Sunday, August 30, 2009

30 August 2009 - Provo, Utah


Dear Family,
It has been another jam packed week for us.
Sunday we went to Jim & Vanessa's for a youth fireside where Michael gave a very powerful message to the North Shores Ward youth about the importance of a testimony and what a testimony really is.
Monday the three of us thoroughly enjoyed a Stebar visit which included their famous biscuits and gravy breakfast.
Wednesday evening we had the missionaries over for Banquet chicken and baked potatoes. Dad attended the post Scout Camp Court of Honor at which Tyler got 7 Merit badges and his Second and First class ranks. GO Tyler!
Thursday was supposed to be a day to finish preparations for Micheal and us to go to Utah, but Michael had a bad reaction to Miracell, which gave him horrible itching and pain. After two trips to the pharmacy and several remedies did nothing, Dad took him to the Emergency Room, where he got a cortizone shot, a vicodin pill and a prescription for steroids. Mercifully, he became well enough to travel.
Friday morning we left home and drove through the rain all across Michigan. We arrived in Provo, Utah, Saturday evening after 1700 miles of driving pleasure, including a mercy quest to find some Benedryl for Mom, who woke up Saturday morning in Kearney, Nebraska with a head to toe ugly red (huge welts) rash. She called her doctor, who told her to stop taking the antibiotic for her cough and to take Benedryl. She is too embarrassed to be seen in public so we will just rest today. All is “welt” with Mom! Michael was invited to attend his Mission President's talk in his home ward in Draper, Utah.
Michael was so happy to see his ex-companion and roommate Kyle Calder. We think together they will be able to overcome their anxiety about school and be a great support one another in this important next step of their lives. We went shopping for groceries and out to dinner to the Brick Oven.

Thanks to Heavenly Father we safely arrived and Michael is moved in.

We love y'all, Mom & Dad

Monday, August 24, 2009

24 August 2009

Dear Family,
It has been another eventful week.
Spirit Week - We had a joint family Family Home Evening at Jim & Vanessa's home. Michael gave a great lesson on “testimony” after the grandkids picked a Book of Mormon hero to tell about. Grandma Sparks, Dad, Ryan and Jim bore their testimonies at the end. It was a great FHE! The adults went to the Temple for an initiatory session on Tuesday. On Sunday, the family attended Sacrament Meeting together to hear Michael speak about testimony and that evening Michael lead the discussion at a youth fireside attended by 30 people at Jim & Vanessa's. He did very well as he inspired others to consider their own testimony and the importance thereof.

High tech week – We replaced 2 of our old “relic” cell phones, with the latest model and purchased a laptop for Michael's college tool kit. Saturday Papa took Tyler to the Air Show at Selfridge to see new high tech and vintage aircraft fly. It was an awesome thing to see all these different aircraft and follow the history of the men and machines from vintage World War II aircraft to the high powered, high tech modern jet turbine powered craft of today, including a B2 bomber fly over. The Air Force Thunderbirds put on a great demonstration in their versatile and agile F-16's.

Zoo - Friday Papa and Nona took Tyler, Samantha, Joshua and Olivia to the zoo, which included seeing colorful butterflies, a steamy aviary full of brightly colored birds, walking the the Dinosauria trail, surviving the motion sickness from the Dinosaur adventure ride, Reptile house, Amphibianville, the Penguinarium and, of course, a trip to McDonald's for a treat.

Grandma Sparks - We enjoyed Grandma Sparks visit with us. We made two large family history books of the Sorenson family, visited the Apple Computer store to see what they had to offer for computers and training, and looked at several condominiums for her when she comes to Michigan for the summers. Wednesday evening Dad, Michael and Grandma visited Daniel & Holli and their boys for a while. Grandma stayed over night and left to return home on Thursday morning. Thanks for your visit.

Future – We are scheduling a drive to Utah within the next week or so to deliver Michael to school, visit Grandpa Corless, and Dan, Lara, Abby and Sarah and hopefully friends. Stay tuned !

We love you all, Mom & Dad

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Sunday 16th of August 2009

Dear Family,
This has been a highly anticipated and very eventful week.
Grandma Sparks flew in on Monday and we have been working on updating the Sorenson family history and printing two copies of a very large book, which includes 2995 individuals and the stories of the lives of a few of our precious ancestors.
We have been working to get the home in order, including planting bushes, trees and flowers. Mom decorated the inside in the “welcome home” motif in anticipation of Michael's return home.
Thursday we picked up Maureen and kids to meet Ryan, who went directly from work in Dearborn, to meet Michael at the airport. The airport had closed the old terminal and opened a new one so we were a bit confused for a while, but thanks to a kindly shuttle bus driver, we finally got to the right spot and found Michael. We went directly to the Stake Center and Michael met with President Lantz, who released Michael as a missionary. On the way home we stopped and had Rio Wraps for a quick dinner. We came home to find a welcoming committee of nine of Michael's school friends who had decorated the deck with balloons, posters and streamers. We quickly organized an impromptu party for his friends with pizza, chips and soda pop. Ryan & Maureen and later Jim & Vanessa and their tribes came to welcome Michael home. Michael along with socializing with friends, performed the “huka”, which he learned from the Pacific island missionaries. It was a happy time for all.
Friday afternoon and evening, we attended the wedding and reception of Jim's sister Julie to Dan Chaves, complete with the Polish, American and Colombian sides of the families. So there was a certain Latin flare in the attendees and the festivities, which included a Mariachi band.
At 8:00 am Sunday morning we took Michael and Grandma Sparks to the Stake Center for Michael to report his mission to the high council. It was touching and profound. Sunday evening we had an open house with snacks for family and friends to welcome Michael home. We ended up having quite a big and fun crowd.

We are grateful for our numerous blessings, specially the safe arrival of Grandma and Michael's return from a faithful and truly wonderful mission.

We love you all, Mom & Dad

Sunday, August 9, 2009

"Dinosauria" Detroit Zoo

Sunday 9th of August

Dear Family,
Another event filled week for us. Our luggage was returned to us a couple days late, but thankfully it was undamaged; everything was still in tact!!!

After spending some time at Ryan and Maureen's, David, Jana, Adam, Peter, David Jr. and Mary stayed with us for a few days, and then, they returned home, on Friday morning. Tuesday we all went to the Henry Ford Museum and Wednesday, we took Adam, Peter and David Jr. to the Zoo and saw the “Dinosauria” special showing of robotic life-size dinosaurs. It was good to be with them for a few days.

Getting the yard in shape has been no small task. The large weeping willow tree in the back broke off another large limb, which was pushing against our Blue Spruce. So with saw in hand Dad cut back the offending branches and relieved the spruce from further damage. Dad pulled out the overgrown bushes in the front of the house with a rope tied to the Jeep. A man, his Jeep and a rope: it's a beautiful thing! Big thanks to Ryan for helping plant a a couple of new cork screw willows by the creek, on our rainy Saturday morning, while Mom went to Julie Kulka's bridal shower.

Wednesday evening we were invited to be panelists for our wards youth activity regarding standards. Having been gone from our ward for so long, we hardly know any of the youth in Ward anymore.

The air conditioning was not working. Lucky for us, the weather has been unseasonably cool, which gave a Dad the time to track down the problem to a faulty fuse. With all new fuses the air conditioning is functional once again. Just in time, because it very humid and in the nineties today.

This week we looking forward to having Grandma Sparks come on Monday and Michael return home on Thursday.

Love ya, Mom & Dad

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Return of the Corless'

Dear Family,
Thanks to Heavenly Father, we have safely returned home from our latest adventure to Brazil. It was difficult to leave our family in Brazil, but it is so good to be back home to our own bed again with warm weather.

Once again, our Brazilian family and friends could not have been more gracious, kind, and generous hosts. They opened their hearts and homes to us and saw to our every need. There is not sufficient time nor space to recount all each one did for us and what it meant to us. Everyone treated us so well. We thoroughly enjoyed being with them. We could never repay them for all they gave us. Thank you, again! Muito Obrigado!

Each flight of our home itinerary had some unusual event. 1) The flight from Porto Alegre to Rio - TAM - was rerouted to Campinas (Sao Paulo state) due to fog conditions in Rio, but that was no problem because we had a seven hour scheduled wait for our next flight. 2) After an hour and a half into the flight from Rio to Atlanta - DELTA - we returned to Rio due to a faulty back-up steering system. We arrived at the hotel at 4 am and left to return to airport at 1 pm. At the airport, we stood in line for over an hour to check our luggage and get boarding passes (apparently, the computer was down). The rescheduled Rio - Atlanta flight - DELTA - was about an hour late taking off. In the middle of the flight they found a cigarette butt in one of the lavatory waste bin, which, if it had started a fire, could have killed everyone on board. We safely arrived at Atlanta at 2 am, where we were able to go through customs and passport control and rebook our flight to Detroit - DELTA - at 7:30 am. 3) They kept changing the gate for our flight to Detroit from B to E and back to B concourses, which caused us to rapidly go from virtually one end of the terminal to the opposite end of terminal. The flight to Detroit was uneventful, until our luggage did not show up at the baggage claim. We still do not have our luggage...

The best part of the day was seeing David who came to airport to pick us up, and the best part of the night was sleeping in our own bed once again.

We love you all, Mom & Dad (The Survivors)