A Few Random Things . . .

Yesterday when I was writing about a few things that will make moving to Illinois not so scary, I neglected to write one of the main ones: THE CUTE STOWELL FAMILY! I love the Stowells. They just had their family pictures taken at the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site (yet another reason why the site cannot close--it's the perfect spot for taking pictures), and you have to admit that they're pretty much the cutest family you've ever seen. Greg and I will definitely be taking a trip to Charleston even before it's time for me to wrap up my school stuff because we want to visit the Stowells. I've missed them very much. When I first arrived in Illinois last fall to start school, I was having a MAJOR problem with separation anxiety--because not only was I missing my family, but I was missing my Natchez friends. I thought that there was no way I could be happy in Illinois, but from the very first moment I was in Charleston, the Stowells were there with their smiling faces to help me out. They let Mom and me stay at their house when we arrived because my apartment was not ready to move into yet. If it wasn't for the Stowells, I'm pretty sure that I would have hid myself in Mom's suitcase when she flew home :-) They continued to be so very kind to me during the arduous months of school that followed. I lucked out to have Jeff Stowell as a bishop and Institute teacher, Missy Stowell as a visiting teacher, and all of the Stowell kids as my little buddies. I am very excited to see them again!

Today at Camp Floyd something kind of funny happened. A couple from Chicago stopped in this afternoon, and we had a nice conversation. They are out here in Utah on an RV trip. Their next destination will be Zion National Park, so we talked for a few minutes about the Zion book I wrote. Then, they were very interested to hear that I will be moving to their state next month and wondered what kind of job I plan to get in Springfield. I said, "Well, I was hoping to work with the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, but as it stands right now, IHPA is still going to get canned at the end of November." They both nodded in understanding and agreement. They said, "We can't believe what our corrupt governor is doing to the state!" Then the wife said, "In fact, we signed an online petition about that very matter the other day." :-) I wanted to inquire further to find out if it was indeed THE online petition, but I realized that it would sound kind of funny if, after talking about the Zion book, I said: "Actually, I also wrote that petition." They would think that I was living in some kind of delusional dream world--because what would the chances be of their meeting the person who wrote the petition they signed in Illinois while they're out in the middle of nowhere in Utah on an RV trip? :-) But I'm pretty sure it must have been THE petition.

Here's a funny picture that one of my Natchez friends, Ranger Jessica (she let me live at her house during my first six months there), sent to me this evening. Her parents live in Houma, Louisiana, which is right where Hurricane Ike was predicted to make landfall a couple of weeks ago. Luckily Ike didn't hit Houma with as much fervor as people had feared he would, and Jessica's parents' house was not damaged at all. In her e-mail tonight she said, "Mom and Dad's mailbox was the only thing that was damaged during Ike. Dad fixed it. Picture attached." :-)

Tonight Dad gave a great FHE lesson about managing our finances in these troubled economic times. This is an especially good time to be mindful of these things, seeing as the stock market pretty much took a face plant today. Dad found a really great article from the Church, which you can see by clicking here. REMEMBER: don't let your spending be governed more by your yearning than by your earning!!!