SKYPE, don't leave home without it!

SKYPE is an internet program that allows you to make free phone calls and free computer to computer calls anywhere in the world allowing you to see and hear your family any time you want.  Well not exactly any time you want.  If you happen to be on the otherside of the world from your family there is a 10 hour difference which means you seldom call when it is convenient to either you or your family.  None the less, it is the salvation of senior missionaries all over the world.  Where ever you are serving, if you can get an internet connection you can call home and see your family, share important events, be a part of homeevening, listen to the primary solo or the talk that someone is giving in church that day, see Michaela in her baptism dress before the big event and then talk to her after the baptism and hear how wonderful her day has been.  You might even get a play by play of the latest game right from the players own mouth. (Our favorite was "well we lost but I was awesome.")

SKYPE can make for interesting conversations and interesting views.  Like today we were "SKYPEing" Rick and Rain Robertson.  It was 8:00 PM for us and 5:30 AM for them in New Zealand.  We had a great conversation with Rick who was up and dressed with his missionary tag on but Rain was in the shower.  Well, we are looking right into their apartment and Rick finally said, "Gosh, I hope Rain doesn't come out of that shower with just a towel on."  We decided it was time to sign off before we caught Rain  . . ."

Got to love SKYPE. 

SKYPE also has a great feature in that you can take pictures of those you are speaking to, usually unknown to them.



General Conference, everyone stayed in their pjs this morning.






  They just finished watching Pay-per -View "Fight Night. Do you think they got a little worked up? (can't believe our kids pay to watch fighting.)

Sometimes you get the whole family





Something seems to be pretty funny but usually we don't know what it is.

Sammy has become a budding artist and we get to view all her creations.  She is growing up and someone else is growing also.  We have Lincoln's height on a chart at home so we can see how much he grows while we are gone but no one has to tell us he is piling on the inches.  We can see that for ourselves.


We spent 6 months looking at the top of grandma's head until Keith finally went and got her a new webcam and now we can see her - we usually catch her in her PJs - caught her in a good laugh this time



 Michaela got new glasses and she is looking mighty fine.  She said that she now could see real good and only had to take them off if she wanted to do her famous backflip which means they are probably off as much as they are on.  She is our acrobat.

Oops!  sometimes the video has it's problems.  Some times the Ormsby's look like they are swimming under water but that doesn't obscure the bed head look we get as they usually SKYPE Saturday morning so they can brag to us about the wonderful Saturday breakfast they are going to eat with fresh berries and ice cold, real milk.

Lala likes to talk - likes to tell everyone else when they can talk. Eric shows off his latest experiments (he is in to science) or gives us a close up of his lizard or frog or painted turtle. We even get to see the gaping mouth from where the latest tooth has fallen out.

Some things never seem to change.  Grandkids are pretty funny or at least they think they are pretty funny.

What?



Something is wrong with those Levers.






 Weird?  Crazy?  What ever they are always good for a belly laugh and usually at least two or three.  Makes our day when the Levers bring it on.


 Hyrum must have pulled his tooth, or won his soccer game, or just thinks he is cool.



Em can get a little animated at times.



 Jaron's just got into Cub Scouts. He has his uniform and his Wolf book. 


He already has the Cub Scout motto down perfectly.

Well, that's our family.  Got to love SKYPE.  It is what keeps us connected.  Don't leave home without it.

Hanging Memories on the Clothesline

We have great accommodations here in Kampala. We are on the fourth floor of an apartment building of 8 apartments. We have 2 bedrooms and 2 baths. We don’t have air conditioning but we have lots of windows and can open our windows and doors for great cross ventilation. We have a stove that has 2 electric eyes and two gas (propane) burners so we are good even if the power goes out. We have a little washer but no dryer.

Now most people here wash their clothes in a bucket or sink with a great powdered soap called OMO. It is like Oxyclean and works well except on the red mud stains which truly are stains as no matter what you do the mud stains are with you for life.

So, every few days I throw a batch in our little washer and then hang the clothes on a line stretched across our patio. Today when I was hanging out the wash I had a great flashback to my childhood when I use to hang the clothes on the line with my mom. We didn’t have a modern washer or dryer back then but we did have a wringer washer; and I was scared to death I was going to catch my arm in those evil wringers.

But. . back to my nostalgic experience. There I was hanging out the wash and thinking of my mom and all those lessons learned while hanging out the wash.

I remembered having to stand on a wooden box to be able to reach the line, the wooden clothes pins that had to be kept in a bag so they wouldn’t get dirty, the old diaper used to wipe the line off before you hung the clothes, and mom always hoping for a good breeze to snap those sheets and towels in the wind which would assure they were soft and smelled clean and fresh.

(There's a storm rolling into Kampala)

Oh, and then the mad dash out to grab the wash off the line when you saw the storm clouds gathering.

All these ancient memories came to mind as I hung my little one batch wash out this morning. Along with the lessons learned on the proper way to do the wash I started realizing other lessons taught during those times with my mom.

Choose strong anchors for your life:  Hang those clothes by the seams so that they are secure and iit won't stretch the fabric out.

Take pride in your daily work: “I love to have a clean wash with something for everyone to wear – aren’t we blessed Marilyn to have such a beautiful day to do the wash.”

Be prepared: While looking over the white picket fence into the new garden just starting to show the tiny shoots of peas, beans and carrots pushing up through the soil, “Look Marilyn the garden is starting to grow. It won’t be long and we will be canning beans and that will be a good thing because last year’s beans are all gone.”

Patience has its own reward: “Ah, look how pretty the tulips are. Let’s take some in to enjoy in the house. Aren’t we glad we planted those bulbs last fall.

Have joy in being a woman:   Way before woman’s lib mom always looked at her role of mother and wife as a calling, a good place to be, a worthwhile venture.  The wash was a thing to take pride in - a job done well - a service to the family (granted we never appreciated it as we should have).

Just a few of those teaching moments grasped while doing the wash.  Such sweet memories - so many lessons learned when I didn’t even know I was being taught.   Think those day to day chores with your children are just a part of a mother's duties?

Thanks mom for teaching me how to hang clothes on the line.