Omaha to Sugar City Idaho

We are in Omaha right now with Baby Aaron Lewis Chappell. I have been taking the kids on morning adventures, bring a lunch, then we go to Rachael’s so grandma can take a short nap… Jenna too and then we go off to a park in the afternoon. Yesterday we did the children's museum and chuck-e-cheese. Aaron is a cry at night baby so Rachael is grateful for the kids being out of her hair.

The kids are great, fun, cute and enjoyable. I brought them to Kay’s because we were in the area. Jenna was touching everything. Buttons, screws etc. She turned the burners of the gas stove on and carried around little nails. Ethan and Sean were intrigued with the battery stuck between two boards in the deck. It was really stuck and their fingers couldn'’t do the job. I handed Ethan a screw driver, he figured out how to make it a lever and stepped on it several times really hard and got it out. He carried it around with him for a few hours, very proud of his accomplishment. Sean picked up several screws and screwed them in a cardboard box (fun activity for a 4 year old).

Today is Friday and I will take them to a tiny town village in the morning, tomorrow we will do the zoo, I will pick up Kay we will drive Caleb's car out to Idaho to Paul Lusk's funeral.

Kay's sister Leah and her husband Paul were taking a walk Tuesday night in the neighborhood. A car came really close to them in their lane and Leah was freaked out and got out of the way. Paul kept walking where he was and was struck by another car. The driver was an18 year old neighbor down the street. He was driving to soccer practice, he was grabbing something in the back seat and veered into the wrong lane, like we all have done, and hit Paul. Paul flew in the air and came down breaking his neck and was dead instantly. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Leah said she has no animosity towards him and forgives him. Paul would want it that way.

This has been a huge wake up call for all of us. Life is short. We all want to be more like Paul.... forgiving, kind, do gooder

The viewing will be on Sunday night and the funeral will be Monday at 1PM.

We leave in 3 weeks for our cruise and we just added Erica so Leah, Jana and Erika will come with us. Leah said she does not want to go but I said that is good timing for needing to do something fun. Good therapy. I told Leah we were making them go and I don’t care of Erica isn’t excited, she is going. Leah said Oh,Erica is excited.

This has been an emotional week. I know Paul is in a better place, I know he is waiting for his family to come and join him, I am sure he will be there for his family and will be able to see special moments in their life. They are the ones that need to work hard here on earth to see him again. I know we lived with our Heavenly Father before we came to this earth and I know we don't die but continue to live after death. Love Janae

My new house (just an organized one)

Janell is settling into school. We have a girl living with us in the basement so when I go visit Kay, Janell will have someone here with her.

I have hired another girl from Tajikistan (next to China, a break off from the Soviet Union) who is going to school at UVU, to help me organize. She is cleaning and organizing my house from the attic to the garage and is very good. There are things that haven't seen a cleaning rag in the 12 years we have been here. I love to take people to show off my storage rooms which were disasters before. I feel such a relief and freedom. She doesn't read English so some things are not where they should go and be, but everything is neat and tidy, I realized with her here, I do more and am inspired to organize.

With my shopping addiction (I just came out of the closet last year) I have things organized and I can see some of my follies. She speaks some foreign language and Russian and is Shite Muslim. It is Ramadan now so she is fasting. We have had a whole new world open up.

For Janell 's birthday in July, we gave her a Disney Cruise. We go next month and are getting excited about that. Janell will miss 4 days of school. She enjoys band and pep band at the football games.

The multiplying and replenishing commandment in the Bible is really cool when your offspring have offspring. Rachael in Omaha is having a baby boy this month and Frances in Salt Lake will have her twin girls next month. Rachael's boys have been calling the unborn baby 'Chester Jack-Jack' (the latter being the baby from the Disney movie The Incredibles) Rachael likes to keep names a secret until the baby is born so we will see if we get Chester Chappell or not.

I went to Omaha to visit Kay and the grand kids and had a great time at the zoo and Children's museum with them. Going to Omaha to visit is nice, I stay with Kay in his apartments and spend the days while he is working with Rachael and the kids. I am not in Rachael's hair and have a car to go where I want. We are anxious to have our Kay back, hopefully in the spring. Meanwhile I will see him at the end of the month and for our Disney Cruise.

Sept 5, 2008
It has been a while since I have written. Caleb is in the MTC and I continue to send him packages of cookies, a Costco birthday cake for his companion, and anything else he wants.... jump rope, lighter for fixing his ties....etc. We enjoy his letters. His companion's mother got on the same site as me, missionarymom.com so we have communicated. She said she appreciated having Caleb in the recovery room after her son's surgery (she is a nurse and got permission to come), Elder Singleton woke up speaking Korean! Caleb translated.

I am leaving town next week and have had to figure out how Janell is getting to all her after- school activities. We rode our bikes to her Tahitian dance class Wednesday and we took a practice run on the bus for her BYU dance class starting next week. Hey, she can go to Brazil by herself, she should be able to ride the bus! The only problem with the bus is she kept falling asleep. This is a good habit that I have encouraged when kids get in cars they sleep. I had to wake her up to see landmarks. I hope she makes it.

I will have her take the bus from now on so I don't have to wait 1 1/2 hours for her plus the drive which is another hour. I just need to get someone to take her to her flute lesson while I am gone and we are set.

School is going well for her. She didn't understand her math teacher who is part time and leaving for 2 months to have a baby. We moved her to an old football star from BYU, Eli Herring. She understands him and we are thrilled.

For Labor day holiday, Janell and I went to Logan to visit Grandma and Grandpa Cope with the Neilson family, we had a good time and on the way home stopped at Frances's to help her move bedrooms and set up the cribs for her twin girls due on October 14Th now. Her babies are now 3 1/2 pounds each and she looks great! She measures 40 weeks ( the measurement to delivery for 1 baby) now. Another woman her Dr. sees is due after Frances and is measuring 56 weeks!
Caleb's mission blog is a link I have to the right. http://calebander.blogspot.com/ Check it out.

houseboat

Dear Family,
We usually spend two different weeks a year at Lake Powell, sometimes three. It takes 5-6 hours to get there and we share a houseboat with 6 other families. This is the first time I have been without Caleb and we missed him. We wanted him to not feel bad so this letter is telling everyone the things that went wrong. Things always go wrong, we just laugh and still have fun.
Our air conditioner isn't working in our suburban so we left an hour earlier at 3:30AM to beat the heat. We thought we had some extra people coming and were going to have to put people in the back but someone decided to drive themselves and we had room to breath. We had one night of bad rain and wind. We saw it coming and decided to sleep inside the houseboat instead of on top so we hauled most of the sleeping pads inside and slept sardine style. Lauren, her husband Derrald, his brother Han and Lauren's pre-missionary (going to the Netherlands) friend Ashley decided to sleep on top in the storm and felt prepared. They attached a blue tarp to the 2 foot high wall around the houseboat and put a lawn chair in the middle. They started out fine but the rain came and went several times and each time it stopped they removed the tarp getting them wetter when they rolled it back on themselves. They ended the evening using the blue tarp as a blanket and just sleeping under the wet sheet. We heard the water come off the tarp several times when a huge bucket sized clumps of water came off the top occasionally. They finally decided it was time to awaken us at 6 AM so Lauren and Ashley came and climbed into our sardine bed with us. They were freezing, of course the girls were on the ends. They laughed and laughed about it and took VERY long naps that morning. We had a couple of nights of wind but we were able to sleep on top.

The ski boat broke down with a day and a half to go. We usually have "white trash" moments at Lake Powell and this was a classic. The boat was having problems and we slowly took the group of 15 across the lake to go on a hike. Two more were on the wave runner. Something snapped and we were no longer able to use the motor. Kay had to get on the wave runner and pull the boat made for 7 across the lake with 16 people on it. We looked like refugees. As we neared our camp we came by an island and a bunch of us decided we need to have a Cuban moment and jump off. Since the boat was being towed slowly, about 10 of us took floating noodles, jumped off and swam to the island pretending we were making a boarder run to get to America. We always seem to have fun.

The wave runner pulled the 5 man water weenie and water skiers. We played games. "scum" and "five crowns" card games were favorites along with a dice game that kept getting rowdy. I am sure people around us thought we were drinking (Mormons don't drink alcohol), we were very rowdy yelling and screaming and carrying on.

We had 4 copies of the popular book series Twilight. This was the 4Th book in a series that just came out. I couldn't stand them but others were avid readers. We missed Caleb but wanted him to know it wasn't the perfect trip. Love, Janae

Caleb goes into the Mission Training Center

We put Caleb into the MTC today. At 7:30 AM we met with the Stake President where he set him apart as a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints and gave him a priesthood blessing. This is where Caleb Anderson turned into Elder Anderson.

Lauren, Derrald, Janell, Kay and I went around the room and said nice things about him. We came home and Kay gave Caleb a fathers blessing, and we had our last lunch at Los Hermanos in Provo.

We put him into the MTC where he will spend the next 12 weeks learning Korean. He received his name tag and we went to a large auditorium, sang Called to Serve, listened to the MTC President and wife speak and watched the same video that was there for Christina and Jamon when I put them in. Caleb said his good-byes and was the first of the missionaries to break away from their families and go through the doors with the sign "missionaries only". I was teary but I know if he chose not to go, I would be upset and mad. This is a rite of passage.

Janell BD/ Caleb

July 26th, 2008

Dear Family,Janell turned 17! I had her go on a treasure hunt following clues to her present.

We are fast approaching Caleb's entrance into the MTC (Missionary Training
Center) July 30Th. He speaks in church July 27Th at 11AM (Krispy Kreme
church 1100 S. 400 W in Orem- treats at our house 2:30 and on) He will
stay at the MTC and learn Korean, then will fly to Korea in October. Caleb
has been from a long line of missionaries...seven generations. It is what is expected. Missionaries pay their own way on their mission and for some
families it is a great sacrifice.

When he was about 5, I was putting together a fun package for my sister
Christina who was serving a mission in Guatemala. I had Jellie bellies in
it and other fun things we didn't buy for ourselves. Caleb was watching
and thinking and said..... "Mom, if I go on a mission, will you send me
packages like this?" I said I would and right there and then the
decision was made "I'm going" he said as determined as ever.

I have seen many boys go on missions. They go out boys and come home men.
My dad was a mission president... Father to 100+ boys. Those missionaries love
my dad. He will ever be a part of his missionaries lives.

Missionaries are allowed to write home once a week and call home on Mothers
day and Christmas. I will have his letters on a blog.
missionsite.net/anderson
it just has his picture on it right now.
Missionaries have strict rules... no dating, Stay with your companion at all
times, Get up early, go to bed early, study, study, study. Teach the gospel
of Jesus Christ and teach English.

They will have many experiences. Some good and some bad, they are better
for them. They come home and start dating again. This time they get to
choose their companion. Returned missionaries make excellent husbands.

We went on vacation to Lake Powell last week. We have been to Lake Powell
several times a year for all of his life. He had his cousin Landon, cousin
Ryan and friend Travis with him.

My thoughts watching them were: Who in the world would think that teenage boys
could have so much fun without drugs or alcohol? These boys don't do
those things and never have. They are good boys. They had fun snorkeling,
riding in the paddle boat, diving with rocks to weigh themselves down, skiing,
shooting carp with a BB gun and just having fun. (See the picture below) It has been a pleasure to
be Caleb's mom. He has been obedient, kind and a peacemaker. Lately he
has even taken the roll of my fashion police when my shirt is tucked in.

His mission president is the famous Ken Jennings's father (record winner
of Jeopardy). President Jennings went on a mission to Korea in the 1950's
and it changed his life, he went to school after his mission and took his family
back to Korea for 14 years where Ken Jr. was raised with no TV. His dream was
to go back as a Sr Missionary and he was asked to do just that. I met him and
feel really good about him, being my son's dad for the next 2 years.
Janae

Janell/ Brazil/MIley Cirus

Janell is home from Brazil without a scratch on her! She had a fabulous time seeing another country up close and personal. When they announced the pilot at the beginning of the flight to Atlanta, Janell squealed "I know the pilot!" Today,I saw our friend, her pilot to Atlanta. who said he saw her walking down the aisle of his plane when she was de-planing, He looked for us and almost thought he was mistaken. She said hello and he hugged her. The guy behind her said "she DID know the pilot!" Kevyn pulled her aside and looked at her connecting flight, said she didn't have much time, gave her instructions and she went to go find her plane. He had to finish his business but went over to her international flight boarding gate to check on her. He saw she was second in line, said Hi again, took her phone number down, called us and left a message on my machine. What service.

In Rio she had a 7 hour layover and thank goodness for her Star-gate SG-I on DVD's she hardly noticed the time. Seeing she was American and alone, people would ask her if she needed help, she always answered "yes" even if it was to say "am I in the right place?"
I asked if she saw any blonde's and she replied "not any real ones" People stared at her because of her blond hair. Janell wanted to say "hi, what's your name" and shake their hands when people stared.

The City and State were: Aracaju,Sergipe, Brazil, the smallest state in Brazil.

Janell said the family she visited lived on the 12Th floor of an apartment building in a 2 story apartment with 4 bedrooms. Very elegant, with a private pool off their apartment. It was winter so there wasn't any water in it. Ana was the only one to speak English in the family but Janell managed to speak with everyone through Ana, who said her English greatly improved. Ana's English speaking friends enjoyed practicing with Janell too. They went shopping, to the beach with mom and grandma, to the grandpa's farm, had a birthday party for Janell (early) and played lots of games. Janell was staying up late and waking up at 11 AM their time. This means no jet-lag.

Ana is planning her 15Th birthday party and wowed Janell with the parties she has been to. Willie Wonka where everything was chocolate including the invitation. They spend more money on the 15Th birthday than the wedding.

Janell called me on her way home from Atlanta to tell me she never received a boarding pass for her last leg and her paper ticket for that leg was gone. The lady in Sao Paulo took it out. I copied her ticket, passport etc so she did have that. She just needed them to reissue her boarding pass and no problems.

Janell, her cousin Kallie and I went to the 4Th of July Mliey Cirus concert. It was a part of the "Stadium of Fire" Celebration in the BYU outdoor football stadium. I had a singe ticket and two tickets together. I took the single and managed to be around fun people. I took a stadium seat (greatest decision of the day) and it was cloudy so the show was pleasant. My favorite part was when a plane was announced overhead that dropped 6 G-I Joe dolls from way high up. These G-I Joe dolls magically turned into men, maneuvering their rectangular parachutes into flips etc and made it into the stadium magically, just when we thought they were not going to make it because of the wind. The Blue Man group performed and then Miley Cirus. During the Miley part my mind went back to when I was in High School.

Jayne (my best friend) and I went to a Beach Boys Concert in NYC- Was it Madison Square Garden? Her mother Helen was worried, wouldn't let Jayne go alone,and got a ticket also (smart mom). She escorted us to the concert and sat in her seat next to us reading a book. We were jumping up and down with the crowd, screaming, singing and yelling. Why didn't I think of bringing a book to this concert? This concert didn't have the marijuana smell- the Beach boys concert was my first time smelling marijuana.

The two couples, college age, behind me sat there, no clapping or response. I turned around and said "boys, I know you know these songs... sing with her" They laughed. I had never heard any of the songs either but the little 9 year olds around me sure did. Love, Janae