Good Friends, Good Times

I had a wonderful weekend and early week. On Saturday Kara and I went to Julie's to spend the afternoon hanging out with Jenny and Jenni and Bonnie (and even Joey). I am much (much) older than these wonderful ladies, and in fact I have taught all of the girls in Seminary classes at church, but now they're all grown up and we get to be friends. It always amazes me that when you're in high school, a two year age difference can be almost insurmountable. But, now that they're in the the mid twenties to early thirties and I've hit the big 50, a twenty year age difference is all but erased. We're just all grown ups and friends. I am so blessed with friends of all ages and they're all wonderful! We ate and talked and laughed and were thrilled that Jenny could come up from League City to see us. We'll be traveling up and down I-45 I think, just to keep up with her.

I must now confess that my proposed boycott of the Beijing Olympics has been a total failure. I meant to avoid the entire thing, as I am very much opposed to the fact that the IOC awarded the games to a totalitarian government that has a terrible record on human rights. However, my sports mania has completely taken over, and I've been watching (and watching and watching and watching--okay, you get it). Michael Phelps is completely AMAZING, the 4x100 men's freestyle relay (swimming) was the most exciting sports moment I've seen in ages (Jason Lezak caught up with and passed the world-record-holding Frenchman on the last leg for the US win) and I do love gymnastics. The U.S. men's gymnastics team surprised everyone and won the bronze, and while the women let the gold slip away, some of their routines were absolutely a joy to watch. Anyway, I'm a failure at the boycott, but I am glad that President Bush was pretty outspoken with the Chinese government leaders while he was over there. I've been really impressed with the Chinese people, and I have always heard that they are wonderful, friendly, delightful folk--they just have a terrible, oppressive government.

Sunday was good, as always. I love going to church; I love feeling the spirit, and now I'm in the family history class, so maybe I'll actually get going on my genealogy.

On Monday, we ate Chinese food with Julie and the boys, and it's always fun to spend time with the world's best grandsons. I am very much blessed with my children and grandchildren. They're all loving, fun, talented, delightful to be with--what more could you ask?

Yesterday, Lisa and I took Ali, one of the sisters we visit teach, to the temple. It was a very crowded session (kind of surprising on a Tuesday morning) and we had a great experience there. It was especially nice to see several sisters from our Stake working there. I love having our own temple and knowing some of the workers--it makes everything feel so comfortable and right. Ali is another of my former seminary students, and it's nice to get to know her better as a grown-up, too. We had a great visit in the car going over and back and I hope we'll do this again, soon.

I finally finished my story for UT Arlington Magazine this morning. It's about a young man who immigrated to the U.S. from Cambodia and has written a book about his family's experiences there under the Khmer Rouge regime. I always learn a lot from my interviews and research. I have another story to do on an art researcher, and I'm looking forward to that as well. She works in the area of validating art work--confirming that a painting or sculpture is genuine and are not a forgery. It sounds fascinating, too.

The countdown is on for school. Teachers report next Monday, so I really have lots of preparing to do. Gotta run for now.