Rasmania 101: The chickens are laying!

Our hens started laying eggs this week. So far it's only the "Easter Eggers" that are laying. The white eggs in the picture are store bought, the designs on the colored eggs are dirt. Roy and Caitlyn ate them for breakfast the next morning.

We can almost say our home is finished. The carpet layer came on Wednesday and finished the stairs with a carpet runner. It looks really nice. However, our tub won't be installed until tomorrow. Then-I think we'll be able to say it's done- On to the yard...

Hyeji and Doyeon were the lucky kiddos to go with Roy and I to the play Mary Poppins. As we were walking up to the building, Hyeji informed Doyeon, "This is where I saw the real Belle." (We'd previously taken her to Beauty and the Beast with Gunnar). A child has to be 5 to be permitted into the theater. I think I know why :) Doyeon, at 5 was thoroughly excited and entranced--and she had lots of questions. She doesn't quite understand "the whisper" however, because when she knew I wanted her to be quiet, she'd put her hand to the side of her mouth to indicate she wanted to whisper to me, but the volume of her questions didn't really ever change.
At the end of the play, I asked Doyeon how she liked the play. Her response: "It was wonderful, can we go to it again." I asked if Hyeji had enjoyed the play. Roy said, "She says she's tired." Some of the actors were in the foyer as usual at the end of these plays, there was Jane Banks and Mary Poppins, but who did Doyeon want to see? The statue. (If you've seen the play Mary Poppins, you know that the statue comes to life in the park). She was very interested in the statue.

Thursday afternoon Roy had a doctor's appointment. He needed a biopsy to check his prostrate. His PSA levels are a little high. We aren't too worried, yet, but he won't know the results for over a week.

Last week when I wrote the newsletter, I was pretty exhausted, so even though it was my mother's birthday, I didn't take the time to write anything about her. My brother did, though. His letter was complete with pictures that didn't copy when I tried. Here is what Philip said about my mother.
"It is my mother’s birthday, so I thought I would share something about her. The problem is I don’t know if I’m just repeating what I’ve written before. Forgive me if that’s the case. Because mom never talked about herself, I never really felt the heartache she experienced when her first husband, Gene Bird, passed away approximately six months after their wedding. She had starting dating him during her senior year of high school, but they went to different colleges (he BYU – she U of U). My mom had either graduated or was close to graduation from college when they married. Ila was so quiet that I didn’t know she had been married before she married my dad until I was nine and my cousin C. A. Salisbury told me. After mom died, someone – I think one of my sisters – found a package covered with brown wrapping paper in the fruit room of the Sherwood Drive home. It contained memorabilia from that time, including mementos from their wedding and Gene’s military life. I was amazed that it had not earlier been discovered. There was a diploma memorializing completion of the course of instruction of the Army Air Forces Advanced Flying School, newspaper articles about earning his “wings” and promotions in the Armed Services. There was also a Western Union telegram addressed to his father. WUX WASHINGTON DC. 558PM 5 DEC. JOHN E. BIRD SPRINGVILLE UTAH. THE SECRETARY OF WAR DESIRES THAT I TENDER HIS DEEP SYMPATHY TO YOU IN THE LOSS OF YOUR SON SECOND LIEUTENANT GENE E BIRD REPORT RECEIVED STATES THAT HE DIED ON TWENTY NINE NOVEMBER IN SOOKERATING ASIATIC AREA. LETTER FOLLOWS ULIO. THE ADJUTANT GENERAL . My mom received a letter just before her birthday, on February 20, 1944, from the commanding officer, Brigadier General Earl S. Hoag, U.S. Army, extending his sympathy but noting that “reasons of security prevent me from giving you any details at this time….Your husband’s personal effects will be sent to you eventually through the Government agencies handling these matters.” They were married on May 7, 1943, and he shipped off for Florida shortly thereafter and left for the war on November 7, 1943. A newspaper article dated December 9, 1943 says that his wife “accompanied him during most of his advanced training and was at Miami, Fla., until he left for oversees duty.” He died three weeks after leaving the states in a crash landing of a C-46 cargo plane he was not flying, but was an observer. Interestingly, he was born July 31, 1921. My father was born July 30, 1921. Mom wrote a poem in the form of a letter to Gene. It is undated. To Gene: "You cannot tell what happiness or sorrow lies in wait behind the screen of hours yet to be. Nobody knows. We can’t anticipate tomorrow’s sun, nor its apostrophe. There was no way for us to look ahead and see that you so quickly were to go; there are so many things you would have said, so many things you’d like to have me know. How could we guess that you’d so soon be gone, without a chance to even say goodbye, that all the lovely things we had planned on so confidently were so soon to die. And you who love to help so very much would never leave me thus. I know you long to give to me some reassuring touch to show the way; to teach me to be strong. I ask to understand the why and how, so, knowing as I do, your thoughts so well, the hardest part for you must be that now you know the answers for me and you cannot tell." Years later (1989), she wrote a brief biographical sketch, including the following. “His death was a complete shock. I had always believed he would return. My father and Aunt Jen were wonderful in helping me adjust to this tragedy. They encouraged me to return to teaching immediately. I was advised to keep busy and occupied, not to question why this had to happen. It took me some time to accept his death. One night was especially hard and I prayed for guidance and inspiration. Gene came to me in a dream and told me everything was great for him and I must adjust and go on with my life. I was hindering him from doing the things he needed to accomplish. I accepted his death after this personal revelation and began to make plans for my future.” My mother would have been 96 today if she were still in this mortal realm."

I really like that Phil included that poem that my mother wrote. I'd not seen that before. She was a beautiful writer, but she didn't write very much. Her mother, as you all know, passed away when my own mother was 18 months old. My mom always said that she wished her mother would have written more, so she could have known her better. I guess my mom didn't really take that lesson to heart--she didn't write very much; or maybe she was just too busy caring for her many children and her husband. If I could say just one thing about my mom it would be that she was selfless. She was always serving her family and loved ones. Even when she had Alzheimer's disease, she didn't stop giving--it was in her very nature. She had three recipes she loved: One was a shrimp/crab cocktail in the form of a drink, one was the minestrone soup recipe that I make often still, and the other was broccoli salad (the one with raisins and pine nuts or sunflower seeds). I have to admit, she made that one so often it kind of ruined it for me--especially because she always wanted to give it to us to take home. We never knew if it had been in the fridge or in the garage to chill (too warm in the garage in the summer), and we didn't know how long it had been made. The same went for the other two recipes, but I still love those. She would go with Nan to Costco and get two watermelons, one for Nan and one for her. Nan had a hard time because my dad would have sent her with explicit instructions not to bring home watermelons.
Dave also wrote about my mother in his letter last week:
"My mother was born on this day in 1921. She left us a legacy of love and caring and is most likely the reason my brother's and sister's still get along today (I'm sure our Dad had something to do with it as well). She showed us unconditional love and acceptance. I know this because I tried her patience to the maximum. She always wanted her children to succeed and gave us many opportunities to improve. She put me in tap dance, piano, clarinet and voice lessons. With these opportunities I found I couldn't dance, my piano teacher told my mother I had no aptitude to play the piano, and my clarinet teacher kept grabbing my horn and showing me how to play it, which grossed me out since he was a smoker. Mother admonished me to be active, cautioned me against laziness, and encouraged me in the things I was interested in (which in high school, was drama). It took me 49 years to get past the notion I didn't have the aptitude to play the piano. Playing the hymns of the Church has given me many hours of satisfaction and peace of mind. Mother also expressed her testimony of the truthfulness of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I asked her why she didn't do more with her master's degree in business, She told me she just wanted to be known as one who loved her family. All mother's children and children-in-law, knew they were loved. This love extended to the grandchildren as well."
Also, just so you all know, Dave's granddaughter Natasha had her baby last week. Dave writes: Evelyn Ila Hodges, born On February 25, 2017, at 9:17 a.m., 19 inches, 7 lbs 4 oz, to Stefan Hodges and Natasha Hall. Evelyn started life with breathing problems. She was flown by helicopter from the Toole Hospital to Primary Children's Hospital. Her lungs are trying to revert back to pre-birth condition, which means her lungs are collapsing. Her heart is working extra hard to make up for the stress she is under as doctors treat her with medication. The medication is to relax her heart. Today [last Sunday] she was diagnosed with pneumonia and will be in NICU for the next seven days.
Conrad Moore (Liz' little boy) has been admitted to the hospital a couple of times with Croup in the past couple of weeks as well.

Today I asked for an update. Conrad is home from the hospital, but Evelyn is not. She is improving, though. Keep her in your prayers.

On a happier note, Christine let me know that she is going to have another granddaughter (Nathanael and Whitney's 2nd).

I saw almost all of my grandchildren this week. Adrienne and her kids are notably absent from the pictures below because I didn't see her. I didn't see Elise or the boys, either, but she sent pictures.

Effie and Dojin (Sara sent me this pic) 5 months makes a big
difference at this age :)

Max and Mav at the zoo.

This picture was sent to me as well. I guess Friday
Ori went to play with Dan's girls. Then, after dropping off to my
house for an hour or so, they all left and went to Korean for dinner. (below).

Roy and I drove up to Logan on Saturday to visit our newest grandchild, Greta, and to visit Ruby, an oh, okay--Crista and Matt, too. We took them to lunch at Herm's. It was delicious, as usual. Ruby loved the big pancake we all shared.