11/4/16 VCRs and Battle of the Books

     This morning Gram requested that we spend some time working on her recording set up. I used to joke that if a system wasn't complicated I'd have to ask my Mom for two forms of ID. Well, no need for ID today. This system conforms to the type of complicated my Mom likes. There are two DVD player recorders plus a DVR and three remote controls. If the settings on one aren't right you won't get the results you want. With Heaven's help we stumbled on the setting that allows you to record 6 hours on one DVD. Somehow it had gotten changed to HQ mode that only allows one hour. We wrote down some of what we learned. Hopefully now Gram is ready to record to her heart's content. 

     Heidi's project was helping Papa evaluate their broken oven. Pretty quickly it became apparent that this would not be a simple fix. A few calls revealed that a replacement would cost north of $500 and would have to be special ordered. Papa felt inspired that he and Heidi should take a crew to go make the order. Heidi had heard about some sales on appliances going on but after two stops they hadn't found a good deal. That is where Heavenly Father stepped in. As they were about to leave the second store a gentleman caught up to Heidi. He had overheard that they needed a 24 inch range. By now we realized that these are not that easy to find. He and his wife had decided to upgrade their oven and he wondered if we would be interested in his gently used one. The price was right and they live in the same RV park as Gram and Papa. All these "coincidences" are too many to ignore Heavenly Father's hand. Papa called this a Windows of Heaven moment. I agree. 

     Several weeks ago Rebecca was invited to participate in a competition called Battle of the Books. This is right in her wheelhouse. She and two friends would read four books and then compete with other teams to answer questions about them. To call Rebecca a voracious reader would be an understatement. She would rather read than eat and would if we let her. The impressive thing is that she also retains what she reads. 

     Today her skills were put to the test. There were 9 teams and each team was asked 10 questions, in turn, about the 4 books. Rebecca's team was one of only a handful to answer all of the questions correctly. Rebecca reports that she felt very nervous until she heard her team's question and then relieved because she knew the answers. Heidi and I felt lucky we could both be there to watch. David kindly watched Peter and Joseph. The little boys have yet to perfect their library voices. Today was round one of four. There are two more rounds at the school and then top performing teams go to a multi school final round. Rebecca is already part way through one of the 4 books for the second round. It is called "The Cay". We are proud of Rebecca's hard work and the positive results she achieved.