. Snow is truly a blessing. Blessings so voluminous are being poured out, that there is not room enough, nor time enough, to receive them. Thank God!

February 10, 2008

Mission Reunion

This is Melissa, and I figured I'd give a little update from this week. So, last night Creighton and I went to Salt Lake and went out to dinner with a couple of his mission buddies and their fiances. It was really fun to see that they were all getting ready to get married within two and a half weeks that we are. It was fun and I know Creighton enjoyed seeing those guys again. Here's a picture of all of us. On the left is Jesse Nichol and his fiance Brittany, then Creighton and I (the best looking ones there obviously), the Shadd Christensen and his fiance Kate.