The "Not in Huntsville" Times - 2 Mar 2010

So I think the last time I sent out the "Huntsville Times" was back in November.  It's been a whirlwind since then... let's see... we moved back to Tucson, I changed jobs, we found out Little Clark #5 is a girl, we got chickens, Morgan got baptized, I got called into the bishopric of our ward, we survived the sceince projects, Lilly turned 10 and got a rabbit, we sold our house in Huntsville, and my left leg was amputated.  Just kidding about the amputation.

So now that you've read the abstract, here's the details:

We Moved Back to Tucson!  This is such old news by now, but for those of you that aren't in the Old Pueblo or Huntsville, hopefully this isn't the first you've heard of this... I'd feel terrible.  Why'd we move back?  Well for the past year and a half, I was working on a competitive contract at work... one that we didn't win.  We believed our company's team was going to be selected as the winning contractor and that the contract would be awarded to us.  However, there was some chance in it.  So back in September, I had the impression that I needed to have "Plan B" for work. After talking to some friends and researching potential opportunities, I took the impression and my alternatives to Melissa, and then to the Lord in prayer and fasting.  We felt it would be good to move back to Tucson.  This was without knowing whether the promising contract at work would be awarded to my company.  So I pursued a job back in Tucson and thankfully, was offered a great job working with people I know and trust.  I am blessed that people were willing to make efforts on my behalf to get me a job so that my family could be near our extended family again.  Then, on New Year's Eve, I found out that my company did NOT receive the contract, but that it was awarded to the other company.  Though this is NOT good for the company I work for, it is wonderful to see how the Lord guides us as He guided me, back in September.

Baby Clark is a Girl!  So before we left Huntsville, Melissa had her 20 week sonogram.  Dan and I got to tag along to see.  After checking out the overall health of the baby, we asked the sonogram tech if she could tell the gender of the baby and of course, she could.  It was very obvious that the baby is a girl.  The trouble is now coming up with a name that Melissa and I agree on.  We've read through baby name books, and have discussed names at length.  Usually those discussions end up with Melissa telling me, "I'd consider the names you suggest more sincerely if you suggested reasonable names."  I've wondered if we'll end up doing what my parents did for my sister Jo; from what I understand, my parents couldn't agree on a name so they named her Heather Jolene.  My Mom called her Heather, and my Dad called her Jolene.  In all seriousness, I'm sure Melissa and I will be able to come to a consensus on a name, it's just taking a lot more effort than it did with tht other kids.

We got chickens!  We had such a great experience with our birds in Huntsville, that I decided to move the coop to Arizona with us and get chickens here.  What I didn't realize was how difficult it would be to move the coop.  It's a good thing we had a set of oxen for movers, because the coop is solid oak and weighs 1,500 lbs! (at least that's what the movers said).  It was a real struggle to get it on the truck.  It took the two guys that were crazy strong.  They told me that the two of them can move a grand piano by themselves!  Yikes!  But it took four of us to get the coop into the diesel trailer.  Who knows how they got it out and into my back yard in Tucson?!  All I know is that it's here now and filled with 11 chickens.  We have 3 White Leghorns, 2 Buff Orpingtons, and 6 Rhode Island Reds.

Morgan got Baptized!  Yeah... it was pretty much the highlight of the first month here.  She was looking forward to becoming a baptized member of the Church of Jesus Christ for some time, and finally got to do it on February 6th!  It was great.  So many friends and family came to show their support for Morgan and her decision.  While at the baptism, I asked her to write down a few of her thoughts... this is what wrote, "I felt very warm with both events.  I also felt like I was doing the right thing.  I felt very good."

She was beaming - her smile after being baptized was HUGE.  There were definitely feelings of joy... a fruit of the Spirit.  During the baptismal service, Morgan snuggled up next to me - I knew she was happy.  I also felt impressed with the promptings of the Holy Ghost as we bestowed the Gift of the Holy Ghost to her.  I was impressed to bless her to be able to sucessfully endure the temptations that will come.  I also felt impresse that she would be a light, or an ensign, to her family, friends, and others she meets in the world  - and that they would feel the Spirit's influence through her carryinng the Spirit with her.  The Holy Spirit was definitely with us at the baptism!

We survived science projects!  Lillian and Morgan both completed science projects this past month.  Lillian's dealt with the frictional properties of different materials.  She released a small car down an inclined plane that was covered with different materials.  She discovered that the time is took for the car to make it down the incline plane was different (and the variability of times was different too!) when the plane was covered with the different materials.  She also leared about the "standard deviation" of a set of data as it relates to the mean or average.

Morgan's project dealt with the relationship of crystal growth and ambient temperature.  She grew some "seed crystals" and then exposed those seed crystals to different ambient temperatures to see which would grow the most rapidly.  She discovered that crystals grew the most rapidly in colder temperatures!

Lillian got a rabbit!  So we have a family rule that in order to get a pet, you have to:

1. Be no less than 10 years old

2. Complete a written report that details the plan for care and maintenance of the given pet.

3. Present the written report and an accompanying oral report to the family regarding the care and maintenance of the proposed pet.

The report has to cover a set of requirements that I drafted some time ago.  Some of the included topics include: time required to care for the animal, proposed schedule for care & feeding, initial and recurring costs of ownership, facilities or housing required, veterenary care, etc.  It was a lengthy set of requirements, but I wanted to make sure she knew what to expect when taking care of a living creature.  Last weekend, we built a hutch for her rabbit to live in.  I had to redesign it once, and even after that, I realized I didn't design it with thoughts of how to assemble it in mind.  It was a bear to put together, but it turned out okay.  Lilly helped construct it, so it was fun to work together on it.

Well, that's about it for now... oh yeah, we sold our house in Huntsville!  Woohoo!  Only one mortgage payment now!  Why am I excited about that???