Helping Hands in Cedar Rapids

Most of you probably heard in the news what happened in Cedar Rapids Iowa and many other Iowa communities back in June. Because of a very wet spring, there was record flooding in many areas. Cedar Rapids was particularly devastated losing more than four thousand homes to the floods.

The waters have receded and cleanup efforts are underway. It is a mammoth project!

Our church has been organizing large teams of volunteers to help with the work in Cedar Rapids. I had a chance to go with volunteers from our ward on Saturday. About 150 others were also there from the church all across Iowa working on about 28 different houses.


This is the group from my ward. We were assigned the home of an elderly man named John (the one not wearing the yellow "Mormon Helping Hands" t-shirt) . John said that he was only given two hours warning to evacuate his home before the water arrived. The flood filled the basement and main level to within a foot of the ceiling, completely destroying everything in the home. Nothing had been done in the home since the flood and our job was to remove and demolish everything, leaving only the frame of the house and the exterior siding.

The hardest part of the whole day was seeing and hearing the pain that John was feeling as his house was literally torn apart. He is a retired 23 year military veteran who just last fall suffered a stroke, leaving him partially disabled. Although he still was able to work with us on his home, he spent most of the time wandering around with a somewhat blank look on his face, moaning and crying, and sorting through his former treasures hoping to find anything that he could salvage. The end result was almost nothing. I was filled with grief as I witnessed the shear magnitude of his loss. It was heartbreaking.



The first part of the project was removing the furnishings from the main level and beginning the demolition of the walls. This is a picture of some of the teenage young men from our ward early in the project tearing plaster from the walls. They loved this part! How often do you get to take a crowbar and sledgehammer to a wall?

I fortunately did not have to help with the freezer full of rotten food and floodwater. I did however, find the washing machine still full of laundry along with that filthy brown two month stagnant river water and got my first soaking while helping to move it outside to dump.



I was the first one to venture into the basement and ended up spending most of the day down there. This is a picture of one section of the basement where a portion of the wall had collapsed creating a mudslide of cinder blocks, mud, and John's possessions. After seeing that, I began to question whether we should be in the house at all and wonder whether in the end the house will have to be bulldozed anyway.



When I first went down, it was impossible to even step from the stairs into the basement. It was completely dark. We had only two weak battery powered electric lanterns to work with. The flash photograph shows much more detail than we ever saw. I had no idea what it really looked like until I saw the pictures.

We organized a bucket brigade to begin making headway in the basement - passing up item after item until we had cleared enough space around the stairs to begin working. We found under the piles of debris a thick layer of very wet and slippery mud covering the whole floor.

Most of the day for me was spent carrying things out of the basement and scooping out bucketful after bucketful of that nasty mud. Any storage container that managed to remain upright was still completely filled with river water. I had many soakings trying to move those containers and ended the day completely wet and caked with mud.



As precarious as the situation was, miraculously no one was seriously injured. Rusty nails were everywhere, and sledgehammers and crowbars flying. At one point a huge section of ceiling came crashing down on two of our youth, but they shook it off, showing no signs of injury or slowing down. So far no one has developed any illness, though I'm sure there was disease everywhere in that home. We really felt that because of the service we were doing, that we were being watched over.



By the end of the day, we had cleared out a mammoth pile of debris. This is all of John's possessions and most of his home - all completely destroyed in a matter of hours. It was so sad.



Here's the finished product in the basement. Still a nice slippery layer of mud, but a big improvement over the start of the day.



Upstairs, most of the walls and a good portion of the ceilings were taken out by the end of the day. Everyone put in a very full very exhausting day.



I was very impressed with the youth that came with our group. They all worked hard all day long with very little rest or slowing down. We accomplished a lot of good for John and he and his family showed a tremendous amount of gratitude for the work we had done.

It was a very hard day - physically exhausting (I'm am SOOO sore today) and emotionally difficult. But in other ways, it was one of the most rewarding days I have had in a very long time.

I came home with a deeper sense of gratitude for what I have and a stronger realization that life is not about what we possess in our homes. Those things could be washed away in an instant leaving us with only the person that we are and the faith that we have and the relationships that we have built. Why do we spend so much time chasing the material things? "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal"

One house down ... Three thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine to go. We expect to be going back often.

You can see all of our pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/finchgregory/2008August30BettendorfWardCedarRapidsCleanup

The Judean Wilderness and the Dead Sea

Saturday was a very long day. We traveled through the Judean Wilderness to the Dead Sea. En route, we passed many Bedouin nomads, some herding sheep and goats as they have for thousands of years. I was amazed how desolate the Judean wilderness is. It begins so abruptly on the back side of the Mount of Olives - I can see why some believe that that mount divides heaven from hell.

Our first stop was Masada. Masada is an old Roman fort built by - you guessed it - Herod the Great (he did a lot of building during his time). It's situated on top of a very high mountain and is very difficult to access. For thousands of years, historians knew of Masada but no one knew where it was. Finally, sometime during the 1800's it was rediscovered. There's now a cable car that will take you to the top to explore the ruins.

Masada is most famous for what happened in about 70 A.D. The Jews had rebelled against the Romans and the Romans had responded fiercely to the revolt. This is when the temple was destroyed for the last time. A few Jewish "zealots" managed to take control of Masada from the Romans. For several years they stayed atop Masada - unable to leave because the Romans had surrounded the mountain. Fortunately for the Jews, there were years worth of provisions there.

Because the fort was so high and so inaccessible, it took the Romans years to find a way to reach the zealots. In the end they actually built a ramp all the way to the top of the mountain. The ramp remains today (though slightly eroded). It's amazing that they built it with literally millions of individual stones.

The night they finally reached the top and were ready to enter the fort to capture the zealots, the zealots held a meeting and decided they would commit mass suicide rather than be captured by the Romans. When the Romans entered the fort, they found everyone dead except two women and five children.

After we left Masada, we went to the dead sea. Here we got to swim and take a dead sea mud bath and soak in the a sulfur hot springs. It was very nice. Here's a picture of the mud monster.

We also made a few other stops in the desert (including Qumran where the Dead Sea scrolls were found) and then made out way back to Tel Aviv to catch our flight home.

It was a really great trip altogether. I found myself wishing I could have spent much more time there as a tourist. I felt like I barely scratched the surface and that there is so much more there to see and experience. I did "feel" a lot there - much more than I expected. Knowing the scriptures a little bit and then seeing the place really helped to solidify in my mind many of the teachings and stories from the scriptures. I highly recommend anyone that is able to take the time to travel there - it is very much worth the experience!

Jerusalem

Friday we spent the entire day in Jerusalem. Where to start? There was so much to see and experience and ponder that it is impossible to really describe and even more impossible to fully experience. This is the land where it all comes together in every sense. The old city is divided into quarters between Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Armenians. As you travel through the city you move easily between the different quarters, but it is like stepping from one world right into another. The Jewish Quarter was very peaceful and clean and quiet and well kept. Stepping from there into the Muslim quarter was quite a shock - crowded, noisy, busy, dirty (graffiti everywhere) with vendors everywhere. The Christian quarter was unfortunately more like the Muslim quarter than the Jewish quarter, not very clean and vendors everywhere.

I was thinking about the significance of how old Jerusalem is divided and how three of the world's great religions come together there and thinking about the last days and what will happen there between those religions. In an important way, it's really symbolic the way the city is established.

This is a picture from inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where many believe Jesus was crucified and buried. It was extremely ornate. This is a picture looking up in the great dome above the site of the sepulchre.

This is an arial shot of old Jerusalem from the top of the Luthern Church of the Redeemer with the temple mount in the background. The view from the top is much different than the view from the narrow winding streets below. In the upper left (white building below the grove of trees near the top of the mountain) is the BYU Jerusalem center where Tammy studied for several months before we were married. I had a chance to drive past it, but unfortunately won't get the chance this trip to visit.

One of the most impressive things that I experienced was the Garden of Gethsemane. It's hard to describe the feelings that I felt there so I won't try, but I will just say it was a very nice experience. This is a shot of one of the ancient olive trees in the Garden.

The other really impressive thing for me was what is believed by some to be the place Christ was crucified - Golgotha - the place of the skull. It wasn't so much the site as it was the guide that took us there. He was a Christian from England there serving as a missionary in the Garden Tomb area. While we were sitting in a quiet grove talking about Golgotha, the guide bore a simple and beautiful testimony about his belief in Christ. It was really touching to me.

This is of course the Garden Tomb where many believe Christ was buried and from where he resurrected.

Here's an opposite shot of the temple mount looking down from the top of the Mount of Olives. In the foreground is the vast Jewish cemetary. Jews want to be buried as near to the temple as possible as they believe Christ will come first to that place. The Dome of the Rock is built directly on the temple mount where the temple built by Herod was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.

Yad Vashem

Thursday evening we travelled to Jerusalem and stopped at Yad Vashem - the memorial in Jerusalem for the Holocaust victims. It was a beautiful beautiful site - so peaceful and so well done. As you can imagine, the subject could have been presented in graphic and shocking ways, but I didn't find it that way at all. While it was informative and true to the facts and definitly sobering, it was done in such as a way as to honor the victims with respect.

There was a lot of symbolism built into Yad Vashem. The museum where the story of the holocaust is presented is in a rather dark corridor. The tall walls are slanted upward and inward until they join together just above the ground - always allowing a beam of daylight into the otherwise dreary corridor.

The museum is presented with a variety of multimedia and actual artifacts from the time artifacts. Maybe one of the most memorable for me was walking across a plastic floor panel, looking down and seeing thousands upon thousands of shoes and realizing that those were shoes stripped from the people as they were taken to be killed. It was a really sobering thing.
As you progress through the museum, you gradually move upward, more toward ground level. At the end of the museum you enter a huge and beautiful rotunda library with thousands of volumes lining the shelves all around the rotunda. The volumes contain the official list of names of all of the holocaust victims.

As you exit the museum you emerge an a large platform overlooking a beautiful mountainous valley. The way the triangular walls converge with the sky force you to look to the heavens and somehow cause you to feel as if you are ascending.

Above the museum are beautiful and peaceful gardens covering a very large area. It was so peaceful there and so beautiful there and such a fitting memorial to the victims of the holocaust.

As we were driving away from Yad Vashem, I noticed a large monument overarching the road enscribed with scripture from the 37th chapter of Ezekial. It was touching to read:

"Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live and I will bring you into your own land."

Ceasarea

On Thursday we spent the morning in the office. In the afternoon, we drove to Ceasarea which is about an hour north of Tel Aviv. Ceasarea is probably most famous among Christians for the travels of Paul and his time spent emprisoned there.



Ceasarea was built by King Herod (same guy that built the temple for the Jews and killed all the babies in Bethlehem after Jesus was born there). I think it was dedicated in about 9 A.D. It was kind of a playground for the rich. Interestingly, Ceasarea is still considered a playground for the rich of Israel with some of the most expensive properties surrounding the ancient city.

One of the most impressive things in Ceasarea is the mosaics that stil remain very well intact. This was my favorite (even though there's a thin layer of dust covering it). If you look close you'll see a dog and a duck and some other creatures and objects.





These are some marble pillars that surround one of the several bath houses.

This is Herod's hippodrome. It's basically a giant chariot race course and gladiator battlefield. The structure jutting out in the left side of the field wasn't there originally so the track was more round with the pathway in the middle.


This was the most interesting thing to me. It's an amphitheatre that was built by Herod. Look familiar? It is very similar to stadiums today.

And you'll also notice that this 2000 year old amphitheatre is still used for concerts! It is 'the place to play' in Israel. You haven't made it until you've played here.

Israel

Because it's been many, many months since we've posted anything on our blog, we've probably lost all of our readers. For any of you who are still out there hanging on, I decided to record a few experiences I've had this week.

This week I'm in Israel!! I'm working with a supplier whose research and development center is in Tel Aviv so I'm here visiting this week with a couple of others from work. It's been a very interesting trip so far and will become more interesting later in the week when we actually get to be tourists for a couple of days.

Being a work trip, most of the week has been time spent in the office and in business meals - lots and lots and lots of business meals. Enjoyable, but way too much food. Tel Aviv is situated right on the Mediterranean so it seems the favorite food in the area is seafood - not my favorite! But I've tried my best to enjoy it. Sushi, calamari, raw tuna, sardines stuffed with caviar, and on and on. Some I've enjoyed more than I expected - most I've barely been able to swallow.

Our hotel is located right on the beach, so I've been able to spend some time in the water (early mornings before work). It's probably been 10 years or so since I've swam in the ocean, so that's been a nice treat - except that there are jellyfish in the water and I've had a few minor stings. I was swimming on Tuesday morning when that big earthquake (6.2 magnitude) struck in the Mediterranean near Greece. Of course, being in the water, I didn't feel anything, but oddly enough right about that time I was thinking about tsunamis - wondering if they ever happen in the Mediterranean? Fortunately for me, not this time, but it's kind of scary to think about what could have happened.

So far, we haven't really gotten to see much of the tourist sites. We did walk through the ancient city of Jaffa (it's mentioned a few times in the bible and is one of the oldest port cities in the region). That was a very interesting walk - ancient walkways, old churches, cavernous buildings filled with hundreds of huge bats and so on). Perhaps most interesting was that during the walk we came across a traditional Jewish wedding and were able to watch the last 15 minutes or so of it. It was awesome! I loved the symbolism in the ceremony and the beautiful and lively music and the obvious love the young couple had for one another. I felt a little like I was intruding, but was glad for the experience.

The down-side of business travel is that since we're here doing business, there is little time to be a tourist. The up-side of business travel is that we get to interact a lot with people most familiar with the area and people that are living normal lives in the region and are able to share their country on a much more personal level. Our hosts have been great! They share very openly what it means to live here in Israel.

Following are some things I've learned and thoughts I've had about the country. Disclaimer: I've been in Israel for 3 days. I'm no expert. These are just some thoughts and impressions that I've had. I have no idea how accurate any of them are.

The people
I've really enjoyed working with the Israelis. They are very direct and open in every way. Quite opposite from my recent experience working with Indians who are generally very indirect. The Israelis are very talented and skilled in their work and enjoyable to be around.

I was surprised to find a wide mix of people from all around the world living here. A fair number of oriental people and African people. The Jewish Israelis have gathered here from all over the world, so there is strong influence from many different regions. I was especially surprised to find a very strong Russian influence here. Many signs are in Russian and there are two Russian television stations. Apparently, in the 90's there was a huge influx of Russians into Israel (I think someone told me more than a million Russians came to Israel during the 90's). Israel's total population is only 7 million, so this influence is substantial.

Also - you probably already know this, but it was never clear to me until this trip - but there is a difference between an Arab Israeli and a Palestinian. There are many many Arabs living in Israel and are Israeli citizens and generally live in harmony with the Jewish Israelis. The societies seem to integrate without much problem. That is different from the Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank under the governance of the Palestinian Authority. They are not considered Israeli citizens and there are of course substantial political tension. Just a little tidbit of information I never really understood before.

The culture
Keeping in mind that I've only so far seen Tel Aviv, I find Israeli culture very very very much like American culture in nearly every way. Of all the places I've ever traveled outside of the United States, I think I am most comfortable being an American here. I feel like I fit in very well. Israelis are very welcoming to Americans and there are quite a lot of Americans here (both as tourists and as permanent residents). I was surprised when our waiter at one of the restaurants switched from Hebrew to nearly perfect American English. I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing he is a child of American emmigrants. The styles of clothing, the music, the mannerisms, and the food are all very similar to what you might find in America. The buildings remind me more of Europe but most everything else reminds me more of America. Traffic here is more agressive than traffic in the U.S., but it's not nearly as bad as India or Mexico.

I've only on a few occasions seen Orthodox Jews in their traditional dress or Muslims in traditional clothing, but I expect I will see much more of that in Jerusalem.

The politics
Politics is of course a major thing here in Israel. We hear about it nearly every day in American news and of course the same is all over the news here. There seems to be a lot of national pride here - I see Israeli flags hanging everywhere. You don't see flags too often in other countries (besides the U.S.) but they are everywhere here. Everyone (men and women) are required to serve in the military for a couple of years with few exceptions.

Now for security. I saved this one for last intentionally because it is such a non-issue here. Everyone upon everyone was questioning my sanity when I started planning this trip. "But that's such an unsafe country - there is so much violence there." The truth is, Israel is a very safe place to visit. I've not once felt the least bit uncomfortable or unsafe. There are millions of people living here. Yes, there are occasional acts of violence and terrorism that affect a few people, but they have become so rare and the odds of being in the wrong place at the wrong time so miniscule that really there is not much cause for concern. Overall, violent crime rates are much lower than in the U.S. Because of that, I think a person is generally safer here than in America. We'll see if I feel the same way after visiting Jerusalem.

So, enough typing. If you made it to the bottom, congratulations! It's been a good trip so far. I'm excited to start some real sight-seeing in a couple of days and will write more then. Hopefully I'll get some pictures out soon too.

Adam and Adam's birthday

This post is long overdue. I find that I am able to read blogs and email, but having two hands available at the same time, in which to type with, still eludes me most of the time. I have a rare moment now, so here's to playing catch up!

Adam, our oldest, turned 9 this year. February 22nd was the big day, but since it was the Blue and Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts we waited until the next day. We can hardly believe we have a child this old. It seems pretty much unreal, actually. We are not a "young family" anymore. Adam seems to have gotten so much older in this past year. He is definitely not a little boy anymore. In fact, it has been quite surprising that he seems to be growing up over night. Maybe we could even call him a tween right now. Why you ask?

Well, for one thing, his friends have become way important to him this year. Since most of them don't live in our neighborhood, and since our van is filled to capacity, limiting my "picking up other kids" abilities, he doesn't get to see them all that often, except at school. There are no boys in his primary class at church, but there is an older boy from church who is also in his school class. I have been so glad to have them become better friends this year. I constantly hear about Andrew (who is from church and school), Thomas and Austin (both from school). Friends know a lot, mom doesn't.

Secondly, he went through this hair stage. It was so unexpected, since he doesn't normally care if he wears his clothes inside out, backward, or dirty. He could care less if his socks don't match, his teeth aren't brushed, and he hasn't showered for days. Surprise! One day, he just asked me to buy some hair gel at the store for him and he was faithfully spiking his hair for weeks. He would never let me help him with this. He had an idea of what was cool, and made it happen. I think I was expecting to skip this, since he is not a girl, or for it to wait until he was trying to impress girls. Here he is with Ben, who Adam also encouraged to spike his hair. Aren't they cute.

He also has had more attitude than usual. Things that he is expected to do, and we have had a routine of doing have suddenly become a big problem. Piano, chores, pretty much anything I ask him to do that he doesn't want to do. He is so smart and comes up with these great arguments, I find myself strugggling to defend my position. Again, I wasn't expecting this so soon. Isn't elementary school supposed to be the golden age of child rearing?

Lastly, toys of just about any sort are out, video games (I finally scavenged a Wii after weeks of searching) and sports and sports talk are in. This is something I would expect of a 9 year old boy to some extent. Adam has never really been that into toys, not Legos, or anything else, so it is not that surprising. I am learning that if I am to have a conversation with him I had better brush up on my basketball stats, and remember all the ins and outs of Super Mario Galaxy, and be prepared to repeat those things over and over and over and over, as their importance have quickly risen to the top of his priority list.

For all of these changes, sometimes difficult, Adam is a wonderful and amazing kid. At his parent teacher conferences, his teacher couldn't say enough good things about him, not only academically, but also how kind and helpful he was with the other students, and how he helped everyone think outside the box. He is ponderous and deep thinking and always wanting to know "HOW" all the time. He has also become more helpful with the baby. As Jacob has grown, it has been more difficult for the girls to pick him up and hold him comfortably, but Adam doesn't have any problem, so I have been relying on him more for help in a pinch. He has been very gracious about it. He is also growing up in other ways. I think he is learning that his behavior and words really can affect others, and he is learning to give heartfelt, sincere apologies. He is also a lot of fun! It seems like he likes to talk to Greg and I more while the other kids play. We love it! All in all we think we have a wonderful boy growing up under our roof.

We celebrated his birthday at home, and then our family and his friend Andrew went to Michael's Funworld for an afternoon. It was great fun.

Here he is excited about his new Wii game. He was ready for something besides Wii sports.

Now his frustrations lies in the fact that we restrict his playing time so he isn't as far along as his friends.
Here he is eating his favorite meal, lasagne, with a side of strawberry milk. He likes it...
I know the cake looks pretty pitiful, but Adam LOVES peanut butter. He claims it is his favorite food, so he asked me for a peanut butter cake. I found a recipe online for one, but as you can see, peanut butter frosting is a bit difficult to work with. It was quite delicious though. Since he doesn't care how things look (except for his hair sometimes), it turned out just fine.

Adam is a fantastic kid. There have been a few growing pains for us all lately, but they are well worth the growth. We find great joy in Adam. Happy 9th birthday son!

Jacob is 6 months!

Well, our little baby is now 6 months old. I love getting to this milestone. You are half way through that hard first year. The second half of the year is such a great time for babies too. I love when they are little because they are snuggly, but it is so much fun when they are able to show more of their personality. It is like they are coming more and more alive as they learn to do things and communicate with you.

Jake is still a very pleasant baby most of the time. He loves to smile and laugh. He also loves to be held. It has been difficult to get things done because he likes me to be right there. For a short time he was rolling all over the place on the floor. Now he much prefers to sit, which he does quite well, or stand in his exersaucer (that thing has been a life saver. this family wouldn't eat withouth that thing. thanks to the Moose family!) Being the little brother, he gets dressed up a lot. Here he is above in some bunny ears. Cute, eh?
Here he is trying his first baby cereal. He didn't like it much. I just started that about a week ago. Hopefully he will like other baby food better. He still is nursing quite frequently, every 2 to 2 1/2 hours. I have tried stretching it out to three and occasionally with much patience I can, but usually it is a no go on the 3 hours thing. It is wearing me out. He also is sleeping LESS at night than he was, getting up 2 or more times a night (he got up 4 times last night!). I have started to wonder if he is not getting enough nourishment or something. He is gaining weight, though. He weighed 16 lbs. 4 oz. at his check up, which is still 3o%. He has grown in height a bunch to 26 3/4 inches, 60%, that's up 30 %. And of course with the Finch/Ebbert genes his head comes in at 93%!
I tried to take a bunch of pictures of him on his actual 6 month day. Here is one of those. They turned out OK, but not great.

I love this picture for some reason. Don't look too closely or you will see his runny nose. Everyone has been sick around here for weeks.

Lizzy is one of Jake's greatest caregivers. She is tirelesss in her desire to help him. She is such a help to me. She is the main reason I get to shower each day. She loves Jacob and is so funny and animated with him. She has really found her niche with Jacob coming to our family. It has been lovely to watch.

As you can see from the picture Jake loves to chew on his hand. He is the most slobbery baby we have ever had. He is constantly drooling and getting his clothes, and his poor little chubby neck, all wet. I have tried bibs some, but haven't liked that, so for now, I am constantly wiping his face and neck, and often changing his clothes. Oh how we love this baby! I am feeling worn out, but so thankful this happy, laughy, bouncy, rocking, drooling, razzberry spitting baby is a part of our family.

Anna's birthday--much belated

Well, Adam's birthday is coming up this Friday, and Jacob is six months today, so I figured I should catch up a bit with the blogging and fill you in on Anna's birthday, nearly a month ago, before I post about the more current things.


So, our Anna turned 7! I can hardly believe it. Just one more year until she is baptized. She is the sweetest thing ever, still. We often tell her what a great peacemaker she is, and she has really taken to that. She helps other people feel good about themselves. She knows, intuitively, how to solve a problem between two people, without ruffling too many feathers. I think she is a lot like her dad in this way. She is also very sensitive to emotions and spiritual things, having deep feelings, sometimes spilling out in tears. I think she gets this from me. She is really coming into her own this year. She is so much more confident at school and in her reading this year. She continues to make friends easily, and is friends with just about everyone. We are so proud of her. She really is a ray of light in our home.

Here she is eating her favorite meal off of our special birthday plate.





On her birthday we celebrated at home with a spaghetti dinner, cake and ice cream, and presents (she got Emily Bennett, the American Girl doll she has been asking for for months). We also watch High School Musical ( I liked it pretty well). The next day we had a little party at Jungle Bungle (it is sort of like Chuck E. Cheese, except better) with my brother, Todd, his wife Deanna, and their 2 kids Alia and Lawson. It was a lot of fun. The cousins love each other, and Jungle Bungle is always a fun treat, very loud, but fun.

Here she is with Emily.

We love you Anna!!

Breaking Barriers

I think I posted a video about my cousin Aaron a couple of years ago. He and my aunt and uncle were recently featured on ESPN. He's quite an inspiration!



I also did a google search for his name and found that Wikipedia has an article about him.

Mormons: Myths and Reality

I was looking on the Church's website today, http://www.lds.org/, and ran across this. It was designed to specifically answer questions about our faith. As always, it is very well done. I thought some of you might like to see it.

I tried to embed the video here, but couldn't get it to work, so if you would like to see it go to the link here. http://www.newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/video-challenges-public-misperceptions-explains-myths-vs-reality#current

Trip Update

I thought I should give a quick update of mine and Adam's trip. After I wrote yesterday, the snow intensified and I was almost sure we wouldn't get out of Moline. But, like the brave travelers we are, we went to the airport on time with optimism. The roads were terrible, snow packed, but we made it, said goodbye to Tammy and the kids and were on our way.

We checked in and headed for our gate. I guess Adam had that mysterious look on his face because we were singled out for extensive searching. They went through our bags in detail with bomb detecting chemical wipes and the whole works. Adam was frisked up and down. He had a big grin on his face the whole time - he thought it was pretty cool to be a suspected terrorist I think.

After we finally got to our gate, we sat and we sat and we sat and we sat. The snow finally slowed and our plane was finally ready to leave about 3 hours late. We arrived in Chicago and sat on the tarmac for another full hour waiting to be allowed into the gate. At about 9:15 they told us we could use our cell phones so I called Tammy. Our flight to Tampa was supposed to leave Chicago at 7:45, but we knew it had been delayed. Tammy checked the internet and found it was now scheduled to leave at 10:05. At exactly 10:05 our plane from Moline was finally allowed to pull into the gate. Adam and I rushed off and found that we had to go to an entirely different terminal to catch the Tampa flight. The schedule board said "Now boarding."

Adam looked at me, and said "we better run." So we ran, literally. We ran hard for at least a half mile to the other terminal. By the time we arrived, we were totally out of breath, panting and sweating like crazy. We ran up to the gate just as the gate agent was hanging up the phone. He looked at us with surprise and then started clapping! He said, "Are you the Finches?" I panted, "Yeah!" He said, I just got off the phone with the tower. They said we couldn't wait for you any more and I was instructed to shut the door! We sighed a relief, walked on the plane, they shut the door and we were off to Tampa! If we hadn't run, we would have been sleeping on the floor of the O'hare airport.

We didn't have a New Year this year. We crossed from the central timezone to the eastern timezone sometime between 11:00 and 12:00 central time. That means it was never midnight - it was instantly 12 something. It's like we're trapped between 2007 and 2008 or something?? Really kind of an odd thing.

We arrived in Tampa at 2:27 am. Adam was still awake - he was too excited to sleep on the plane. Since we were picking up the new car this morning and our hotel didn't have a shuttle, we decided to take a taxi. There were like 30 other people from our flight that wanted taxi's too and there were only a couple of them running that time of morning, so it took a while to get one. We finally got to our room at 3:12 am and crashed on the bed.

This morning we met the car dealer at 9:00. He was a very interesting man. He picked us up at the hotel with my new car and let me drive it back to his house. I'll just say the car is great. It's exactly what I expected it to be so I'm very pleased.

Walter (the dealer guy) lives in a mutli-million dollar house on waterfront property on a little island in the Gulf of Mexico. On the drive he showed us all kinds of interesting things such as Hulk Hogan's house and the original Hooter's restaurant (now I've seen the original KFC and the original Hooter's - what more is there to see?) and even the tree that Hulk's son wrapped his car around a few months ago - I'm sure all you entertainment news junkies heard about it. He was proud of his town.

After the grand tour of his hometown, we arrived at his house on the Gulf. He has docked in his backyard a 60 foot sailboat that he lives on much of the year. He said his goal is to retire within a year, sell his house and just live on his boat all the time. He let us wander along the beach in his backyard (by the way it was 73 degrees this morning) and look for dolphins in the water. He said they play around his boat all the time (yes, he liked to brag a lot), but we didn't see any. He also let us pick a few fresh grapefruits from a tree in his yard before we went in to finish up the car paperwork.

We settled the car paperwork and Adam and I were off. First stop - McDonald's for breakfast. Neither of us had eaten since lunch the previous day except a few snacks we grabbed in the Moline airport (didn't have time to eat in O'hare and there wasn't much available in Tampa at 3 am). After a much needed breakfast we were off to Busch Gardens to play.

We had a great time at the park. First thing, Adam headed to the biggest roller coaster his height would allow him to ride. He's never ridden a roller coaster before and was anxious to give it a try. Not only did he want to try it out, he wanted to sit in the front seat! It was quite a lot scarier than he thought it would be but he of course loved it and wanted to go again immediately (just not in the front seat again).

Next we hit the water rides and got drenched. The day started nice here but cooled to a breezy 63 degrees, so we were chilly after getting wet. Still beats the 8 degree weather in Bettendorf today. At one point, Adam looked at me and said in all sincerity, "I'm wet, I'm cold, I'm hungry, and I'm tired. This is a great day!" Adam was just an inch too short to ride the three biggest rides, but we could do all the others (and I think we did all the others - at least the big ones!).

We finally were exhausted around 5 pm and felt too tired to drive any, so we found a hotel near the park and are now camping out here. We got free passes for a second day at the park, so we're going to go back in the morning to catch a couple of last minute rides before hitting the road for home. Tomorrow night we should be in Nashville, then hopefully home in time to caucus on Thursday.

For all the challenges getting here, it's been a great time so far. We're tired, but it seems it wouldn't be much of a trip if we weren't!

New Year Woes

Sometimes the best plans just fall to pieces.

Last Thursday night, I bought a car. We had decided to try buying from ebay because we thought we could get a great deal and figured the risks were minimal with all the protections ebay offers. We did get a great deal (so far we think it's a great deal anyway) and were able to buy this nice 2005 Toyota Corolla for 30% less than blue book value.

The tricky part is that the car is in Florida so we had to either pay to have the car shipped here or go there to pick it up. Since it's winter and since winter in Florida is pretty nice and since I have some time off for holiday break and since driving it back is much cheaper than shipping it, I decided to take a quick trip down there to pick it up. We decided to let Adam come with me to keep me company.

So here was the grand plan:

- Greg and Adam would fly to Tampa, Florida this morning (Dec 31).
- The guy from the car place would meet us at the airport and deliver the car.
- Then Adam and I would head to Busch Gardens (a big amusement park) and spend the afternoon and evening. They are staying open until 1 am to celebrate the New Year so we planned to ring in the New Year on a roller coaster.
- Tuesday morning we'd go to the beach and then go back to Busch Gardens for some more fun (the tickets are good for two days entry to the park).
- Tuesday afternoon we'd start back and finish the drive on Wednesday evening in time for Adam to get back to school on Thursday.

Grand plan? You bet! We were so excited!!

So here's how things worked out last night...

- 10:30 pm - everything packed ... off to bed

- 11:15 pm - phone rings ... Tammy answers to an automated computer telling her our 6 am flight out of Moline was canceled due to heavy freezing fog.

- 11:15 - 12:45 pm - Greg on the phone talking to computers trying to get on another flight to Chicago or make other arrangements to get there for our connecting flight. After more than 1 hour of frustrating calls, he finally gets connected with a human. "Hello, this is Shirley" she says with a very thick Indian accent. I explain the situation to Shirley. "Okay, sir, we've rebooked you on a flight out of Chicago at 9:30 in the morning." "I don't need to be rebooked out of Chicago, I need to be rebooked out of Moline". "Oh, you need to fly back from Tampa to Moline tomorrow?" "No, I need to get from Moline to Chicago." "I'm sorry sir, there are no available flights from Tampa to Moline tomorrow." After several more attempts to explain it, I finally groan and say "Should I just go to the airport and talk to someone there?" "Oh, yes, sir, that would be the very best." So I go back to bed with nothing resolved. I decided to get up early and go to the airport and talk to someone there. I thought maybe they would give me a rental car to drive to Chicago or something for our connection.

- 1:20 am - phone rings again ... Tammy answers again (she's quicker out of bed than I am). "Hi, this is ... from United Airlines. Can I talk to Gregory?" It wasn't Shirley, some other agent with United. This one knows what she's talking about. She tells me that she's rebooked us on another airline leaving Moline at 5:55 pm today arriving in Tampa at 11:30 pm. "11:30!! It's New Years Eve. We have plans for tonight." "I'm sorry sir, that's the only flight I can get you on." After a few more minutes of futile discussion, I finally agree. By the way, they wouldn't give me a car to take to Chicago since it was a "weather related" cancellation. Back to bed.

- 2:10 am - Harry Connick Jr starts singing "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" from our downstairs stereo at full volume. Ben likes to play with the controls on the stereo and had managed to turn on the alarm clock somehow. I crawl back out of bed again and trudge downstairs to turn off the stereo.

- 3:05 am - Jacob wakes up to eat. Tammy falls asleep feeding him, but finally gets back to bed at 4:15 am.

- 4:45 am - Ben runs into our room and climbs up on the bed. "Ben, why don't you go lie down in the chair?" He often comes into our room in the early morning and sleeps on our chair. "But I can just sleep here in the middle. I'm going to jump." Leap. Crash. He smashes between Tammy and I. We just roll over and try to sleep.

- 5:30 am - "POPS! POPS! We're late!!! We missed our plane!!" Adam runs into the room in a panic. We should have been boarding our flight by now.

- 6:00 am - All the kids are up and so am I.

So, after a nearly sleepless night, here's the new grand plan:

- IF we can get out of Moline, we'll fly to Tampa arriving just before midnight.
- We'll ring in the New Year in the luggage area at TPA. Then we'll catch a cab to our hotel.
- At 9:00 New Years day our car guy is going to pick us up at the hotel. Hopefully it won't take long to get the car and then we'll still TRY to get to Busch Gardens for some fun before hitting the road to drive home.

Not such a grand plan anymore, but we'll still try to make the best of it. Right now, I should be in 80 degree Florida weather getting my new car. Instead, I'm at home looking out the window watching the snow fall. I wonder how the snow will affect our afternoon flight?

Merry Christmas!

We've had a very nice Christmas holiday here in our home. This year we chose to have a very low-key, slow-paced, relaxing time.

Last night we had our traditional Christmas eve singing Christmas carols, reading scriptures, acting out the nativity story, opening a few presents (including pajamas!) and enjoying some Christmas treats (which we had made earlier in the day). We also finally tried out our fireplace for the first time (we finally took time to get it cleaned a couple of weeks ago).

Here are some pictures of the candy making.





Here are the kids sporting their new pajamas on Christmas Eve.



Most of the kids fell asleep quickly, but Adam stayed up WAY too late and ended up somehow injuring his nose in bed around 10:30 pm last night (just about the time Santa Clause was loading up the stockings). So he jumped out of bed crying and we almost ended up with a trip to the emergency room on Christmas eve. In the end we decided it wasn't serious enough to go to the hospital and are just hoping now that it doesn't scar! Jake also had a rough night and we were up with him until about 1:00 am.

Even with the late night, all the kids were hopping around our room before 6:00 am excited to go downstairs to open presents. Tammy and I reluctantly crawled out of bed and we headed down.

Here are the kids making their way to the great room where the presents were:


Tammy got me a really nice gift - a mini, hand-held digital video camera. We've not had a way to record videos for our blog before (other than short sound-less videos) so this is perfect. You'll now hopefully get to see a few more videos of our family.

So, you can watch to learn about the rest of our Christmas morning!



We hope that you all had a very peaceful and enjoyable Christmas morning!

Busy busy week

It seems that December is a very busy time of year for most people. We've felt especially busy this past week.

Last Saturday Adam had his annual Christmas piano recital. It is so fun to see him up in front of people performing. The Christmas recital is always a duet recital, so Adam played a couple of songs with Tammy. They both did really well. Tammy gets more nervous than Adam at those things and I think was more relieved when it was over than Adam was. We had a nice time out for dinner with him afterwards (the other kids were with a babysitter).

On Tuesday we had a big ice storm. You probably heard about it on the news. It didn't turn out to be such a big deal around here. Mostly just rain freezing to trees, but the roads stayed pretty clear. It made the trees and plants and shrubs look beautiful though.

On Wednesday I drove with my work team to Kansas. On the way down we drove through southern Iowa and northern Missouri where the ice storm had done a lot more damage. It was sad to see the hundreds of trees that were split and fallen because of the weight of the ice. It seemed like nearly every tree had some damage.

The time spent in Kansas was enjoyable. Our business partners took us out for a nice night on the town. We got to go to a really nice restaurant in the Country Club Plaza area of Kansas City and to enjoy the Christmas lights there. After some meetings on Thursday we made our way back home just ahead of the next big snowstorm. We were lucky to have good driving conditions both ways.

On Friday our family hosted my work team for our holiday party. There were around 10 adults and 11 kids (including our family). It was fun to finally meet some of the families of the people I work with. There was a lot of work to do around the house to get things ready (especially with me being out of town much of the week), so this added significantly to the busy-ness, but by the time the party time arrived everything around the house looked great. I think everyone had a good time.

Saturday arrived with another snowstorm. We decided to brave the snow and drive to Iowa City to visit Todd and Deanna and their family. The kids made sugar cookies and had a nice time with their cousins. Saturday afternoon I had to go shopping for a new dryer - ours had finally given up after 9 years of hard labor.

Here are some pictures from the week:


Anna and Ben building their first snow fort together.

Lizzy smiling in the snow. It was very cold that day, but the kids had a great time.


Adam built a rather elaborate snow fort only to have it destroyed later by the snow trucks when the plowed after the next big snow.


Lizzy in front of the Christmas tree.


My friend Carl from work at the work party holding baby Jake. We're trying to convince Carl it's time for him to have some kids. If baby Jake can't convince him, no baby can!


In foreground is Bill from work and background is my manager John and his wife.


John's son is in Adam's grade and goes to the same elementary school as Adam. They knew each other a little before, but had a great time playing at the party and I think will be better friends now. By the way, we got a new air hockey table this week as an early Christmas present. We've all had a great time with it so far!