A Day OFF!!!

This is what Washington, D.C. looks like about spring break!

Dad took the day off today. Too bad I had to go to the school for a couple of hours this morning. But, he worked anyway. When I got home, we started on our taxes (I know you are all shocked). Then, we went to Quizno's for lunch and over to Gander Mountain to see what they had there. We did a little grocery shopping at WalMart and found a little whole in the wall...oh...grocery d.i....lots of junk....store. We'll have to explore that one a little more. But, we did find some strike anywhere matches. Marquie is traveling this weekend with a friend. They are taking a college tour of Southern Virginia University (about 2 hours south of us.) They have tickets to "A Midsummer's Night Dream" tonight. A good excuse to get out of school.

Life is good (sometimes stressful), but good.

We made it!

The Blue and Gold Banquet was a success!  James carried me through the day and filled in all of the gaps as they arose.  He was definitely my hero!  As were many of the other parents who jumped in to help when the need arose.  The boys put on cute skits, we ate some yummy potatoes (I had a little cottage cheese and my stomach allowed it!) and we had some amazing blondies with chocolate sauce and ice cream!  I didn't care what my stomach thought, I was not turning that down!  Mmmmm. . .   Our hammering competition was rained out, but we'll make sure we do it at our next pack meeting.  I don't know that I was very conscious for the event, but I made it through just to come home and work for two hours since I hadn't really worked since Wed afternoon.  Oops.  :)  Do you ever just work and know that you don't have any energy but it still manages to get done.  Mini blessings!  

Today I am much better!  We got the house all cleaned up and even scrubbed some bathrooms . . . super fun!  I know you are all jealous!  Everything seems to be in order, so I can have a super fun date night!  I'm very excited.  I hope you all have a great day!

Possible previous post from Me.....

....But nonetheless hilarious. Happy Foto Friday.

James returns to Foto Friday!

That's a photo of me sitting through my fourth no-show lesson of the day. Not even my rescheduled student showed up (ARGH!) I already planned the meal I'm making us for our date night dinner (Jodi's Gnocchi—I'm so excited!) and gave a test to three student athletes who had to go compete this afternoon, and I think I've caught up all my email. Friday is a-callin' my name, and I'm ready to go home! I hope everyone is great!

New Job

A few weeks ago my supervisor approached me and asked me if I would be willing to take five hours from my classroom-teaching time to work in Development. There has been a large-scale project going for over a year to develop the next generation of the Mandarin TALL (Technology Assisted Language Learning) program...and they have an August deadline. I agreed and had my first five-hour shift this morning. I began designing a grammar lesson using Adobe InDesign. It was an adventure, and after five hours staring at the screen, I started to get a little grasp on the program. It is a steep learning curve. I am excited to be able to use some of the skills I have been developing in the classroom for the last year and a half teaching grammar!

Like Jodi said, last semester is a bit hectic, but wonderful. We couldn't ask for more. We are well taken care of, and we are going to file our taxes today, and hopefully get a little bit of money back to put in savings for China. The government only provides enough money for one person, so we are diligently putting up in store for the times ahead.

Love you all so much!!

I Have Just a Minute...

Okay, so in five minutes I have to run out the door to play for the TESS Choir at Skyline. I love accompanying the choirs in the school where my kids are. This one has taken a lot of practicing, but it feels great to me! I love that I can still play! There is this issue of seeing the music and the conductor at the same time, but his arms make wide enough motions I can do pretty well.

It's so fun to hear from all of you. Thanks for keeping us updated!

Post

Hello everyone!  Everyone keeps asking for posts, so I figured I should post and let you know how we're doing.  We're surviving.  Last full semester of our undergraduate degrees...I ask, why does this semester have to be filled with group projects?  To some it up, we're both very tired most of the time.

James, so sorry about your job!  We've been praying for you, and we hope you can find a job that will be fulfilling to you in every way that you desire.

Marquie, congratulations on everything!  You are so active and seem like you're just having a blast.  Keep it up!

Heather, it seems like your health problems just don't seem to end!  At least this time they are confident they know what the problems are and can fix them for you.  We wish you the best.

Liz, get better soon!  I hope your scout activity goes really well!

Dad, don't over-work yourself, okay?  Remember to take breaks.  Your lovely wife loves to spend time with you, and we love to hear from you too!

Mom, good luck on your medallion pursuit.  Seems like you're well on your way.

I love you all!  I'm proud of you all!  Have a wonderful day today, it's the only February 26th, 2009 you'll ever get.  I'm sitting in World Religions class right now.  It's interesting, but I've found myself having a hard time concentrating in all of my classes lately...

Sick day

In our home we've been a little up and down health-wise, and I blame the job search. When one is stressed, one's defenses are definitely down, and we've been stressed. Liz is running the big Blue and Gold Banquet tonight for the Cub Scouts, and I've been plugging away, and the weather's been cold, so the boys can't always go outside to play. You know, all the normal things that make life so exciting; alas, there must have been something that was just a little too much this time. Liz and Joshua both spent the night romancing the toilet, and Daddy spent the evening consoling them and changing sheets and clothes for the little one. He's tired, but I think he's going to survive. On the up side, he still has sick days to burn, so he took one today to help bake blondies, organize decorations and serve food for tonight. He doesn't mind at all, and it means extra time with his favorite boys and the woman of his dreams.

The sad part is that I won't be driving to work today and calling someone to chat. I finally caught Michelle during a not crazy moment yesterday and we had a lovely chat; Michelle we miss you! We are, in every way, looking forward to Spring Break—we need some time away to play. Only three more weeks and we'll head to the East Coast for what promises to be good times! We were supposed to be in South Africa, but since that dream has been forever snatched from us, we'll visit family instead. We're still thinking about an early summer road trip to Utah as well, but we have to wait and see what the next few months yield for us before we lay anything in concrete.

So, my break is over now and I need to get the laundry put away. Nothing makes my sick honey happier than a clean house! More posts, please!

MRI

Yep, I has an MRI on my neck Tuesday. We are trying to figure out why I'm not getting better. We are also trying to figure out why my right eye goes blurry after all my physical therapy. Well, we got half an answer. I have a slip disk, (which he is confident he can take care of), and very severe whiplash (even he was surprised). For those of you like me who don't know what happens with whiplash... There is a ligament right behind all the vertebrae in your neck. Mine is super inflamed. Easily visible in the MRI. I also have arthritis in my neck and really no curve in it. He is going to start traction on my neck in about a month to correct the curve. He is confident he can correct it and this will allow the arthritis to heal. We will then retake x-rays in a year, to make sure the curve in my neck has returned.

Now, the eye. I did all my PT sitting yesterday to see if it still aggravated my eye. It didn't. We will do it again net week. If the results are the same, I have to go see an Opthamologist to find out why putting pressure on my eye from their tables is causing blurriness. Apparantaly, this isn't normal.... Hmmmm.

Needless to say, I am not surprised. I also atarted running again last wekk and my knees are killing me. I just can't win. Oh well.

Love you all.

Mini Blessings

When I say mini blessings I am referring to the little things that most people wouldn't recognize as blessings but they always seem to make a huge difference.  I have found that one of my mini blessings is that I only get sick when my schedule allows.  So, today as soon as I finished my work, and I mean that quite literally my health deteriorated.  I was just grateful that I got my work done first and that my boys took great care of me.  Now I have to get better soon because tomorrow is the blue and gold banquet, and well, I'm kind of in charge.  So, here's to waking up healthy in the morning and those mini blessings!

My happy place . . .

When you posed your question I really had no idea what my answer was, so I tried to pay attention during the day.  I think my happy place is in the bathroom.  It is always quiet and has a lock.  When I need to get away it is a great place!  

I also realized that I cleaning is a happy place for me.  If others want to stay with me it is fine, they just have to clean, too, and inevitably it ends up nice and quiet.  Cleaning also seems to clear my head, so I can think about things I need to.

My favorite happy place, however, is my closet.  That sounds strange, but I have started saying my morning prayers in there and have received many answers to them.  So, it is now a very special place to me.  

I realize you may mean something else by happy place but well, there you go that is what I came up with.  :)

Our Happy Place

It may appear that I have been watching too much "Hook" and "Peter Pan"...here me out anyway. Marquie and I were talking last Friday and she was feeling a little down so me being my cheesy self said "Marquie, you need to find your happy place. Mine is a beautiful boquet of flowers." (Marquie, I hope you don't mind me sharing) It took us a minute but we found some for her. How about a smily little baby in the perfect picture pose, and a great new pair of jeans. Oh yes and a great laugh about a holy pair of shoes...feel free to ask her about it. Ya'll might not find it as funny as we do. So how about it? What is your happy place today, or yesterday? Everyone needs one, so let us know. I love you all.

A special note to James and Liz...I'm sorry to hear about the job. We will keep you in our prayers. Also, thank you for sharing your bit of revelation. It is such an awsome thing to know the Lord is looking out for us. It really touched me. We love you!

So Much More to Life

Family,
I have not posted in a bit, not because I have not wanted to but because I have not. It is called didn't do what I needed to. I do hope you are touched by this as I was. Love Dad
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-plaschke22-2009feb22,0,1154237.column

News at last

An offer was extended to someone else.  She has not yet accepted.  The search remains open for the time.  The fasting begins again.

No news.

But I received a revelation today regarding the employment situation.  It went like this:

Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?  Tis not so, all is right.

Why should we think to earn a great reward if we now shun the fight?

Gird up your loins, fresh courage take, our God will never us forsake!

And soon we'll have this tale to tell: All is well!  All is well!

I needed it.  I'll keep you updated on the tale to tell.

anybody here? or there?

Hello everyone again!!!!!
Seriously y'all. mom and i are tired of staring at our own posts. :( we need some more things to read. :D i LOOOOOVE you alllll! :D
I auditioned for the Wizard of Oz tonight! I should now by March 2nd. so, i'll let you all know. :D have a lovely day!
love,
Marquieoh! and I went to Maryland tonight to a stake dance. super cool. i don't think i've ever been to maryland. But apparently i've been to Pennsylvania. and you should go there too! and then come see me. :)

Just to Make Y'all Smile

pictures for our friday

HELLO LOVELIESSSS!!!!! :D

i've heard some interesting stories floating around!!! how's everyone doing? I thought I'd post a picture like i always do! :D

Our Little Flaws

From one cracked pot to another....

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.

One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.

At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments.

But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream.

'I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.'

The old woman smiled, 'Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?'

'That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them.'

'For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table.

Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.'

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.

You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

SO, to all of my crackpot friends and family, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-6oRn6uEJ8

well, I absolutely thought this was hilarious. It's a homemade Backstreet Boys video. You gotta watch it all. :) i LOOOOOOOVE you!!!!

More Motherly Qualities

So, for another of my Young Women Value Experiences, Divine Nature. I was told to ask my mother what she thinks are important attributes for being a mother. Here is her response and my response to her. Just thought you would like to know.

From my Mom:

It seems to me that your family pretty well covered the important attributes that I could think of. I believe it was mentioned, but I think it is very important to listen, just listen and not judge. It seemed to me that the kids wanted to share not be judged for what they did or did not know. Also I belief that trying very hard to be in tune with the spirit so that the Holy Ghost can enlighten and help you as you teach your children, sometimes they hear more from my spirit to their spirit than they do from my mouth to their ear


Back to my Mom:

I think one of the most important things that has helped me with raising my children and in my church callings is the realization that we are children of God. Just because these people are smaller and younger than I am, doesn't mean they don't have more knowledge and wisdom than I. They all really surprise me sometimes. It is not my responsibility to judge, but to teach and guide and help them remember their "divine nature."

Another thing is to understand that the greatest gift of God is agency. All of us not only have the power, but the responsibility to choose for ourselves. I cannot, nor should I take away the ability for my children to choose. Only they have that power. However, I can influence the consequences of their choices. :) This was a concept that I did not articulate until well through my children's growing up, but I think it's a concept I experienced in my growing up that gave me confidence and a great example to follow.

Cute Anecdote

This is a story shared with us in Young Women a couple of weeks ago, as we talked about Finding Joy Now. Hope you like it!

THE CREATION

ON THE VERY FIRST DAY, GOD CREATED THE COW. He said to the cow, “Today, I have created you! As a cow, you must go to the field with the farmer all day long. You will work all day under the sun! I will give you a life span of 50 years.”

Cow objected, “What? This kind of tough life you want me to live for 50 years? Let me have 20 years, and the 30 years I’ll give back to you.” So God agreed.

ON THE SECOND DAY, GOD CREATED THE DOG. God said to the dog, “What you are supposed to do is to sit all day by the door of your house. Any people that come in, you will have to bark at them! I’ll give you a life span of 20 years!”

Dog objected. “What? All day long to sit by the door? No way? Let me have 10 years and I’ll give you back my other 10 years of life?” So God agreed.

ON THE THIRD DAY, GOD CREATED THE MONKEY. He said to the monkey. “Monkey has to entertain people. You’ve got to make them laugh and do monkey tricks. I’ll give you 20 years of life span.” Monkey objected. “What? Make them laugh? Do monkey faces and tricks? Ten years will do, and the other 10 years I’ll give you back.” So God wearily agreed. What is it with these creations, He wondered?

ON THE FOURTH DAY, GOD CREATED MAN AND SAID TO HIM, “Your job is to sleep, eat, and play. You will enjoy very much in your life. All you need to do is enjoy and do nothing. This kind of life, I’ll give you 20 years for a life span.”

The man objected. “What? Such a good life! Eat, play, sleep, do nothing? Enjoy the best and you expect me to live only for 20 years? No Way, man! Why don’t we make a deal? Since cow gave you back 30 years, Dog gave you back 10 years and Monkey gave you back 10 years, I will take them from you! That makes my life span 70 years, right?! So God agreed.

AND THAT IS WHY;

IN OUR FIRST 20 YEARS, we eat, sleep, play, enjoy the best and do nothing much.

FOR THE NEXT 30 YEARS, we work all day long, suffer and get to support the family.

FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS, we entertain our grandchildren by making monkey faces and doing monkey tricks.

AND FOR THE LAST 10 YEARS, we stay at home, sit in front of the door and bark at people. ;)

apology and a little bit more.

wellll. i need to make an apology to Justin and Jodi. :( I'm sorry, unfortunately I will be unable to go to your guyses graduation in April.

Now!

I have an excuse! (i know, i'm sorry, lame excuses!!!) but mine is really not TOOOO lame....


It's just that April 24 and 25 are the days of the Virginia All-State Honors Choir, and it just so happens I have to go... so i really am sorry.

but DAAAAAAAAAAANGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm excited!!!!!! :D


yep. so. yeah. that's all. and I got a valentine's day gift. well, actually, more than 1... tehehe.
Mom made me a giant YUMMMMMY cookie! well, actually, I haven't had any yet, but I ate some cookie dough... :D and I got some, well, maybe a DOZEN roses... :D hehehehee. and a box of chocolates! which is why the pic is here.

and the other picture is me freakin' out after all-district today. seriously. i've been freakin' out for um, about 7 hours!!! :D
yep, and I got to go to dinner :) and went to see Pink Panther 2. HILARIOUS!!!!!! and i'm really tired, which makes it EVEN better! :D mk. hope you enjoyed this.

GUYS I GOT INTO ALL-STATE!!! SERIOUSLY!!! HOLY COW!!!!! :D LOVE YOUUUU! oh, and the other picture of course is of me. being freakin' excited for all-state! :)

Happy Valentines Day

Valentine's Day 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow

MY update! yayyy!

hello lovely family! i love you so much! glad you are all doing so super well and grand!!! :D

well, here is an update:

today was the first day of all-district chorus. It was crazy. singing from 10-5. crazy crazy. but fun! It went by fast than I thought. Today was also All-State Auditions. AHHH!!! but, actually, I think they went pretty welll. Probably not a perfect score... :) but that's ok with me. (although it would be amazing!)
So tomorrow is another day of all-district. we have to be there by 9, and our performance is at 2. it's gonna be crazy! :D AH! and I find out after the last choir performs if I got into All-State. TOMORROW. So i'll let y'all know.

hmmm.... i don't think I ever told you how my Governor's School audition went. well, it was ok. My songs were great, my interview was ok, but my sightreading...daaaang...... not so hot. I was ok the first line, and then about 1/2 way through the second i completely lost it! but i'll let you know. i don't find out until mid-April.

anything else? anything else? i don't think so right now. The Crucible was super fun! SUPER fun! wish you guys could have seen it! :D but I'll be getting a DVD, and someday i'll show it to everyone. Auditions for the Wizard of Oz are next week. the 21st and 23rd actually.

hm. ok. i think that's it for now. oh no wait!
the other thing i posted. yeah. somebody in my spanish class said it. it was hilarious!

and now i think that's really it. i love you all. i don't really know what pictures to put up, so here's some random ones. :)

oh! and we've had some MEGAAAAA wind here! KARAZYYYY!!!!

ANDDDD. these swings are so empty...visitors? visitors? :) love you guys!


imposter pea story coming soon....

Shell Belle, This Ones for You

I just thought on this photo phriday, that I would post a few pictures for you that Marquie took of your family at the reunion. Hope you all enjoy them!

Okay...really I'm here

Thank you all for being so super patient with me. I am more computer illiterate than I previously thought. No surprise there. I was quite proud of myself for figuring out how to download firefox...sadly Ella could have done that. Oh well. Patience right? I 'm feeling kind of uninspired tonight with words so Ill try again tomorrow. I'm sure by then it will be way more exciting. Love you all.

Justin

today...right now...

Here's another one for the teen

Marquie,

Last night the boys wanted to listen to some music on my computer, but I wiped it clean to save space, but later added a single track because I got it while I was traveling: Firm in the Faith.  They were mesmerized as I asked them to identify the performer, and Joshua correctly identified "Aunt Marquie."  When I confirmed his suspicion, Michael was shocked and replied, "I didn't know Marquie could sing so beautifully."  They then listened to it three times in a row.

So there you go.  Apparently you're just amazing.

Motherly Qualities

Thank you to all who participated in my Motherly Qualities survey. It's interesting to note that all the characteristics we need to develop are gospel related. No one talked about knowledge, or good physical endurance, or beauty, or grace, or the ability to keep a clean house. Of course, the exact question was: what qualities do you think a woman needs to teach children to have faith and to base their decisions on gospel truths?

The most often mentioned quality was love/charity. Being able to put someone else before yourself and "loving" or accepting our children for who they are.

The next three qualitites appeared equally: Patience, faith, example

Patience, came in two specific areas, patience in slowly, steadily and constantly allowing your will to align with God's will (James labeled this Humility) and patience with your children--to take time to teach, to comfort, to listen and never showing frustration with a child's desire to learn(and the subsequent disasters that may come.) This characteristic, by the way, was the first one Michelle and I came up with.

Faith. In order to instill faith, we must have faith, but also have the faith to base our decisions on gospel truths.

Example. We cannot teach what we do not do. If you have the characteristics (of faith, patience, charity, humility...) it will instill in our children the desire to also have those characteristics.

Three of us also came up with the trait of integrity. The number one definition to not be a hypocrite. Follow through. Do what you say you will do and be what you say you are (which also involves discipline of yourself.)

And, finally understanding our divine nature, as well as the divine nature of our children. Having a vision of our children's potential, which Justin stated, a vision that brings her greater love and patience for the child, but does not lead her to interfere in the child's decisions, does not lead to manipulation.

Also mentioned were: a sense of the sacred, creativity, endurance.

Well, there you have it. Words from the experienced and wise. How are we doing?

have a laugh. :)

"Are all the girls in Illinois as pretty as you?"


"No."

:D yep, laugh your little hearts out. I'll give details later. :D

and Heather, it's not the person you might think...

These are for you

It went well

Yesterday's interview is finally over, and it went very well indeed.  I received a large amount of positive (read: amazing) feedback from my interviewers, and I am confident that the Lord will provide in his way, whatever that way might be.  I fear the details may bore you, but the highlight was definitely the time I spent teaching about Schubert's Erlkönig.  There was dramatic interpretation, a little acting, and characters revealed through the music.  Highly entertaining, and quite effective/affective.  Yes, both work in this context.

Thank you for your fasting, prayers, and continual support.  When I know, you'll know.

Oh, and Michelle, don't complain about not getting onto the blog when you don't give me the info I need (I'm guessing Bryce deleted the email I sent.)  Do you have a different email address?  If so, send it to me at hutchingsjb@gmail.com and I'll get you in.  Love you all!

I CAN FiX IT!

I sent an invite to the alabryce.  If that's NOT the email address you use to sign into Blogspot/Blogger, let me know and I'll send it to whatever you specify.  It would be nice if Michelle and Bryce each had a separate account, which of course requires a separate email address.  I recommend Google.  You can email me if you need.  We're SO EXCITED!  

Help

A plea from Michelle to James. She managed to create her own family blog, but can't seem to figure out how to post to ours. As master of the blog.... she turns to you. Her blog can be read at packardclan.blogspot.com.

Forgotten Password?

Al right.....who forgot their password?

The Crucible

Since Marquie spends all her extra waking hours on Facebook and doesn't seem to have the time to blog to the family, I thought I would post a few of her pictures from "The Crucible". The kids did a great job and it was enjoyable all three times we saw it:) Pretty sure Dad didn't ever see it all the way through snore, elbow, snore, elbow, snore) he says he did. Right.

The Fishermans Prayer