Dad and Edmonton

We just wrapped up the Edmonton regional, and it was a great day.

After I got back to my hotel room, I made two phone calls before writing this--one to my sweetheart (he's always the first person I call) and one to my dad. I called Dad's wife, Justine, first, but she didn't answer, so then I called my dad's cell phone, thinking she might have that. I was completely surprised when Dad answered the phone!

You have to know that not having a phone in his hands has been so hard for Dad; he lives with a phone to his ear. As a child, I remember he was always on the phone talking to his customers; that's how he ran his business. So the invention of the cell phone was a wonderful thing for him, and he has never been without one--until this past month. You could tell he was pretty happy to have it back in his hands. I'll update you more about him tomorrow, but I did just want to mention that exciting milestone.

As always, I loved visiting Edmonton--because of the people, of course. I'm sure the city is great, but I've never really explored it. And on my previous visits, it's been pretty cold and windy--and you know how much I like being warm! This time was actually a bit warmer, which was nice. I didn't spend much time outside, but I glimpsed daylight a few times out the window.

Our demonstrators more than made up for the fact I couldn't be outside though. They are always warm and welcoming. We had a lot of first-timers, which was fun. They were curious and excited about everything we were doing, and I felt their enthusiasm. And those who were coming back are always so supportive and appreciative as well!

The project I showed was another Halloween treat; I'm making one for each of our grandchildren. I think they'll love waving the banner around, and the fact that there's a little candy attached only makes it even more fun.

You're probably wondering where the photo is, right? Well, I carefully packed my camera because I knew I'd want to share the project with you. However, I wasn't so careful to pack the cords that connect the camera to the computer. So the project will also be posted tomorrow after I get home.

I guess we can call this part one of a two-part posting on Dad and Edmonton. Check back tomorrow for more!

A Fabulous Event

Well, we just wrapped up our first-ever Leadership Summit, which was a special event for our highest-achieving Stampin’ Up! demonstrators, and I have to say that it exceeded my expectations. I thought it was a fabulous event.

We met for two days, and we had wonderful presentations from all the speakers, great dialogue (on occasion it was a little intense, but there’s nothing wrong with that—we asked for openness and honesty), and valuable interaction with a group of very influential demonstrators. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute, and I think we gained insight that will be very valuable as we move forward.

This event was different from our other Stampin’ Up! events. We intentionally kept it fairly small (about 120 demonstrators were invited, and almost 80 attended) so that we could have discussions where everyone could participate.

We also asked everyone to sign nondisclosure agreements, which means they promised to keep the information shared at this event confidential. We value our relationship with every demonstrator—and I mean that—and we are trying to work together as partners with our demonstrators more than ever before. We believe we took a significant step toward that with this meeting, where we discussed several very confidential topics, and I think those who were there appreciated our vote of trust.

We also kept the summit simple, without most of the fancy frills (decorations, stage, fancy presentations, music, etc.) that occurs at most of our other events. There were no swaps (gasp!) and no Make & Takes, although we did do a Make & Share, which were baby albums that we donated to a local nonprofit organization that takes care of young mothers.

There were also not a lot of gifts, although Pam Morgan (Stampin’ Up!’s vice president of Demonstrator Development) and I (along with a couple of other friends) spent many, MANY hours hand-stamping a Live with Passion journal and Kind Works bookmark for every participant. While they were quite time-consuming, they were certainly gifts from the heart, and I enjoyed the time I spent on them—as well as the hours of visiting while we stamped.

And tonight at dinner we were talking, and a couple demonstrators mentioned that they wanted to go to Dear Lizzie, which is just a couple of miles down the road. If you haven’t heard me mention Dear Lizzie, let me just say it’s one of my favorites stores in the whole world!

Well, before I knew it there was quite a group of demonstrators who wanted to go. We had chartered two buses to transport the demonstrators to dinner, so I ran outside and asked the two drivers which one felt the friendliest. They were both good sports, and after a few minutes of negotiations, we had worked out details for one of the buses to stick around for an extra hour to take those demonstrators who were interested to the store.

I loved sharing Dear Lizzie with some of my favorite friends. What a treat for me to see them wander around and check everything out. The boutique usually closes at 7 p.m., but I had called yesterday and mentioned that I thought a few demonstrators might be coming, and Laura (the owner, front row in the photo) said she’d stay open a little longer for us. She was surprised at the number of visitors, although I don’t think she minded the extra business at all. She told me right before we left that she was celebrating the store’s third anniversary today, and I was happy that we could be part of that special day.

So, while I’m certainly tired—the two days were packed—I feel so rejuvenated. I couldn’t have asked for it to go any better. I’m just hoping everyone else agrees. I guess we’ll have to wait and see before we start planning for next year. . .  

Our Spanish Missionary

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated you on our missionary, Shanna. She’s in Spain and is loving it! It’s finally starting to cool down a bit—those 110-plus-degree days didn’t sit very well with her—so that’s a nice thing, and she’s catching onto the language, which makes a huge difference in how comfortable she is and how much she enjoys interacting with the people she meets.

We get letters (usually e-mails) from Shanna once a week. She can only write—and receive mail—on her “P-day,” which is short for preparation day. That’s the day missionaries from our church have to do all the stuff they need to do to “prepare” for the upcoming week, stuff like laundry, cleaning their apartments, writing letters, and even a little sightseeing when they can fit it in. Their schedules during the rest of the week are pretty structured, so P-day is a much anticipated day!

Shanna’s P-day is Wednesday, and she’s eight or nine hours ahead of us, so I’ll write her an e-mail on Tuesday night before I go to bed, and she’ll get it when she wakes up on Wednesday. Then she’ll write an e-mail back, and I get to read it first thing when I get up on Wednesday, and it’s practically real time—everything is only a few hours old. So you can see why Wednesdays are one of my favorite days!

Her e-mails are full of news and stories and her testimony, and quite often requests. Before she left, she tried to stock up on things she would need that she might not be able to get over there, like skin care products and toothpaste and things like that. But she’s starting to run out of some of those things, as well as identify other things she’s missing that she didn’t realize she would, like WalMart Light packets for water and cake mixes and peanut butter. Of course, candy is always welcome too!

As I mentioned, missionaries only get their mail once a week, and she sent us a picture recently that showed how excited she was when she received three packages in one week!

 

I thought it was touching to see how excited she was about receiving things that are really very simple and basic, things that I take for granted. Nothing like living a simple life focused on serving and teaching others to make you realize how blessed you are!

This other picture shows her and her companion (missionaries for our church always work in pairs and are never supposed to go outside without their companion) on a P-day doing a little sightseeing.

It’s a wonderful opportunity for her to be in Spain, and she loves meeting the people and experiencing the country on a much deeper level than tourists are able to.

So that’s our Shanna update! She’s only got about a year left—but who’s counting? (smile)

Our Spanish Missionary

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated you on our missionary, Shanna. She’s in Spain and is loving it! It’s finally starting to cool down a bit—those 110-plus-degree days didn’t sit very well with her—so that’s a nice thing, and she’s catching onto the language, which makes a huge difference in how comfortable she is and how much she enjoys interacting with the people she meets.

We get letters (usually e-mails) from Shanna once a week. She can only write—and receive mail—on her “P-day,” which is short for preparation day. That’s the day missionaries from our church have to do all the stuff they need to do to “prepare” for the upcoming week, stuff like laundry, cleaning their apartments, writing letters, and even a little sightseeing when they can fit it in. Their schedules during the rest of the week are pretty structured, so P-day is a much anticipated day!

Shanna’s P-day is Wednesday, and she’s eight or nine hours ahead of us, so I’ll write her an e-mail on Tuesday night before I go to bed, and she’ll get it when she wakes up on Wednesday. Then she’ll write an e-mail back, and I get to read it first thing when I get up on Wednesday, and it’s practically real time—everything is only a few hours old. So you can see why Wednesdays are one of my favorite days!

Her e-mails are full of news and stories and her testimony, and quite often requests. Before she left, she tried to stock up on things she would need that she might not be able to get over there, like skin care products and toothpaste and things like that. But she’s starting to run out of some of those things, as well as identify other things she’s missing that she didn’t realize she would, like WalMart Light packets for water and cake mixes and peanut butter. Of course, candy is always welcome too!

As I mentioned, missionaries only get their mail once a week, and she sent us a picture recently that showed how excited she was when she received three packages in one week!

I thought it was touching to see how excited she was about receiving things that are really very simple and basic, things that I take for granted. Nothing like living a simple life focused on serving and teaching others to make you realize how blessed you are!

This other picture shows her and her companion (missionaries for our church always work in pairs and are never supposed to go outside without their companion) on a P-day doing a little sightseeing. It’s a wonderful opportunity for her to be in Spain, and she loves meeting the people and experiencing the country on a much deeper level than tourists are able to.

So that’s our Shanna update! She’s only got about a year left—but who’s counting? (smile)

Oh, Happy Day!

I haven’t shared an update on my dad for almost a week, but I’m thrilled to do it today! We got a call from the hospital this morning, and I got my birthday wish—Dad is no longer intubated. Sterling and I went and visited him tonight. Truly I had to keep from laughing at some of the things he was saying, but it was so good to see him without the hand restraints and that nasty tube in his mouth. He was a breath of fresh air for me!

Just to make you smile, I’ll share some of the things we talked about:

Dad wanted to know where the Ritchie Brothers sales brochure was so he could decide what to buy at the auction.

He wanted to stop the nurse and find out what the plan was for dinner. He was tired of buying all the dinners and wanted a free one!

At one point in the day, he was distraught because of the fire in the hospital.

He mentioned he didn’t get much sleep last night because he was sleeping in the street.

Basically, some of what he talked about made complete sense, but most of his conversations were hysterical and totally crazy! I’m pretty sure the doctor’s orders to lessen his medication is a good thing (smile).

The grafting on Dad’s hands looks excellent, and the staples will be removed during the next dressing change. We found out earlier this week that all of Dad’s fingertips (just below the nail) on his right hand will need to be removed (the word amputated seems too harsh) and at least two of the fingertips on his left hand will also need to be removed. They aren’t sure about the other fingers yet. The doctor is going to operate sometime next week in order to let the grafting really take hold and give those fingers every chance to show new growth.

When Dad learned about his fingertips, he just said that he was 66 years old and didn’t need all those fingers anyway. Maybe that was the drugs talking, but since Dad is the most positive person I know, I think he’ll probably handle things pretty well.

Thanks for your continued prayers and well wishes. I appreciate it more than you may know!