Moving

Now that Ben is officially done with school we can seriously sit down and think about moving our stuff to Mom and Dad's. I have already packed some bins of items that I know we won't need and those are ready to go. Ben wanted to make the load worth it and take as much as we can, so we went through the condo again and found a few more things that could be sent down without worry of missing them. 

Our first load consisted of all the bins I had packed previously being loaded up in the back of the truck and then a few items like the computer desk, book stand, and armoire loaded in the back of the van. We only loaded up the van with items we knew we would be okay without until we got to Mom and Dad's permanently.

After dropping off the kids this morning at school, we hit the road. I followed Ben to make sure everything stayed securely strapped, even though Ben wasn't worried at all. The worry was all me. He was right, I really had nothing to worry about and we made it to Mom and Dad's just fine.

Once there we started to unload. Everything in the truck was taken into the backyard so we could pile it all into the shed. Once the truck was unloaded we then unloaded the van and brought those items inside. While Ben was taking everything out of the shed to reorganize, I was inside getting things unloaded and set up. Once Ben was done taking everything out of the shed he came in and helped me put together the computer desk and once that was done we both went back outside to put everything back in the shed in an organized mess. We wanted to make sure that if we needed anything before our big move, we'd still be able to access it. 

Once everything was loaded back into the shed, we got cleaned up, grabbed some lunch, and headed back to Provo in time to pick up the kids from school. This was just the first load of many that are still ahead of us. We also brought the air mattress back with us, so our next load we could bring the beds.

Graduation BBQ

Another one for the books. We were invited to another Graduation BBQ, this time it was with friends and again they told us that we couldn't bring anything. I told the girls that that was not going to fly this time and that I insisted on bringing something. Shantelle told me to bring my Jell-O salad and that was it. I still couldn't leave it at just that and told her that I would bring some chips as well. She reluctantly agreed and then finalized the plans. 

The day of the BBQ we gathered the kids and headed to Shantelle's house. when we pulled into the driveway we were greeting by a yard sign saying "Congrats to the Graduate." It was so sweet, I had no idea that she intended to decorate. Ben felt bad that she went to all the trouble. It wasn't a lot, but it was fun. She had some streamers, balloons, graduation hat, and another sign above the kitchen counter. I could tell with that, that is was going to be a great night.

Dinner wasn't quite ready when we got here, so Ben and I went in the kitchen to visit with Shantelle and see if we could help. There wasn't much we could do to help, she told us just to sit down and relax, dinner was almost done. After a few more minutes, Tyrel brought in the meat. He had slow smoked some pork for pulled pork sandwiches. It smelled delicious as he walked by us. I couldn't wait to have some. Just then Christy and her family walked in as well. Now that all of us were there and the dinner was ready, it was time to eat and party. 

We called all the kids in and said a quick prayer. Once everyone said amen, the kids ran to get in line to dish up their plates. They all got what they wanted and scattered themselves around the house both inside and out. Once they were all settled and eating we got in line to dish up as well. We had a lot to choose from and it all looked and smelled delicious. With one bite, it was all worth the wait. The pork was amazing.

While we were eating we just talked and enjoyed the food. We eventually found ourselves in the living room talking about all sorts of things. We were mainly getting to know Christy's new boyfriend. Shantelle and I had met him briefly before, but nothing that really helped us to get to know him. He was funny and engaging. He seemed to be enjoying his time with us and hopefully he will come to love us as she does because she loves him and wants it all to go well. 

After some time had passed we dished up some dessert and went back to visiting. At that point we couldn't stay long. We still had to drive back to Provo. The kids were surprisingly quick to clean up, I didn't get a chance to help clean up any of the mess from dinner. They both told me not to worry about, they were just glad that we were able to get together. With that, we gathered our kids, said goodbye, and headed back to Provo.

Gift

Before getting in the truck, Grandma Sagez handed a bag to Gabbi. It was for her birthday. She told her not to open it until she got home, so to ensure her brother and cousins wouldn't be upset because she was opening a gift, we quietly put it in the back seat of the truck and had her wait until we got home. 

As soon as we got home she instantly asked if she could open it up. We agreed and she went in the front room to sit down and open it. Inside she found a little handbag, a mister, and a painting. It was a painting of a very beautiful landscape. She said she knew exactly where she wanted to put it in her room. She seemed pretty excited about it and the best part was the look on her face as she looked at the painting. It's not her first one and she has loved all the paintings that Grandma Sagez has given her.

Once she was done, she cleaned up the mess, and everyone got ready for bed.

Graduation BBQ

We had made plans to get together with Nelson and Deann to celebrate Ben's graduation. As it got close and time to make official plans, Deann told me that they had talked to Brian recently and that they showed in an interest in getting together before Ben left for South Carolina. Deann then asked if we had some days available that just might work for all of us to get together. Sadly the only one that added up for everyone was the night that we had planned to go out to dinner with Nelson and Deann. After talking for a bit, we decided to change our plans in order to get together with everyone.

Now that we were able to make a date work, Deann passed that on to Brian and Karen. A few days later, I heard back from Deann where she told me that we were going to meet at Brian and Karen's place and that they were going to plan and take care of everything. That didn't sound fair to me, but Deann assured me that they would help Brian and Karen, but we were not allowed to bring anything except ourselves. 

When the day finally came, we loaded the kids in the truck and headed to Brian and Karen's place. It was new, well new to us. They moved in last year, but this was the first time that we have been inside. We were looking forward to seeing them just as much as the kids were looking forward to seeing heir girls. After parking the truck, the kids got out and ran to the door. Ben and I went to the back where Brian, Nelson, and Deann were sitting and visiting while Brian was working on dinner. He was cooking hotdogs and hamburgers on the grill.

After a few minutes all the kids ran outside. They were planning tag that obviously didn't really work inside the house. It was sweet to watch them playing, literally picking up from when they last saw each other. When the food was ready, we called their game to an end and had them come in and dish up. Once the prayer was said and they all had full plates, they went outside to eat on a blanket; their own little picnic. Once they were done and outside, the rest of us dished up our plates and sat down at the table.

At the table we caught up on all that had happened since we saw each other last. It had been a very long time. It was good to hear about their new house and how that all went down, etc. We then moved on to other topics, we laughed, we told jokes, etc. It was so much fun to just sit down and be. When the kids were done eating they ran in and asked about dessert. None of could believe that they wanted to eat more after all of them having full plates their first time around and even some of them coming back for seconds. We told them to run off and play for a minute while we cleaned up dinner before dishing up dessert. 

When we were done cleaning up, before breaking out the dessert, we found it to be the perfect time to snap a few pictures. Ben put on his graduation robes and one by one he took pictures with all of them. When that was done and out of the way, we all went back into the kitchen to dish up the cake that Deann had brought. 

It was an awesome cake. She had it made special at a bakery near them just for Ben. They did a great job on and Ben couldn't do anything but smile. He doesn't like the attention, but you could tell that he was touched by the gesture. Once everyone had a piece, we all sat down to eat the very delicious cake, vanilla with a raspberry filling. We took our time and even more so when it was time to clean up. 

When we told the kids it was time to clean up, they were not happy about it at all. It was hard to tell as to whether they just didn't want to clean up or they just didn't want the night to end. I have to admit, I didn't want the night to end either. It had been such a fun night. They eventually did as they were asked and got the toy room all cleaned up, but since we were still visiting while slowly walking out to the cars, they started to play night games outside. Once we were all finally outside, we couldn't help but watch the kids play. It was cute. We snapped a few pics of them and then said our goodbyes and headed out.

Graduation pics

With graduation now done and over with, we only had a few more pics to take with Ben in his robes. One of course was with us as a whole and Ben with just the kids. The kids had fun with it too. At different time they each tried on Ben's graduation cap and had a blast with it.

We also were able to get one with both Mom and Dad together since we weren't able to at family dinner last week.

Birthday Activity

With Gabbi's birthday she had been debating for a long time with what she wanted to do. She threw out all sorts of ideas, but like last year, she was limited on what she could do. She finally decided to do a dinner and a movie with little extra's. Her extra's were an invitation and a ticket to get "into" the front room. It was too cute. She spent a few hours after school the other day making everyone their own individual invitation, ticket, and even decorations to be hung up around the front room.

When it was time, Gabbi and I went and picked up dinner. She asked to have Arby's for her birthday dinner. She asked for what she normally eats when we get there which made getting dinner a lot easier. After grabbing dinner we grabbed some drinks from Maverick and then headed home. Once at home Gabbi ran off. She said she had to get things ready. I didn't understand that until I went inside. She had pulled out the table for Ben and I and then placed individual placemats that she had made herself. They had their names on it and some pictures that she had drawn. She's so funny, but wanted it her way. 

Once she was ready, we all walked to the front room and handed her our tickets and sat down. When we were all seated, I handed out everyone's dinner while Gabbi started our movie. She picked Sherlock Gnomes to watch while eating. It's a good one and I was okay with her choice. Everyone seemed to enjoy both her choice of food and movie, which made the evening that much better.

When we were done eating and the movie was over, Gabbi happily cleaned up so she could open her gifts. She sat down in front of the T.V. and waited patiently to see what was coming. Again she already knew what she was getting, I just hoped it was what she expected. She ripped off the wrapping with so much excitement and still had a smile on her face when she saw the front of the box. It was a light up art easel. You use special markers to draw a picture and when your done you flip the switch and your picture just glows. She looked really excited and took it quickly out of the box to give it a try.

After trying out the new art easel, we told her that she had one more item, but it wasn't here yet. I ordered it over two weeks ago, but it still wasn't here. I then handed her the phone to show her what was coming. She jumped up and down and was so excited to see a ring in the picture. Gabbi asked me a while ago about getting a birthstone ring. I told her that I wouldn't get her one like mine until she was old enough to handle a stone like that. She agreed and then I came across one that wasn't crazy expensive and that I could trust her not to lose or ruin. She said she couldn't wait until it came and to wear it. Hopefully she actually keeps it on. I worry she won't because she has a hard time keeping her CTR ring on.

When she was done with her gifts, she ran off to the kitchen to help dish up her dessert. She asked for brownies with strawberries and whipped cream on top. I was surprised that she didn't ask for something with Peanut Butter in it. It was a nice change. She pulled out plates and silverware, and even helped me dish them up. When everyone had a plate, we sat down and sang to her the traditional "Happy Birthday." She blew out her candle and then we all took bites out of our dessert. She was so proud of her dessert, she even had a hand in making it.

After everyone was done with their desserts, we cleaned up and Gabbi got things ready for the next movie. Ben and I sat this one out, but the kids pulled in the blankets and pillows to watch Wild Hogs. When it was done, they were told to turn the T.V. and to go to bed. I was happy to see that they did just that.

Birthday

When Gabbi got home from school today she had some surprises waiting for her. Sis. Gazdik made one of her traditional birthday candy grams and had it ready to go and taped to our door for her. when she got home from school. She came in the house with a grin on her face. She seemed a little embarrassed that I wanted a picture, but I told her if she would indulge me, she could have one of the treats from the candy gram. 

Along with the candy gram, there was a letter left for her as well. It was from her friend. She must have dropped it off literally minutes before Gabbi got home because I didn't see it when I went out to get the mail. She had a huge smile on her face when she opened the letter. It seemed like she was enjoying the attention on her birthday.

Graduation

Today this chapter of our life is coming to an end. Our time in Provo is coming to an end. Greats things lie ahead and they all start with today. After 2 years of a very time intensive and heavy program, Ben is finally graduating. I still can't believe all that he has accomplished in two short years and couldn't be more proud of him.

His 2 year program is normally done in 3 years (at other schools) and done with more credits than you can imagine. A Master's program is normal 30 to 35 credits depending on the program, Ben's program was 93 credits total. If he had another class or two from two different programs (psychology and something else that I can't remember) he could have graduated with two if not three Master's degrees. He truly has worked his butt off and now a giant weight has been taken off his shoulders.

Not only did he work his butt off, he worked his butt off so hard that he graduated second in his class. He didn't miss the mark by much either. He truly did something that I could never do and he is doing what's not only best for him, but what's best for our family. I may not be happy with the idea of having to leave our families, but this is what our family is meant and supposed to do. 

After dropping the kids off at school, Ben and I headed to campus. When we got there, he grabbed his things and we headed to the building in which he has spent the majority of his time. We stopped and said hello to both of his main professors and then made our way to the conference room. Once inside, Ben started to set things up for the Zoom graduation. After a few minutes we were joined by Scott and his wife. When it was finally time others started logging onto the Zoom meeting. It was awesome to see how many people came together to see the graduates of the Chaplain and Seminary/Institute programs.

Once things got going I was surprised to see both Scott and Ben standing and almost pacing. They both had to be on screen when their names were announced, but that wouldn't be till farther down in the program. Oh well, boys are boys. I then realized why Scott was standing. He was one of the speakers on the program as the #1 graduate from the Chaplains. When it was his time, he got up and gave his talk. It was an amazing talk. I loved it so much that I asked for a copy of it. He did an amazing job and truly was the best one to give the talk from the Chaplains.

Chaplains, “5 there are here, yet 6 there were, set out from Rivendell.”

Chaplains and S&I we have overcome in a visible way; we have Niked this program.

We passed through our Eschatology, the real life End Times, viruses/plagues/riots/ and Sister Strathearn’s timed n proctored Final. 

We have passed through the gnosis of reading dozens of books, and the Epignosis of doing class, CPE, work, callings, dealing with in-laws, and having a family; Juggling it all made for some tough times… I think we all had to do therapy on ourselves (MI / PT / CBT / I was trying all the coping mechanisms on me). 

But now we’re done, we’re  pumped; it’s a good feeling;

Like my stack of books that reaches the ceiling.

And when we look back at our experience at BYU with the Hermeneutical lens of phenomenology, we see it really is sui generis (unique).

We learned so much! We learned that God exists. I already knew that, but now we can say it with big words or fancy phrases. We can tell you about the ‘First Cause’ or the ‘Ontological Argument’ or the ‘Teleology’ of our existence. We can explain Pneumatology, Christology, Ecclesiology, and Most importantly, we do the work of Soteriology.

And we learned the one word you need to say to sound smart, which we heard so many times! There’s just a lot of nuance.

We learned what Dick really means: it means your name is Richard. What?

And our professors were so encouraging! Dr. Dick Bennett one time I remember, after I gave a devo he looked at me all serious and said, “You. Are. Unique.”

So we thank our professors for the lessons and the encouragement.

They really showed their Agape for us. Here on campus we were surrounded by Phileo (love) and at home hopefully we had some Eros from our wives.

Speaking of our families. Let’s take a second right now, to look over at them and say, “thank u.”

Thank you. Not just for supporting us through our studies, but for sticking with us through our career. This is just the beginning. This is level 1 – If it were a video game our difficulty would be set to ‘Easy.’ 

Looking Forward, we will soon go to ODS, Chuboluck, and OTS. We will soon accession as military chaplains (spiritual leaders). When we become active duty chaplains it’s likely we will not “rise to the level of our high expectations; but fall to the level of our training.” – The habits and training we learned here will be our foundation for the success we have as chaplains.

I have no doubt, we who become chaplains will, go to War.

We may not be combatants, but we carry a Canon of scripture.

And with the sword of the Spirit we will fight, and we will win our battles.

The great battles of our time will be for religious freedom, for the ethics & morality of our military, for the integrity of our Constitution, and above all it will be a battle to defend Truth. 

In the meantime, in our struggle to accession as chaplains, life will get tough, the road will feel long, and it’ll look like a Panamanian bucket full of burning boiling bones,

But we can remember, “es solamente pollo.”

1 Big take-away and I’m done.

We will participate in the raging wars of the Last days. Study after study has shown that having good Relationships (x2) is the single most powerful protection against becoming traumatized.

Regardless of the Etiology, the best Non-pharmacological intervention you can do is prioritize your relationships; With God; With family; and with friends. (All 3)

Many are called, few are chosen. So whether its Hoorah Hooyah or Hooah.

It’s time to make our calling to Chaplaincy Sure.

I congratulate and salute you, Religious Education graduates of 2021.

Both the student speakers were amazing and once they were done, the introduced the main speaker. He was a retired Educator who did most of his studies on the cultures of the North East regions. He taught at BYU for 30 plus years and was now here to share a few words of wisdom with the new graduates from the Religious program. His words were inspiring and hopefully will be a great resource for them once "they go to work."

When he was done speaking it was finally time to acknowledge the graduates. They went in alphabetical order and allowed each one to say a Thanks, etc. for a brief moment. Sadly when it was Ben's turn for some reason the camera didn't switch to him. All he said was thanks, so maybe he just didn't talk long enough for it to register that he was speaking. I'm sure he didn't care nor did he know, but I was kind of bummed.

After introducing the graduates they had some of the main professors gave a quick introduction of themselves, a hello, where they graduated from, some of their history, a memory, or a congratulations to the graduates. The most important being his main professors, Bro. Theodore and Bro. Boatright. 

When they were done, they had one last speaker, Assistant to the President, and then closed. At the end of the program they explained that they had a special video to play. It was a compilations of the graduates on their graduation. Each of them were interviewed and their responses put together in this video. They would have done a banquet and dinner where they showed a video like this one, but because so many things have changed, they did this at graduation instead. It was a nice video and put together very well. It was crazy seeing our family up on the screen with Ben answering some of the interview questions.

Once the video was done, they thanked everyone who attended and wished the graduate well in their future endeavors and signed off.

My phone then went on fire with messages of "congrats" and "way to go's" to pass on to Ben. After he was done putting away his computer, he put on his robe and then we went to find Bro. Theodore and Bro. Boatright. Ben wanted some pictures taken with them. Luckily when we walked into the hallway, they had come to find us. We snapped a few pictures and then headed out to walk back to the van. 

When we were all done, we went to Olive Garden to celebrate along with a gift when we got home.

Patriotic Wreaths

With all my wreath making, Ben asked what I thought about making wreaths for all the members of his co-hort. Kind of like a goodbye, thanks for all the memories, kind of thing. I had no problem with the thought of that and told him to look up some ideas for me to go off of. He found 3 or 4 different wreaths and then told me to take my own twist. His only request was to make it more of a Military thing than a 4th of July thing. I told him that that would be hard considering how I couldn't guarantee that's how they would see. He understood and I asked him if he wanted to add some kind of tag or décor from each of the Military Branches they were going into and he said he would think about it. While he thought about that I went to ordering the material.

I added to my cart a red, navy, and burlap stiped deco mesh for each wreath. I also added a wire frame and all the embellishments I would need that I thought would finish it off quite nicely. All I had left to find was the center piece. For that I went to Amazon. They didn't have what I was looking for and found out that this would take time. In the meantime, I went ahead and placed my order for the rest and hoped that I would eventually find something that would work at the center piece.

A week or two later, I finally found a center piece that would work. They were called Barn stars. I knew I had seen them at Quilted Bear once, but when I went in person to see if they still had them, the entire display was changed and there were no stars to be found. I then went again to Amazon and was finally able to find some that would work. They weren't as big as I wanted, but they were the largest I could get without it taking over the whole wreath. Now that I had everything ordered, I just had to wait until they arrived. 

It took longer than I thought too. My deco mesh order was two weeks slower than usual because they only fill orders a few days out of the week and for the work load of the workers they had. With COVID, they had to downsize their work force to ensure that they could provide a safe work environment. I wasn't in a huge hurry, I had plenty of time so this didn't bug me in the slightest.

After the holidays, I decided it was time to put them together. Ben didn't want it to be a Christmas gift, so we planned on giving it to them sometime in Feb or Mar. Whenever he decided I wanted them ready to go. So after dropping the boys off at school, I pulled out my materials (which I had almost double of everything because for some reason they doubled my order. Not all of the items, but more than half of them. When I emailed them about it, they told me not to worry about, but were happy that I had let them know.) I then pulled out the pictures and decided which method I wanted to use.

I went with the large hoop method and started with the burlap deco mesh. I had never done one like this before and as I was tying on the mesh with the wire cleaners, I was afraid that it would look bare. As I went on, I got all the burlap on the wreath. I did look bare, but was crossing my that once I put on the embellishments it would fill out. I then cut pieces of the red, blue, white tubing, and ribbon. With these I made bundles to be tied on at different spots around the wreath. That definitely made it fill out, just not as much as I wanted, but at this point I couldn't change that. I fluffed the burlap as much as I could and called it good.

Then I went to the center piece. Sine the star wasn't as big as I had hoped I tried to make it look bigger. I then glued the different sprays that I had bought to embellish the wreath with. It took a lot of glue and I just hoped that it would stay. Sadly it didn't and I had to use a wire to tie it to the wreath frame. I then went and got some super glue and redid all the gluing, crossing my fingers that this time it would hold. Thank heavens it did. I placed all the center pieces in a different place so they would each look like its own and not a copy. Once they were all done, I hung them in the garage until Ben was ready to hand them out. 

The first ones to get there wreath was Bro. Boatright and Bro. Theodore. Ben had to go up to campus the other day and we decided to go together to give them their wreaths. Bro. Boatright wasn't there, he was recuperating from knee surgery, but Bro. Theodore was and he then handed him his wreath. He couldn't believe and even asked what it was for. Ben told him it was for him and his wife and that we also had one for the Boatright. He told us that he would make sure that they would get it by putting it in his office until he came back to retrieve it himself. He then thanked us profusely for it and we went on our way.

Today we were able to deliver the rest. I drove around as Ben told me where to go. When we got to their houses, I made Ben go out and make the delivery. He really wanted me to go with him to the door, but I didn't want it to feel awkward at all. I didn't want them to think that I wanted any praise for the wreath I had made. He understood and let me stay in the van until the very last one. He knew that this wife has talked to me about my wreaths before and wanted to to help delivery it. Sadly she was busy and couldn't come to the door.  With that being the last wreath, this project was now complete.