Sunday, August 9, 2009
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
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)
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)
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Week of 15-21 June 2009
Dear Family, - Happy Father's Day
Today we spoke in the Farmington Hills Ward sacrament meeting in the morning and went to the North Shores meeting to see the Grand children sing and Tyler pass the sacrament. It was a special bonus to see some of the members from the old Gratiot Branch (where we served a 1 year stake service mission), who now attend the Roseville Ward.
This week the house has been in a messy turmoil because we are having the tile replaced, but it is looking really nice now. We really like Nick, our Albanian master tile man. He is doing a great job removing the old cracked and worn tile , preparing the surface with a layer of cement which makes a hard flat and level surface for the tile , and then laying and cementing in place the tile. Monday he will grout the tile and Tuesday seal it and hopefully finish up the job. Then we will be able to put appliances, furniture and “things” back in place and clean up.
This week, Dad had a breakfast with three on his friends from Ford on Tuesday and played Racquet ball with two other friends on Thursday. It was good see them and catch up on what is happening with them.
Friday we both went to the Stake Youth Conference where Mom taught five 1 hour group sessions about the ancient temple and tabernacle, how they symbolize Heavenly Father's plan for us and how they relate to today's temple. She did an excellent job in preparing the youth to go do baptisms in the temple afterwards.
We hope all is well with y'all,
Love ya, Mom & Dad
Today we spoke in the Farmington Hills Ward sacrament meeting in the morning and went to the North Shores meeting to see the Grand children sing and Tyler pass the sacrament. It was a special bonus to see some of the members from the old Gratiot Branch (where we served a 1 year stake service mission), who now attend the Roseville Ward.
This week the house has been in a messy turmoil because we are having the tile replaced, but it is looking really nice now. We really like Nick, our Albanian master tile man. He is doing a great job removing the old cracked and worn tile , preparing the surface with a layer of cement which makes a hard flat and level surface for the tile , and then laying and cementing in place the tile. Monday he will grout the tile and Tuesday seal it and hopefully finish up the job. Then we will be able to put appliances, furniture and “things” back in place and clean up.
This week, Dad had a breakfast with three on his friends from Ford on Tuesday and played Racquet ball with two other friends on Thursday. It was good see them and catch up on what is happening with them.
Friday we both went to the Stake Youth Conference where Mom taught five 1 hour group sessions about the ancient temple and tabernacle, how they symbolize Heavenly Father's plan for us and how they relate to today's temple. She did an excellent job in preparing the youth to go do baptisms in the temple afterwards.
We hope all is well with y'all,
Love ya, Mom & Dad
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Week of 8-14 June 2009
Dear Family,
We have enjoyed being home for one month now.
Mom & I attended the funeral service for John R. Pfeifer on Monday. He was the Stake President when we first came to Michigan. He called Dad to to serve in the Bishopric and ordained him a High Priest. It was a great funeral service for a very talented, accomplished ,vascular surgeon.
Tuesday, we attended Samantha's 5th grade promotion ceremony at her Elementary School. Next year she goes to the Jr. High School with Tyler.
Our home has a new roof. The 12-15 man roofing crew, all from Central America, came at 8:30 am, tore off the old roof, installed the new roof and cleaned up by 4:30 pm. It was very interesting to observe the process; even when it started to rain they kept on working.
Saturday we were invited to and attended Samantha's birthday party. We enjoyed the celebration for Samantha, who is becoming such a wonderful young lady. Jim's Mom and Jack were there. It was good to see and talk with them again.
Sunday was the High Council speakers and we were invited to talk. Mom spoke in the Warren Ward and Dad went with Jim to speak in the Southfield Ward. Mom's favorite thing was staying for the No. Shores sacrament meeting, sitting with Ryan and Vanessa's families, and partaking the Sacrament blessed by Ryan and passed by Tyler. Now we will go to wish Jim a Happy Birthday. A special Sunday indeed.
Love ya, Mom & Dad
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Week of 1 - 7 June 2009
Dear Family,
HOME - This week of events has been filled with getting our house in order. Dad is claiming victory in the battle of attrition to rid our home of the uninvited mice that took up residence in our basement. We have contracted to get a new “lifetime” roof on the house, stained the deck, painted the mailbox and shopped for a new tile to replace the cracked and worn tile of the foyer and kitchen. We have learned that getting our “matter organized” is hard work and very expensive, but we look forward to having a good roof over our heads and a solid, pleasant to look at, floor under our feet.
CHURCH - We went with the missionary Elders to teach an investigator a lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She has been studying and praying with a great desire to know and is committed to be baptized. The lesson went well and we were able to share our testimony with her. She thanked us for coming and lifting her up. We both felt good about being with the missionaries again. As a part of the Family Home Evening Activity on Monday, we have been asked to share our mission experiences with the “Empty Nesters” of the ward. Also, we have been invited to speak in other ward's Sacrament Meetings on the 14th and 21st of June.
FAMILY – Monday we went to dinner at Rio Wraps, watched a movie and played game of Boccie at Partridge Creek with Vanessa and her kids (Jim was out of town on business). We enjoyed watching the baseball games of Joshua and Tyler and Samantha's last soccer game of the season and they seemed to enjoy having us there. Grand buddies are great! After Joshua's game we took Preston & Jacob home and ate some of Ryan & Maureen's leftovers and at Ryan's insistence, we played a game of “Settlers of Catan”. Friday after work, Ryan brought Preston with him and we fixed a squeaking brake on the Ranger, while Nonna and Preston played Dominoes. Today, we went to Ryan & Maureen's to celebrate Preston's 7th birthday.
Love y'all, Mom & Dad
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Week of 25-31 of May
Dear Family,
This has been an event filled week.
After helping Ryan do a front brake job on his Ranger in the morning, we had a party with the tribes of Jim & Vanessa and Ryan & Maureen to celebrate Memorial Day. Also, the Riehl's (from their ward) came, and we had the pleasure of getting to know them a little better. We grilled hamburgers with all the trimmings plus had enchiladas, salads, cookies, watermelon, brownies and a trifle for eats. There were many canoe excursions across the pond to see ducklings and turtles on the way to “Treasure Island”. We had a great time playing Croquet, Volley Ball, Boccie and, of course, socializing.
Getting our matter organized is still a priority. Dad is waiting for some good weather to clean and re-stain the deck. We got a quote and looked at some tile to replace the kitchen and foyer floors, and got an estimate to replace the shingles on the roof. We could buy a new car for these prices! Also, the rodent wars have heated up again. We found the mouse expressway under the front porch into the basement pantry. The varmint expressway is now permanently closed with fiber glass and 2X4 pine blocks to all future traffic. Oh well, it is just part of protecting one's family and property from forces of nature. After all, the little freeloaders were just looking for something to eat.
Medical matters appear to be in order after Dad's visit to the doctor and getting various blood tests and pictures completed. Mom got a brand new pair of inserts to put in her shoes to help her hammer toe from getting any worst. It is a bit difficult because nothing is hurting her now. It is a matter of faith to wear them just to keep things from maybe getting worse. She will have her regular check-up this coming week.
Thanks to Olivia, who called and asked Papa, “When are we going to the Zoo?”, Friday morning we took Olivia and Jacob with us and used our renewed membership that Nona got Papa for his birthday. We were joined by 50+ bus loads of school kids!!! (Next time, we will go on a Monday or Tuesday.) We enjoyed the Penguins, birds, butterflies, lunch, reptiles, anteaters, polar bears, a river hippopotamus, giraffes and a train ride before we needed to leave to get back.
Ryan invited Papa to go to their Father Son Camp on Friday evening. Papa hitched up the camper trailer, dodged thunderstorms on the way to Walcott Metropark and set up camp with Ryan, Preston and Jacob. We had a good time walking in the leech infested creek, playing games, eating deep-fried everything: onions, potatoes, and Oreo cookies. We survived a cold night's sleep and got up in time to eat a “healthy” deep-fried breakfast of French toast sticks, hash brown potatoes, link sausages and fried egg whites. (Someone brought this deep-fryer ... )
So much for our week. We hope all is well with y'all.
Mom & Dad
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