Let It Snow!!!

It is so cold that this snow won't pack into snowballs. We got about 5 inches last night, and maybe another inch today!

Jack-O-Lanterns

For FHE we carved up our pumkins. Unfortunately, the batteries in our real camera died, so we are stuck with these cell phone pics. These pictures don't do justice to the kids' creations. Lizzy's is the moon, a bat, and the outline of a bat. Eric's is a funny, scowling face. Jimmy's has a ton of crazy, crooked teeth.

Fair

We went to the fair on Friday. It was a lot of fun. We went on tons of rides and ate lots of tasty food. Lexi slept most of the time. We were there for almost nine hours, so that's pretty impressive.

Alexis Marie

The latest addition to our family came on Saturday, 9/13 at 9:14 am. She's a real cutie. Mom and baby are both doing great. We're excited to have her home! The pre-existing kids can't get enough of her. All they want to do is take turns holding her.





Eric likes to give his little sister kisses on the cheek.

Go Cougars!!!

Uncle Alan scored 10 tickets to the BYU game at UW. We had to make the trip!
Playing with the cousins the night before the big roadtrip.
Signs by Jimmy.
Pregame planning - and fantasy football research.
As we got onto the 520 floating bridge, there was a TON of traffic. It took us about an hour to go the last five miles. Eric kept the mood light. After we'd been sitting in gridlock for about five minutes he said, "I guess Dino Rossi is right! We do need better roads. There is a lot of traffic over here." (Dino Rossi is the Republican candidate running for governor against the incumbent Democrat, Christine Gregoire. Rossi has been running ads on tv asking why Gregoire has spent so much money on roads, but they still aren't any better.) All the adults in the car got a good laugh.




A controversial ending, but we think they got it right!

Spokane Trip

A couple of weeks ago, we took a minivacation. We went to Alan and Laura's house in Spokane. On the way, we stopped at the waterpark in Moses Lake. The trip was a blast.

Genetic Disorder

I don't know if this is the proper forum to announce to the world that I have a genetic disorder,but I do. It is called autosomal dominant compelling helioophthalmic outburst syndrome. Fortunately, this illness is not generally life threatening (though I guess it could be if it struck at an inopportune time). Unfortunately, there is no evidence that it gets any better or less noticeable as a person ages.

Many of you have probably noticed how this syndrome affects me but probably without even being aware that it was a manifestation of my genetic disorder. If you've ever been around me when I have transitioned from indoors to outdoors, you may have noticed that I often sneeze upon entering the sunlight. ACHOO!!!

I never thought much of this. I just thought it was some kind of allergy or that I was just a weirdo in general. Then a few days ago, as I was pulling out of the parking lot from work, I saw one of my co-workers do the same thing. I asked her about it at work a few days later, and she said that this always happens to her too. A quick google search revealed that we both suffer from ACHOO syndrome.

It is basically a "disorder characterized by nearly uncontrollable paroxysms of sneezing provoked in a reflex fashion by the sudden exposure of a dark-adapted subject to intensely bright light, usually sunlight. The number of successive sneezes was usually 2 or 3."

You can learn more about my disability at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/dispomim.cgi?id=100820 The quote in the paragraph above was taken from this website.

Baby Girl

We just had the ultrasound today. The technician said she "thought" it was a girl. She did not sound too confident though. The baby was moving around alot, so the techician couldn't get a good shot. Towards the end, the technician sounded a bit more confident, but maybe we'll end up with a surprise. We took the kids, and they really enjoyed watching on the tv screen.

Justice

The head professional scouter made things right. He had Jimmy come down to the Council office on Tuesday. He told Jimmy that they messed up and that he knew Jimmy had done his best and that he had won. He also said that they were going to do their best to fix their mistake. He asked Jimmy to come back on Thursday. When he came back, he was presented with the First Place trophy seen below.

District Pinewood Derby

Jimmy went to Districts today. If you want to know how it turned out, here is a copy of the letter I'm sending to the Council:

12 April 2008

Grand Columbia Council
12 N 10th Ave.
Yakima, WA 98909

Dear Boy Scouts of America:

I just returned from the Skookum District Pinewood Derby race. Jimmy Church is my son. His car (actually an Army truck) was number 12. He was in the Wolf category. He won every single race he was in. In fact, none of the races was even close. He won by several lengths each time. The computerized finish sign at the end of the tract confirmed that he won every race. Everyone who was there can confirm that his camouflage truck was undefeated.

Understandably, he was very excited that he must have won at least fourth place (there were only eight Wolf cars). However, as they announced the top four Wolf winners, he was not one of them. He was devastated. I spoke with the race officiators afterwards. They tried to give me every excuse in the book. I explained to them that it is possible that it was just coincidence that he happened to race against all the slowest cars, but they did agree that wasn’t very probable.

I don’t see any way this is what happened considering his margins of victory. Due to the structure of the race, he raced six out of the seven other Wolf cars. He beat every single one of them hands down, some of them multiple times. He never had the opportunity to race the remaining Wolf car. While one could possible conceive of a way he could have beaten that many cars and still not had the overall fastest time, it is nearly impossible that he would not have finished in at least the top four.

Then I asked the race officiators to confirm what place he finished in during each of his races. To my utter amazement, they did not have him placing first in each of his races. This is absolutely incorrect. He did in fact win every race. Anyone who was there can confirm it. The race officiators basically said that it must have been a computer error. This is unacceptable. There has to be human oversight and accountability.

Cub Scouts are taught to be honest. The race results should be honest too, especially if a computer and lasers are involved. Having all the fancy gizmos lends credibility to the race, which makes the incorrect results even more difficult for an eight year old to accept.

This has been a horrible experience. My son is very upset. He left the event in tears. Please don’t misunderstand. He is not a poor sport. He has lost on other occasions, and it has never been a problem because he knew that he lost fair and square. The problem is winning every race, knowing he went undefeated, expecting recognition, and then having the rug pulled out from under him because of a supposed computer error. He acknowledges that he may not have won first place, but due to this glitch, we’ll never know how well he really did.

In the future, you should do something to ensure that this does not happen again. Perhaps you could project the standings onto a big screen so that everyone can verify the computer’s results. Perhaps the track should be configured and tested before the race starts to verify that the computer is recording the results properly. (At this race, the MC had to stall for nearly 20 minutes before the computer would start working, and it was never tested after booting up). Perhaps different software needs to be used. Perhaps there is another method to fix this incompetence. In any event, this problem needs to be remedied.

Cub Scouts is supposed to be fun. The event was great and quite a bit of fun until the very end. However, I came away from this race with the realization that this was as far from fun as I can ever remember at any Scouting event, and I’ve been to a lot of them. Please don’t think that I am being a poor sport either. I am simply sticking up for my son. At this point, he obviously isn’t going to get the recognition he deserves from the District or the other cubs, but at least he will know that his dad tried to do something so that hopefully another cub in future years doesn’t have to suffer the same agony he is experiencing now.

Very truly yours,
David M. Church

Pinewood Derby

Jimmy's 1st Pinewood Derby was last Friday.

Here we are doing the final assembly


And the winner is . . . Jimmy!
Not only did Jimmy waste this kid, he actually won all his races. That's right, he was the undefeated champion. Pretty good for a first timer who designed and painted his own camouflaged Army truck!

Here he is with his winning truck and first place medal. Isn't he supposed to get a trophy?

Wild Pigs

Below is a copy of a forwarded email we received a few days ago. I usually don't respond to forwarded emails, but I did reply to this one. About half way down, you'll find my reply.

So here is the original email:
There was a Chemistry professor in a large college that had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the Prof noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt.

The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He h ad been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist government. In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked, 'Do you know how to catch wild pigs?'

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line.
The young man said this was no joke. 'You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd.

Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America. The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, free medical, etc. while we continually lose our freedoms - just a little at a time.

One should always remember 'There is no such thing as a free Lunch! Also, a politician will never provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.

Also, if you see that all of this wonderful government 'help' is a problem confronting the future of democracy in America, you might want to send this on to your friends. If you think the free ride is essential to your way of life then you will probably delete this e-mail, but God help you when the gate slams shut!

'A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have.'
... Thomas Jefferson


Here is my reply:
If the exchange student with the bullet in his back has such a problem with the U.S.A., perhaps he should return to his native country to complete his schooling. However, it is likely that he wants to stay in our country because he knows that no matter how messed up people can make our country appear in email stories, we are still by far the best country in the world for a person to earn a decent living and enjoy a comfortable life.

My concern with emails such as this is that it makes me think that some of the people who have been blessed with the ability to earn a decent living have very little compassion for those who do not have that same ability. Worse than that, I think that many of these people do not even consider the possibility that there may even be people out there who cannot support themselves.

I work as an attorney specializing almost exclusively in Social Security disability. I deal every day with the “wild pigs” who eat the “free corn.” These are people who simply do not have the ability to earn a good living. They are not lazy. They just don’t have the physical and/or mental capacity to hold a job. Almost all of them have tried and failed repeatedly.

Do you know what their “free corn” is valued at? They receive Supplemental Security Income of $637 per month from the Social Security Administration. Try living on that! I know that my family could not do it. I think it is great that these people who would otherwise have absolutely nothing at least have the opportunity to have a small apartment and the medical care they need. I am happy to know that my taxes make this possible.

A few weeks ago, we were on vacation in Hawaii. Everybody there was living the good life – driving fancy cars, taking tours, eating at expensive restaurants, etc. Then I saw a couple of homeless people. My first thought was that it is ridiculous that in a place with so much extravagant spending on luxuries that there would be anyone who had to beg for his basic daily food and sleep on the sidewalk (sidewalks are very hard even in beautiful Hawaii).

That is crazy to me, but I think it really speaks to one of the lines in this email: “One should always remember 'There is no such thing as a free Lunch! Also, a politician will never provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.” These are great points. Programs to provide services to these destitute people are not free. I gladly pay for them with my tax dollars. It is also true that if we would take care of such people on our own through private charities, etc., we could do it cheaper than the politicians. The problem is that collectively we don’t give enough willingly, so the only remaining alternative is for politicians to set up the programs. In this regard, I definitely feel that doing something is a better response than doing nothing at all.

A couple of weeks ago during Sunday School, we read 2 Nephi 9:30. It states: “But wo unto the rich, who are rich as to the things of the world. For because they are rich they despise the poor, and they persecute the meek, and their hearts are upon their treasures; wherefore, their treasure is their god. And behold, their treasure shall perish with them also.” I think that this speaks volumes. What does it say to you?

We ought to be more concerned with our fellow human beings who are suffering right here in our land of promise, and we ought to be less concerned with our fat wallets, luxurious homes, and fancy cars. Personally, I feel that there is more than enough money available for us to live comfortably and also lend a helping hand to those less fortunate.

One final comment. You should be very careful in judging these “wild pigs.” You never know when it could happen to you. I have represented many people who were successful professionals and earning good incomes. Something happens in their life like an accident, the death of a spouse or child, or a debilitating disease. They find themselves unable cope with these problems and unable to support themselves or their families. Then severe depression sets in making them further unable to support themselves. They do not make the choice to go from productive to dependant. It just happens.

I certainly hope that I never have to endure such circumstances. I also hope that none of you reading this email ever have to deal with such things. However, the fact is that these types of things can hit anyone at anytime with no warning. If that does ever happen to me, I know how I would like to be treated. How would you want to be treated if it happens to you?

"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” -Jesus Christ- (Matt. 7:12). We should all try a little harder to live by the Golden Rule.

I know that it has probably been difficult for you to read through all this compassionate propaganda, but I thank you for taking the time to consider my point of view. I hope that it sparks a bit of introspection.

Thanks,
Dave

Tagged!

Maria tagged me a long time ago so here it is.

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning

B. Each player answers the questions about themselves

C. At the end of the post, the player tags 3 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment, letting them know they are tagged.

10 years ago I was: Living in Bellingham, Washington. I was attending Whatcom Community College and applying for dental hygiene schools in Washington.

5 things on my to do list today:

1) Find substitute teachers for the Primary teachers who turned up sick
2 Make a tasty Easter dinner
3) Play crochet with the kids
4) Read a little of "The Well-Educated Mind" by Susan Wise-Bauer
5) Get ready for the week ahead of me

Things I would do if I became a billionaire:

1. Buy a large piece of land with a pond or creek in part of it and enjoy having the space to let the kids run and play.
2. Build my dream home
3. Pay off Dave's Law school loans
4. Share the money with family
5. Donate money to our church
6. Travel around the world, sometimes with the kids, sometimes without.
7. Invest money for our future.

3 of my bad habits:

1) Never ironing.
2) Sometimes I expect too much of my kids.
3) Staying up too late and watching too much t.v. lately.

5 places I've lived:

1) Poulsbo, Washington
2) Utah
3) Pennsylvania
4) Yakima, Washington
5)


5 jobs I've had:

1) Hostess at the Kingston Inn (restaurant)
2) Laborer at Cleaver Construction
3) Hostess at Billy McAles
4) Wreath Maker for Cleaver's Wreaths
5) Early morning janitor at BYU

Something most people don't know about me:

There's not much that that people don't know about me at least not that I'll admit to. But one interesting thing is that I'm the only one out of the 7 kids in my family not to attend Ricks College (now BYU Idaho). Boy were my parents worried.

Hawaii

Here are a few pics of our recent trip to Hawaii. We had a great time!

Luau at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Yum!!!

Top of Waikiki - Revolving Restaurant

Just above the blow hole

Pineapple at the Dole Plantation

Pool at our hotel, The Waikiki Sand Villa

Read the sign

Everybody got some loot