Kathy, the writer, was also the speaker

We had the pleasure of going to BYU yesterday and spend the day with Kathy. One of her papers that she wrote was chosen for her to present at a religion paper symposium. (I don't know what it was officially called) It was where students submitted papers on a variety of religious topics. The top papers were selected for the authors to present, which Kathy did very well. It was on rhetoric and how that applies to our study of the gospel, scriptures and in missionary work. We were very proud of her after her presentation and I learned a lot. We were still just as proud of her, but she was even more happy when, at the special lunch they held, they told her that her paper was $250.00 good and handed her a check for her efforts. We sat at a table for lunch with one of the professors that was one of the judges for the contest and he recommended that Kathy submit it for publication in the book/periodical that is associated with that department. Yeah, congratulations Kathy.

Dad

Ditto, for Stephen but in a guy sort of way

Parent teacher conference was again a great payoff as parents when we went to Stephen's. We were asked if he was signing up for AP classes next year, told that he was great to have in the class and other various compliments. The photography teacher was particularly free with the compliments. She is going to search out contests and internships for him because she feels that he is so good and has such an eye that he really out to have other people see it. We will get him to post some of the best pictures soon. He is a great guy.

Dad

A joy, a pleasure to have in class, can we clone her?

I got to go to Anne's parent teacher conference tonight while Sharon/Mom took Anne to her first oboe lesson. The words in the title were the kind of comments that I got from the teachers about Anne. One actually said that if she could have a class full of Annes, she would be in heaven as a teacher. I sure makes PT conferences fun to be able to have reports like that. We love Anne.

Dad

computer skills

My first experience with computers was in high school. I learned Fortran. It was the new programming that had just come out for computers. It was so new, that to run our programs that we created, we had to take the paper cards with the little holes punched in them down to the district office to the fancy computer. The "new computer" didn't show up at the school until half way through the semester.

We have come a long way.

Dad

So here we go! Volume II

I was about to give the inaugural post to our new family blog and pushed the wrong button and didn't get past posting just the title. So here goes the second attempt.

When I hear of other parents talking about how hard it is to have teenagers in the home, I feel bad for them. Our teenagers have been quite a delight for us. And the ones that are now in their 20's continue to be a lot of fun. Each has their own sense of humor. Dinner times have often ended in a lot of laughter, or philosophical discussions or a series of movie quotes that are amazingly tied together even though they are from several different movies.

I am grateful for great kids. For the ones that are still kids and for the ones that are turning into great adults. Adam right now is the one that is in the middle of that transition from kid to adult. He is doing a really good job at it while being a missionary in India. Here is some of his last email: Things are doing really good here. This week has gone really fast, I am not sure if that is good or bad. There are alot of different families that we are working with. One that I am absolutely loving teaching is the Khana family. They have really basic questions that really make you think of christianity. They are hindu, so they don't even understand basic things. They were talking about how they dont believe god can help us through things. I shared about..... how we have all come closer as a family, and that god has helped us as a family, ........ I also shared mosiah 24 which talks about ammron enslaving the peoplr of alma, and telling them how they can't pray. God helped them through the trials. IT was probably one of the best lessons I have ever had. as far as trials here, I am far from them. Things are going remarkably well, and elder schade and I are getting along rreally well. The work has been giong super fast. We haven't spent more than 45 minutes finding beore we could get into a house. We are trying to get people to progress. ........ Life is great. adam

Pretty cool to see stuff like that as a father.

Kathy on her way home from a writing conference in Chicago left a note telling us about how she was grateful for the things that we did that made possible to be at this point in her life.

It is fun to see your kids excel in areas that you never dreamed of.

Daniel texted me a while back saying that he was glad that he had a Dad that cared about him. When we had a golf game lined up to spend some time together and I ended up raining like crazy, he said, " can you still come up?" We played pool and ping pong at the institute.

What a lucky guy I was.

I went to see Stephen play basketball at the church. The other team didn't show up, so they just played against each other. So after that no stress game, the young men's leader tells me that as soon as I walked in the door, that Stephen came alive an started scoring more than ever before.

I am complimented that he wants to impress his Dad. He did.

When Sharon told Anne that we had found an oboe teacher for her, she jumped up and down and squealed and was so excited.

How great to have a daughter who is so grateful. (and talented)

When Kathy and Christopher offered the 2008 Guiness book of world records as a reward for "all 5's" from her reports at school. Sophie went about following all the rules to gain the prize.

I am glad to have that little miracle in our lives.

So as for Sharon, she will get her very own post from me, a man so lucky to have such a great wife.


So there it is! Our inaugural post. Now everyone in the family, feel free to jump in.

Dad aka: David Petersen of the Petersen family

So here we go!