Well here are some observations that I have made since I've been back in the states. There is a lot of stress in the air. You can actually feel it just going about your business. People are not relaxed and they are not friendly and helpful to one another. One of the first things that we noticed when we moved to St.Croix was how helpful everyone was, here people don't seem to want to get involved.

Here is an example: Late Tuesday night at the Salt Lake City Airport, while I was waiting for the shuttle from the hotel to pick me up a lady and her two kids were also waiting to be picked up. The kids were getting impatient and said to the mom, "where is he," Mom replied, "I'm not sure he has got to be here somewhere", so the kids said "call him", Mom then says, "I can't my phone is dead". I'm thinking that's easy, I take my phone out of my pocket and say to the lady, "here use mine", she was shocked. So she says to me, "are you sure?" "Yes I told her, I have unlimited coverage, so it's no big deal, just call". She did and couldn't get her party, but the thing that really took me back, was the fact that she was so shocked that I would offer her my phone.

Today as I was doing some Christmas shopping with Rachel, you could literally feel the tension in the stores. People were definitely stressed. We were in Kohls, and they must have been having some gigantic sale, because it looked like Black Friday, there were lines at the check outs and people everywhere. We didn't have any particular experiences with people but nobody is courteous and they really seem to be out for themselves.

Now the really sad part is that I find myself getting anxious and feeling stressed just being in that environment. I start to get impatient and really would rather not talk to people. Fortunately, I'm still at the point that I feel it happening and can "snap out of it", but I'm wondering how long does it take to become second nature. I don't like it.

I'm homesick, I want to be warm and I want to feel more comfortable out in a crowd. It's funny, because when we first moved to St. Croix, I didn't feel real comfortable. I wondered how long it would take before that would happen. I didn't really notice it happening but apparently it did, because I feel more comfortable there than here.

Rachel told me yesterday that people keep asking her when we're coming back, assuming that our time on St. Croix is real temporary or some kind of a lark. I explained to her, again, that we have no "exit date" and for all we know we might stay there forever. I wonder why people still haven't taken our move seriously.

Also, I thought that once I was back in Idaho, I would slip right back into old habits and maybe feel homesick for Idaho. Well that has not happened, I'm looking forward to spending Christmas with the girls and having our family together but there really is nothing here for me but my daughter and her daughters. Well that's all I know for tonight, I'm babysitting and I'm tired and would like to go to bed and read. Macy is down for the count but I have Rozalyn in her swing and I don't want to leave her alone in the living room so I guess I'll stay up and wait for Mom and Dad to return.

Been a little out of commission when it comes to posting. I'm borrowning time on Rachel's computer so it's not always convenient and I have been wiped out (last night I fell asleep at 8:30 while we were watching a movie). Finally caught up on sleep last night, did spend the day running around with Rachel doing some shopping and running some errands. Don and Rachel went to a movie tonight and Grandma got to stay home with the girls.

I have to admit poor Macy is having a rough time adjusting to her new baby sister. Probably she is having a rough time adjusting to not being the center of everybody's universe. I have seriously been trying to give her most of my attention, but tonight when Mom and Dad were gone I had to spend more time with Rozalyn and Macy was not impressed. I feel pretty bad for her, but at the same time she has got to adjust. It's rought to be four.

I guess it's time to recount the trip. I was so stressed but I ended up being pretty preoccupied during the flights that there wasn't much time for stress. We left St Croix a little late but not enough to make any difference. I sat next to a nice young woman and we chatted it up the whole trip. Visited with some nice folks in the San Juan airport so that time flew by. I got my seat changed to an aisle seat but it was at the very back of the place. We were ready for take off, right on time, when the pilot said we had to go back to the terminal due to some mechanical failure. They got the problem fixed and we were on our way only one hour later, but since I only had an hour between flights in Dallas, it didn't look too good for making my connection to Salt Lake city. I was flying American Airlines from St. Croix to Dallas and then switching to Delta, American had booked the entire itinerary so I'm not sure why they switched me to Delta, but they did. When we got to Dallas and hour late they were calling for all passengers who were going to Salt Lae City (they had a van on the tarmac to take the passengers to a plane) I started down the stairs lugging my carry on when someone noticed my itinerary sheet that said I was booked on a Delta flight and he says, "this is only for American Airline passengers, you can't go", I was then told that I had to go back to the gate to get rebooked. When I got to the gate they said, "why didn't you get on that shuttle?" so they proceed to tell me to got to the gate that this SLC plane was leaving from and said that they would call them and say that I was coming and to hold the plane, well it was way across the airport and I'm running up escalators onto a train and then down escalators to find that gate and Oh yeah, the plane had left. I went to the next gate and they clicked on their compute for about ten minutes and then said that they couldn't help me and I would have to go outside security to the ticketing desk. So I went down another escalator outside security to ticketing and started to get another run around. I firmly told the woman there what had happened and that I was not happy and could she please just take care of this. At first, she said that they could not do anything to get me out on that night but that they would gladly put me up in a hotel in Dallas. I told her I really did not want to stay in Dallas but would rather stay the night in SLC, they booked me stand by on a flight leaving in two hours for SLC. I was told that I had missed the last flight from SLC to Idaho Falls but that they would put me up in SLC. I was told to go to the American Ticketing desk in SLC and that they would get me a hotel voucher and all set up.

Anyway, as I'm waiting for the plane to SLC they announce that the flight is overbooked and say that they need three people to volunteer to take a flight in the morning. I'm sweating this out because I was told I was booked as a stand by. Anyway when we start boarding and when they scan my boarding pass it gets kicked out, so I'm thinking great when the woman at the gate says, "who is that, is it Byrem, here is her new oarding pass". when they lady hands it to me, before I can say anything she sayd, "your very welcome". I'm thinking what?, then I look at the boarding pass and I see that I'm now booked in First Class. That was nice. I was able to ride all they way to SLC with my feet up. They offered a nice meal, but I had eaten a sandwich at the airport, so I wasn't hungry. anyway, I was actually able to sleep some on this flight.

When I got to SLC, I went directly to ticketing to get my hotel voucher and guess what? there was nobody at ticketing, it was closed up tighter than a drum. I was about to scream, there wasn't anbody around except for the TSA people at the security checkpoint. I went over and asked one of the TSA officer if they knew how to contact anyone from AA. They asked what the problem was, when I told them they sent me to baggage and said their should be someone there, but if not to come back and they would find someone to help me. At baggage I found a women who told me that she coldnt help me, she suggested that I got to a hotel and save my receipt and deal with the airline later, I told her that wasn't happening, so she finally agreed to go to ticketing and see if she could squeeze a voucher out of the computer. After about a half an hour she did get a voucher and call the hotel to send a shuttle to pick me up. Got a good night sleep at a decent hotel and was back at the airport at 9 the next morning.

The flight to Idaho Falls didn'tleave until 11:20am and got into Idaho Falls at 12:15 but it was a nice flight and finally I was there. By the way, I never saw anyody getting a body scan and the only person I saw being patted down was me. In Salt Lake I had on a large baggy sweatshirt with no t shirt under it, when they asked if I could take it off, I told them no so they told me they had to call a female agent to pat me down. It was no big deal, she was just checking the sleeves and things like that for weapons. What is the big deal people? Do you want to be on the plane with the guy with exploading underwear? Not me.

Exhausted, but happy to see the girls.

I have to admit that I can't fault the airlines for the plane being late out of San Juan but the whole screw up in Dallas over whether or not I could get on that van to get that plane to SLC, really got me going. The First class seat did buy me off a little and the hotel room at absolutely no charge wasn't too bad but I sure was disappointed. The trip ended up taking 25 hours instead of 13.

Been here two and a half days and I'm freezing, the skies are cloudy, I had forgotten how dreary that made things. Went to the storage locker today to look for some things and that was overwhelming and depressing. Are we having fun yet?

Well at least I'm not stressed anymore, I'm just complaining like a baby. I think my biggest problem is that Im homesick. I'm loving having some time with Macy and enjoying getting to know Rozalyn and Rachel and I have been enjoying each others company but I miss the sunshine and warm weather. I miss Rick and I hate wearing shoes, my feet are well adjusted to flip flops.

Well I'm packed and ready to go tomorrow, I hope! I'm trying hard not to have an anxiety attack. I will be so much better once I get to Idaho. Then the worry and anxiety wills tart all over again until I get home. Uggh!

I finished up my Creative Writing Class today. I really enjoyed it. I got a 97% on the final exam, being a little stressed and in a hurry, I misread one of the questions or I'm pretty sure I would have had 100%. I hope I can pry Rachel's computer away from her for a little bit each day, so I can continue to write. Blog at least. I did find that writing really helps me think and destress.

Well that's about it for tonight. Want to spend some time with Rick, as we will be apart for two and a half weeks. We have spent time apart before but we have never been this far away from each other. I'll try not to think about that.

What a weekend. I have been a little stressed trying to get organized and ready for the trip, finish up my creative writing class and take the final and take in enough of St. Croix to last me for a month of cold and winter.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, as you can see by the pictures of our table set out on the Galleria (or deck). Elder and sister Babcock came for dinner and we had an absolutely delightful time. Way too much food but it was all good. Sister Babcock brought desert and they were wonderful. Yes I did say they, we had a pie per person. She made two pumpkin pies, one blueberry cream and a flan. The flan was my favorite, it was undoubtedly the best flan I have ever had. The pumpkin pies and the blueberry cream were excellent also, and I had my fill of all but, the flan was my favorite. It was really nice not to have to make everything for Thanksgiving. All I had to do was the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, yams and green bean casserole. It was the easiest Thanksgiving Dinner I have ever made.The Babcocks stayed into the evening and we played games and had a fun time.

Friday the day after Thanksgiving I slept in. I didn't get out of bed until 10:55AM. This was most unusual for me, but I guess I needed it. We did a few things around the house and then went to do our time in the phone store. Rick and I have been operating off one cell phone for the past six months.

Since we have been trying to save money and we are together so much anyway it has worked out, but now that I'm going to Idaho ahead of him we needed another phone. We decided to go with AT&T on this one and guess what, it actually works in our condo. This will be Rick's phone, because it's more important for work that he have the local number and a phone that has better coverage. So I will still have the (208) phone number and have to be "call forwarding" it into the land line at home, but hey it works. I did take us almost two hours in the AT&T store to get everything squared away. I hope we don't have to go back for a long time.

After that we went into Christiansted to Jump Up. Jump Up is a street carnival that they do four times a year here. It's a fun party with live music on many street corners and a lot of vendors selling various things and a whole lot of food. The Mocko Jumbies show up to ward off evil spirits and this time we even saw a fire dancer.

Saturday was Cruise Ship Day in Fredricksted, so we were off to visit with our friend Abraham. It was pleasant, now that things have cooled off so we went to Rainbow beach to Rhythmns for lunch. Local lobster casedillas, yummy.

So thankful for Sunday and a day of rest. After church I was going to lay down for a few minutes and fell asleep for two hours. It was wonderful. Still have a lot of preparations for the trip, but I don't want to spoil the peaceful feeling of the Sabbath. It will all wait until tomorrow.

Up early on this Thanksgiving morning,no reason other than I can't sleep. I did want to put the turkey back in the refrigerator. It was still a little frozen last night so we put it in a sink of cold water but I think five hours of that is enough.

It almost doesn't seem like Thanksgiving because I have so little to do. I did spend yesterday cleaning the house (my second least favorite think to do) I wanted it nice and clean for Thanksgiving but I also had to get it taken care of before I left for Idaho and I want to be able to really just kick back and enjoy the weekend, so now that's all done. Generally the night before Thanksgiving I have so much to do, stuffing to make, pies to bake, candy apples to make, rolls, bread, etc, etc, etc,. Because we're sharing the meal Sister Babcock is bring the pies, rolls, cranberries and some relish so all I did last night was cook the yams. Almost seems like I'm forgetting something. I don't need to put the bird into the oven until 11:30, so I have the morning to myself.

Thinking about all the things I have to be thankful for and they are overwhelming. This year I am particularly thankful for Rachel and her new daughter. I'm thankful that they are both healthy and safe in their home. I was really worried about her at the end of her pregnancy. It was hard to be so far away, as if I could have done anything if I was there but somehow it's comforting to be close. Anyway things seem to be good for them and I will be there next week.

I am thankful to be here on St. Croix. Some days it's hard and sometimes I miss my things, does that sound silly. I never thought of myself as that attached to my things but you really feel at home if you are surrounded by your things. for the most part, I am surrounded by someone else's things. Little by little the apartment reflects more of us, but..... I did hang an 8 x 10 picture of Macy over my desk the other day and it's nice to look up and see her. When I return from Idaho, I hope to have a whole bunch of pictures of her and Rozalyn. I will also be shipping some other things back here. Pretty soon we'll have so much I'll be complaining about that.

I'm going to go have some breakfast and go for a swim in a little while. Now that's something I don't think I have ever done on Thanksgiving before.

The trade winds are really crashing around here, last night it was so noisy I had a hard time sleeping. It has also gotten really cold at night. Rick told me today that I must be Cruzan for sure because today we went to K-Mart and bought a lightweight blanket. I have been cold that last two nights.

Talked to Rachel today. She was having a quiet morning at the hospital with Rozalyn, Don had gone to pick up Macy and check on their livestock. Apparently, SE Idaho is really getting hit by a winter storm, lots of snow and wind. Today all the schools were closed and most of the government offices. People were going home early from work and a lot of places (like the schools) have just shut down for the week. The doctor told Rachel that she could go home today, but then the nursing staff tried to discourage them from leaving this afternoon because the roads were so bad. She assured them that they had a big truck and would make it home ok. She just called to say they were safely snug in their home. I was relieved.

Rick and I went grocery shopping this evening to get the fixings for Thanksgiving and a few things for the weekend. The store was packed. Everyone was buying for the holiday and looking for unusual things. There was a real festive feeling as people were helping each other find things and talking about the Holiday. When we got home and heard about the storms in Idaho, Rick was saying that it would probably put a damper on some folks holiday, if they had not shopped early. It got me to thinking, that would be me, because I never did the final holiday shopping until Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of Thanksgiving week. We learned that the road to our old house on the ranch has been closed since yesterday, so we would have been snowed in. Another reason to be grateful to be on St. Croix.

I am hoping that these storms blow themselves out before next week, so I can fly back to Idaho with no trouble.

Contrary to what you see here, I am doing a lot of writing. I have been consumed with my Creative
Writing Class. In the class we are encouraged to write daily and one suggestion is to keep a Journal, since my blog is my Journal I really need to be better about writing here. Unfortunately I have started way to many of my entries exactly this way.

Yesterday was a truly exciting day. We have a new member of our family. Rozalyn (undecided middle name) Thorp, she came into this world at 2:23PM MST weighing 9 lbs and being 20 3/4 inches tall. both Mom and baby are doing well. I was able to talk to Rachel and although she sounded tired, she said that things were a whole lot easier this time. Her labor was induced and in total it was only about 5 hours.

Rozalyn was born in the middle of a great blizzard. They were actually snowed in when they tried to leave to go to the hospital and had to dig out. It was unclear as to whether or not Macy was going to get up to the hospital to see her new sister last nigh due to the snow. Rick says that according to the weather predictors they have another storm on the way and then an arctic blast of cold air. sound like winter in Idaho. Can't hardly wait to get on that plane next Tuesday and have my turn holding little Rozalyn. At least by that time everybody will be tired of holding her and I won't have to fight for a turn.

We are so grateful for this new little life coming to our family. We were pretty worried about both her and her Mom for awhile there, I hope the diabetes thing is completely over for Rachel. She did tell us yesterday that they checked the baby's blood sugar and it was fine. Babies are such a miracle and Grandchildren are a most welcome blessing.

Back to St. Croix. The wind has been blowing so hard here for the last few days that except for the palm trees, warm weather, ocean out our door and so on and so on and so on, it would seem like Idaho. The trade winds are really crashing, to the extent that the noise has woke me up at night. Oh well, at least it is nice and cool, we are even turning the ceiling fans off, especially at night.

As Thanksgiving approaches it's hard to get excited. We invited the Sr. Missionaries over for dinner and a young man who is currently a student at UVI, who is also preparing to go on a mission but it won't be the same without the kids. Rick and I both feel that we have so much to be thankful for, that we don't want to cast a pall over Thanksgiving just because it will be different. I think I will just have to approach it like everything else on St. Croix as just another part of the adventure. There will be Jump-UP (a big street festival) on Black Friday so that is something fun to look forward to. Hope to finish up a little Christmas Shopping there.

Still searching for more work. It looks like this job will go until at least the end of the year. Rick cleared it with his boss to be gone for the 10 days at Christmas and it was no problem. He did get an offer for a position with a Land Trust, but he turned it down, it was not nearly enough money and they wanted exclusive rights to his time (no side work for anyone else). It was a hard decision for Rick, but we know there is something better out there just have to keep looking, praying and having faith.