October 18, 2009
Dear Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Benjamin, Abraham and Christian!
I have often said that I am generally known as “Christie’s husband” or “ [insert one of the following: Rosalynde’s, Gabrielle’s, Naomi’s, Brigham’s, Rachel’s, Benjamin’s, Abraham’s, Christian’s or Eva’s] dad”. It happened again this week. When I spoke with Blake Ostler earlier this week to finalize plans for the Miller Eccles Study Group, he said, “Now are you Rosalynde Welch’s father?” Yes, I quickly replied. He said he was impressed with the things that Rosalynde writes. I also received an email from Richard Bushman this week, the entire text of which I quote here: “Dear Russ: The Mormon Review received a book review from your daughter Rosalynde. She is a formidable talent. What is her situation now? Is she teaching somewhere? I like to keep up with rising talent in Mormondom. Richard.”
Eva looked beautiful this week. Please see the picture attached below. The Choral department presented its Fall concert on Wednesday at Lanterman Auditorium. The Women of the Chambers Singers came out in their new bright red dresses, as Eva made her debut. I forgot to take my camera to the concert, but I took her picture when she returned home. I thought the Chamber Singers performed very well and they seem to be developing a personality together. Eva really enjoyed it. The 7-8 grade girls really sounded delightful. the other groups have some work to do. The overall number of participants in the choral program has declined this year. I guess the Mrs. Rios effect is finally wearing off a bit. The Chamber Singers sang “This Marriage” by Eric Whitacre. By way of introduction, he referred to the lyrics printed in the program, he then said how much he loved his wife and was thankful for her, and thankful for his children. Then he said that each husband should take his wife’s hand during the song and enjoy it. The mischievous thought went through my mind that the anti- Proposition 8 people were about to stand up and demand equal time!
More Eva and Mama news. The Chamber Singers had a retreat this weekend starting Friday morning at 7:30 AM. Mama agreed to drive and chaperone the group. She took the truck, and she was the main carrier for all the luggage. Mama was one of two mothers who were weekend chaperones. The chamber singers stopped at a high school in East Bakersfield for a joint workshop and performance. I believe Eva enjoyed it. Then they made their way to a Christian camp east of Bakersfield in the high sierras not too far from Sequoia National Park. Eva said it was so beautiful. She said her favorite part was spending the evening with the other girls in a big bunk room just talking before they went to sleep. They returned about 1:30 PM this afternoon.
I am looking forward to hiking Zion’s Canyon this coming weekend. Unfortunately, Mama and Eva cannot come with me, since they were away this weekend and they do not feel like they can be away two weekends in a row.
Abraham, here is the sports report: the U.S. National Team drew with Costa Rica on Wednesday in the final Concaf World Cup Qualifier. With the draw, the U.S. ended up in first place in the region, after having qualified for the World Cup a week ago. The U.S. is not ranked by FIFA according to its arcane formula as No. 11 in the world. The Dodgers swept the Cardinals in the first round of the National League playoffs, then lost to the Phillies in game one of the League Championship series, before winning game two on Friday. They play later this evening.
In my pick-up soccer game on Saturday, we had over 40 players show up! So we split into three teams at the very beginning, and played 15 minute mini-games before the third team rotated in. we had a lot of fun. I had Diego play central defense, and I played left defender. We had a good time. Since Mama had my truck, I carefully put the goals in the trunk of the Hyundai and managed to transport them to FIS.
Friday evening, I came home from work about 9 pm. (I can’t match Jonathan’s hours.) Mama had left me a job to go to the church and clean up and put chairs up, etc., since Mama did not have the time before she left with the Chamber Singers. So I thought I would just run over there and take care of it. So I did. I ran over to the church, dripping sweat when I arrived. I put everything away, but I also had to bring some things home. So I ran home, then drove the car back to be able to bring home Mama’s teaching aids.
Saturday, I spent most of the day, after I had vacuumed, set up chairs, and got everything ready for the Miller Eccles Study Group, at a seminar for Scout Council leaders, particularly the workshops on finance. On the way to the Scout meeting in Pasadena, I stopped at the Planetary Society Headquarters – I fine old house in Pasadena. Since the Society will be selling the house and moving to less expensive quarters, it sponsored a sale of many items it had accumulated. So I stopped by, and the prices were great! So now some of you have Christmas gifts already.
Saturday evening, Blake Ostler spoke at the Miller Eccles Study Group. We had 34 attend, a fine showing. We had about 3 who were under 30, we had 3-4 from the 30-50 age group, and the rest were 50+. (I have a hard time judging – I still think I’m 32.) The group members were lively, peppering Blake with questions throughout, and accordingly, his presentation went beyond 9:00 PM. We finished his prepared portion about 9:30 PM. After the prayer, a number of people stayed to talk and discuss until about 10:45. When I finally put away the screen, my computer, projector, and chairs, they were finally ready to leave. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and learn from it. This is a case where the topic seemed to be the bigger draw than the “name”. In summary, a fine evening. If you are interested in some of the things that Blake has written, please go to this link:
http://www.blakeostler.com/books.html
The three volumes on his treatise on theology are out of print, but Blake said Greg Kofford is going to print another 5,000 copies. Go to:
http://www.koffordbooks.com/index.shtml
Order directly from Kofford books.
On Blake’s site, you will see his complete bibliography, most of which you can access or download.
That’s all for now.
Love Daddy
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