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.

More lessons and blessing from laying things down. Yesterday I was talking about the vehicle crisis and the things that we were not going to be able to do over the weekend. Rick was concerned about work on Monday and Tuesday, so he called the guy at the tire store to see if he knew anybody who sold used tires. We figured if we spent $50 for two used tires to get us around for 4 or 5 days we would be ahead of the game. This guy found us two used tires which he gave to Rick and even mounted them for free. Of course, we will be having our repairs done there and buying new tires from him but still this was a great blessing for us and a lesson is laying our problems at the feet of our Savior.

So...last night we went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We both enjoyed it immensely and even though there were many things left out we both felt that it was true to the book. It is definitely not a children's story anymore. It was very dark and sinister, the evil is more evil and good is having a very hard time overcoming. The stopping point for this first half of the last book was very dramatic and we are anxiously waiting for the conclusion.

Didn't get the cleaning done today that I had planned but Rick and I had a very pleasant day together and since we will be apart for about 3 weeks, it's nice to have these days together. Planning for Sunday and our church responsibilities and going to watch a move and have homemade pizza.

Friday, and it's a new day. Well of course, it's a new day, but for me a new day in more ways than one. I have really been struggling with a lot of things lately and wondering why everything has gotten so hard. In actuality nothing has gotten any harder, I had just given stopped having the faith that things would and could work out. This probably grew out of my having several crisis to deal with at once.

First, my ongoing dental crisis. I had a three tooth bridge put in about five years ago. At the time this dental work was done, I was not happy with it but instead of pursuing having the dentist correct the problem right then and there, I let it go, thinking I would deal with when I had to. Well here I am, five years later and 3500 miles away having to deal with it. This bridge that I paid over $2600 for never did fit right and so a piece broke off from one of the teeth right away, like within six months, then about eighteen months ago in fell out. My dentist at the time, cemented it back in and didn't say much. Somewhere in the first month here on St. Croix, it fell out again. I found a dentist to cement it back in again, which he did without saying much. That lasted about three months and I was back in the chair with the bridge in my hand. Now the dentist tells me that he can cement it back in but it won't last, because the front tooth under the bridge has broken off and it won't hold. So with that in mind, I paid him to cement it back in, in the hopes that it would last until after the first of the year and I could figure something out. Well this time it lasted about two weeks. I called the dentist back to find out my options and he wouldn't talk to me over the phone but said I had to come in for a consultation and x-rays. Went back paid him $50 for the consultation and $30 for two x-rays (they wanted to do a full mouth, but I told them let's just start with the area in question) to find out that I need a new bridge to the tune of $3600, plus I need the front tooth (in this bridge) pulled and a temporary crown made for the back tooth for the sum of $600, so this little dental crisis is scheduled to cost me around $4200 before it's over.

I made an appointment for the extraction and temporary crown and left the dentists office wondering how in the world I was going to come up with $600 for this first part of the ordeal. Spent two sleepless nights and twice as many days in gastro distress, when I realized that there was absolutely nothing I could do but worry and make myself sick, so I started praying. That was when I remembered something in the scriptures about Jesus saying that we should lay our burdens at his feet and he would make them light. I decided that this is what I needed to do, so I gave this burden over to Him. I did make several attempts to pick it up again, but I kept reminding myself to have more faith and LET IT GO. When we got paid, last week, I went through the budget and low and behold there was the $600 to pay for this. Now my first thought was of all the other things that I would rather spend that $600 on and then after having a little talk with myself, I was simply grateful that a way had been provided.

Yesterday was the appointed day and I had the deed done and paid in cash. Can't say that having a tooth pulled and a titanium post put in another one was a whole bunch of fun but it's over. I did get to eat ice cream and lay around and watch movies for the rest of the day without any guilt. That's gotta be worth something. I have to go back to the dentist on the 29th to see that everything is healing up nicely and then I can go to Idaho and relax. I will have to face the new bridge and the $3600 price tag when I come back, but somehow I know there will be a way.

Second, our ongoing vehicle crisis. Three weeks and three days ago we had to put new front tires on the "island car". That cost $200 that we had to rob "from Peter", but the really bad news was that when they went to do the alignment they found that the front end needed some work done, to the tune of $800. Rick decided and I agreed with him that we weren't going to put $800 into the little "island car" that we paid $2500 for, so we mereily drove off thinking well we'll probably lose some time off these tires but we'll face that bridge when we come to it. Well three weeks and three days later, there we were at the bridge abutment finding out that it had been washed away in our reoccurring deluge of car troubles. We took the car to someone we trusted (we didn't go to him for the new tires because he didn't have any to fit our car) for a second opinion and yes we need the front end work done, he was a little cheaper, he could do it for $750, but keep in mind that now we also need new tires again. We don't have much choice, so we charged the $400 they wanted to order the parts and are hoping they come in (ETA, Tuesday 11/23) before both tires go(well last evening one went, so now we have the "bicycle tire spare" on the car and are afraid to go anywhere, in fear that the other tire will blow out and we will be without a spare). Are you laughing yet? You should be, because somehow it seems that this can only happen to Rick and I. Today,, now that all the novacaine has finally left my brain and I'm thinking, I realize that this is another crisis that I can't handle, gotta lay it down and let someone else take over.

This started me thinking about all the things that I can't get done over the next four or five days because we really can't drive the car. In a effort to be a glass half full kind of person I turned that around and started thinking of all the things I could get done at home with no excuses to having to go somewhere. Things that I wanted to have done before I leave for Idaho, this is the way they can all get done with no guilt over thinking I should be somewhere else doing something else. Kind of like that eating ice cream all day thing because I had a tooth pulled. Anyway, maybe it won't be so bad. Rick has been able to arrange to get to work, so we'll still get paid and I do believe that somehow we'll be able to get where really need to be. See I'm getting better and better at this "laying my burdens down" thing.

We had planned to see the new Harry Potter movie this weekend and that will have to be put on hold, a little disappointing maybe but certainly not a crisis, and I was hoping to go to the beach on Saturday, but maybe we can walk to the one down below our place or maybe not, the beach will still be there next weekend. It's great to be able to see thing clearly now that all the fog has passed.