Well, That Was Unexpected ... (4-25-21)

Unexpected: adj -

By: Ryanne Leavitt

 I am not all that sure where to start, or what to even write about, because it feels like life always is the unexpected as we wait for the things we “plan” to happen.  

I suppose, though it is a story that I have rehearsed and related to as many as will hear, I could tell of how I finally became a mom.  I know, keep your groans or sighs inward, please...or keep the video on mute...it was probably the most eventful and anticipated thing that when it finally happened, came as a bit of a bit.

For four long years, we wanted children, and tried and saw a many doctors in that pursuit.  Some were kind and tried to help, while others were abrupt, rude and arrogant.  One even had the audacity to suggest that is we were unwilling to spend the many thousands to do invitro that we, did indeed not want, nor deserved to have children.  As you might guess, he wasn’t our doctor for long.

As those years passed slowly by, we started to look into adoption and foster care or foster to adopt.  We did a lot of praying, pleading really, with the Lord to bless us with the chance to be parents.  After several months and may hours spent on our knees and in the temple, we filled out the paper work and did all the necessary things to become adoptive parents.  We were young(ish) Aaron had a good job and we felt like the birth moms out there would see our profile and we would in no time, be blessed with a child.  

That isn’t how it worked, yeah, like not at all.  We were on that list, in that book, for one year, then two years.  I was beginning to believe that if i was just more righteous, more humble more, what ever, then the Lord would finally give me what i so desperately wanted.  I had quit my job not long into the waiting process so we would be accustom to one income.  That left me many many many hours left on my own to stew and brew and stress and worry.  One day, I was talking to my sister in law Liz about temples and temple work.  She said her mum had just been called to be a temple worker in the Denver temple.  I said now there is a calling i would aspire to!  She then informed me that I didn’t have to aspire to it, I could go and talk to my bishop about becoming one.  I was blown away, I could really do that?? So, figuring I needed to show the Lord that i was willing to give of my time to him, i did just that!  He asked me lots of questions and i gave him my honest answers...one was, what shift would you want to work if you can do this?  I thought long and hard on that questions then responded, which ever one requires me to get up the earliest.  Now, if you know me, and most of you do, and well, you know I AM NOT A MORNING PERSON.  Why, then do you ask, did I say such a mad thing?  Because, i wanted to show the lord I was willing to sacrifice something, and since i had lots of time on my hands, it needed to be more than that, I had to give something.  So I gave my early Wednesday mornings to him...I mean, 4:30 in the morning early morning!  

I loved every minute in the temple, learning the covenants we make and watching and helping others as they came to the house of the Lord brought joy to my heart.  I was the youngest worker on my shift by a few decades, but i grew to love each sister and brother I had the honor of serving with.

Time passed, nearly another full year of waiting on that list, waiting to be “picked for the team” when, right before our joint FHE with Clancy and Monica and Matt and Bernie, we got a call to come into the adoption agency to discuss a birth mother and child.  Can you say over the moon?  Now, we were, but also leery, this hadn’t been the first time our hopes had been raised, but still, ya can’t help but get excited. Aaron came home from work early and we headed in.  We were told by Brad, our social worker guy, that there was a woman in the tricities who was due on Friday, and that she didn’t want and could raise a child and the baby needed a home.  I am pretty sure i was bouncing in my chair with joy.  He then said that she had a drug and alcohol problem and that the child could be born with multiple issues.  Brad told us to go home and pray about it and let him know what we though.  Aaron and I went home and prayed and received a resounding YES, this is the one you have been waiting for!  Sometimes it takes days, weeks and years for answered prayers, this took years, and then minutes....if that makes sense!  We called him back not more than an hour after leaving the office!  Wow, that just happened!  We had until Friday (it was Monday) to get the nursery ready and to get prepared for a new life to come into our home!  

We did have FHE that day, it had been our turn to be in charge so we made it a celebratory dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant...Rancho Vallejo! Who can forget a day like that!

Well, Tuesday we started on the nursery...Megan and Zack helped. Wednesday I went on my scooter in the cold and yuck to do my final early morning shift at the temple. I was fully planning to put in a full day of prepping in the baby’s room when i returned home.  Only, ya see, part way through my shift, and in the middle of an endowment session, my supervisor came in and whispered that when i was done i needed to call my husband.  All sort of things were running through my head.  I wasn’t sure what was up.

After the session I quickly, yet reverently went to the office and called Aaron.  He said, “we have a son!  He was born at 6(ish) in the morning!  You need to come home so we can go get him!  I burst into tears then and there!  Well, that just happened!  After years of waiting, boom, he had come!  I rebundled  in my many layers and headed home, on my little scooter with tears streaming down my face.  I am still not sure how I didn’t die!

We called all our loved ones as we drove to the Pasco hospital. And just so ya know, back then your were charged for every minute you used....that may have been the largest phone bill I have ever seen, but it was worth every penny.

           And the rest is a story still in the making .  Though there are tough days, I am so grateful to be able to all him my boy!

Well that was unexpected ....

By:Carrie Keiser

In early March 2020, I got a call from my daughter in law, Megan, she said they wanted to come visit in a week or so. She also said they had been praying and talking and had come to the decision that they needed to move... to Glendive to be closer to Cody’s other grandparents. So they’d be bringing some of their stuff and looking for a job and a place to live. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I literally sat there with my mouth hanging open for several seconds perhaps a minute even. Ya see, the first time Megan came to visit and she came into our home, sat at the table and stated emphatically, “I want you to know, I will never live in Glendive!” 

So to have her call and say she was totally OK with moving from Washington state and her family there to come to the edge of the earth to live of her own accord was quite an unexpected turn of events.  It’s been just over a year and I think they are liking it here. We are sure loving having them here.  It’s not always sunshine and unicorns, but we are all learning and growing together. 

BY: Hosanna Tabor

Daren Declan Tabor was born on April 19th, 2017 at 10 lb 8.5 oz after a very protracted, painful delivery, to say the least. His size was definitely NOT expected. His big sisters Jemma and Leyla absolutely adored him, and he tolerated them. He was a sweet, snuggly baby who grew into a sweet, snuggly toddler. On May 11th, 2019, he met with a freak accident on a swing at the playground weeks before he became a big brother. He fell off said swing and broke his femur. A broken femur at just barely 2 years old was also definitely NOT expected. They put him in a spica cast, partially casting his other leg to keep his hips as immoble as possible. Also, not expected. The awkwardness of carrying around a 30ish pound boy who was not the least bit flexible for a week at 37 weeks pregnant sent his mother into an “early” (for her) labor. 

Declan’s little brother was born just one week after he broke his femur, the day his Auntie Vanessa arrived from North Carolina to help his poor supposed-to-be-pregnant-for-at-least-another-2-weeks mommy with taking care of him. Declan’s sisters racing in the Little Dipper Race up the Rattlesnake during the delivery where his mommy EXPECTED to be spending her day. Baby brother Kieran’s arrival 2 weeks before his due date was especially unexpected as Declan and his sisters were all born 1-7 days AFTER their due dates, making him born just over 2 weeks earlier than any of the rest of them. His mama pins all the credit for Kieran’s “early” arrival on having to lug Declan around her giant 37 week pregnant belly. Kieran apparently could not tolerate that situation for the expected 2-3 weeks of his stay in the womb. Declan loved his new brother, even if holding him was very awkward at first with his giant, hard, orange cast. After Declan’s leg healed, he remained a bit timid of jumping and heights for about a year. 

As Declan grew over the course of the next 2 years he started to get lots taller and developed an amusing sense of humor and mischief. He and his sisters and brother went on lots of adventures with their mommy and other family and friends. He gained back his confidence and developed into a fearless adventurer. By the time he was nearly 4 he was climbing and jumping off of EVERYTHING. 

The day before Declan turned 4 was a Sunday and it was his daddy’s weekend to work at the hospital. His mommy had bathed everyone the night before and just needed to get everyone fed and dressed for the short 5 minute-ish walk to church. Everything was going smoothly up until it was time for people to put their shoes on. Then, all heck broke loose as one girl after the other had to have a conniption about the lack of suitable, to their minds, shoe options. In the ensuing chaos, Declan wandered away from the back door into the other room. Upon getting everyone’s shoes satisfactory, Declan’s mommy picked up Kieran and walked into the garage, loaded him up and pushed it just outside the garage, all the while calling for Declan to get his little buttcheeks into the stroller. There was no answering call from Declan and no visible sign of him outside either. So his mommy went back in to look for him, still yelling his name over and over again. As she wandered to the front of the house, she discovered the front door was open a few inches...which could only mean one thing. At some point while she’d been fighting over shoes with the girls, Declan had gone outside. She hurried back out, yelling his name even louder, looking up and down and across the street. Declan was nowhere to be seen. Hurrying everyone along, she prayed he’d only walked the 2 blocks, around the corner to the church. Leyla and Jemma were sent ahead through the shortcut between the hospital parking lot and the church lawn to see if they could find him as Declan’s mommy and little brother walked the long way round with the stroller that can’t fit through the short cut. His mommy arrived at the door to the church just as the bishop’s wife came out to say, “Did you know your kids are inside?” His mommy asked, “All three of them?!” “Yes,” replied the bishop’s wife. The relief his mommy experienced was definitely a natural expectation upon receipt of such news. The little boy’s decision to take himself to church however was NOT expected. 

The day Declan turned 4 years old was a fairly average day. It was a Monday, Leyla was at school and Daddy was at work. The morning was spent doing homeschool with first Jemma and then Declan. Then, just after lunch, he put on a “Happy Birthday” headband and headed to the park with his mommy, brother, sister Jemma, and the Reese family, family friends. He played hard at the park, enjoying the swings, slides, teeter totters, and most especially the tire swing. It was a deceptively sunny day when they left the house, but it was actually rather chilly outside, around 30 degrees. When they arrived back at the house Jemma requested a warm beverage, and Declan’s mommy made some warm apple cider. Declan laid down on the bench to wait for his drink. When the cider was done and in a teacup, just about 3 minutes later, Declan’s mommy walked over to give him his cup, noting that he hadn’t made any noises for a while. She arrived at the table to discover he was passed out cold, in the middle of the afternoon, on his birthday, on the bench. He transferred easily from the bench to his bed without waking, and to say that this nap was unexpected would be an understatement. Apparently, turning 4 is exhausting! 

Declan’s goal in life, from the very beginning has apparently been to do the unexpected. I would venture to say that we have yet to see the end of his unexpected shenanigans. His mommy just prays for no more broken bones, please.

By:Brandon Flynn

Hard to think of any one thing in my life that was unexpected because it seems most of the seminal moments were just that way. 

I’ve lived my life the way early pilots flew their planes, by the seat of my pants.   I have always just kind of let life’s winds blow me wherever they chose to and not really thought much about the future.  I bounced around a lot after graduating and really just never thought I would get anywhere at all in life.  Figured I would just have fun, work a little, and then just whatever happens happens.  Got married and then had to find a real job one that could last so I joined the Air Force and hoped for the best.  Wasn’t long before I wasn’t married anymore and wasn’t in the Air Force anymore.  So there I was once again just sitting there waiting for life to hand me something good.   I remember having a conversation once with Mom about finding a job and she telling me that I wasn’t going to be starting at the top and that I would have to work my way up.   Hard facts for someone to digest when you are a teenager and inherently lazy but hey that was me.   Then when I moved to Ephrata after my discharge from the military I was right back at it again and working a lame job at Skaug’s Carpet One in Mose Lake.   I had absolutely no ambition at all and would have worked there for years if it was not for Mom dragging me to Wenatchee and making sure I got hired with the post office.  I may have lived my life in a directionless manner but it seems that at every stop there was Mom making a gentle course direction in my life.  So the one moment that really jumps to mind for me happened early in the year 2000.

I remember walking into the house in Ephrata and not really expecting anything and I saw a very pretty woman.  Thought to myself wow I would really like to get to know her but being me and having a hard time with that sort of thing I knew that it wasn’t going to happen.    Now 21 years down the road I find that not only did I get to know her but am still married to her and have 4 wonderful children and two grandchildren.  All as the result of the most fortuitous and unexpected occurrence in my life.  I honestly thought that I would be the lifelong bachelor after my first foray but that isnt what happened at all. 

 

THAT WAS UNEXPECTED

By: Myrna Flynn

In February 2004, we stopped to visit Megan at Fort Carson, in Fountain, CO, on our way to work camp again at Mesa Verde, as she was soon to be deployed to Iraq.Clancy had just returned home from his mission and we were flying him down to join us.

The plan was to take him to see the Southwest. Then for him to ride back to Ephrata with her so she would not have to drive alone. She was bringing her car to be there while she was in Iraq and to spend a day to visit family and friends, then fly back to Fort Carson.

When Clancy got there, he went with us to drop off our motorhome in the employee campground at Mesa Verde. We wanted to show him the sites to see in the southwest: cliff dwellings, etc. and then to the Grand Canyon to admire it. Turned out he was not as enthralled, as we were, with the places we showed him.

We had a time share at Sedona and had booked time there. While we were there, he and his dad went golfing. Clancy did enjoy the golfing. We asked him if he liked anything we had showed him. He said, "I would have rather gone to a Blue Grass Festival."

We returned to Fountain to drop him off. He and Megan left for WA and we headed back to Mesa Verde. We all made it to our destinations safely.

TWO weeks later, we called to tell him that we had gone to a Blue Grass Festival and we were sorry he missed it. We asked how things were going for him. Then he told us that he had met a girl at a Singles Ward affair in Wenatchee and had asked her to marry him!!!

THAT WAS UNEXPECTED!!!

THAT WAS UNEXPECTED

Daren Flynn

4/21/21

Life is made up of a lot of unexpected events, some insignificant and some that are life changing, even life threatening. A few of my unexpected events come to mind, including the day I was operating a D 6 Caterpillar tractor working summer fallow on one of Clarens Cole's fields. It was a beautiful day as I began the assigned work, but as the day progressed the sky began to cloud up and I could see that a storm was approaching.

There are places one should not be during a thunder storm, under a lone tree, swimming in a body of water, or in the middle of a summer fallow field on a tractor. I knew that, so I turned and headed directly across the field to where I had parked the pickup. Halfway there a bolt of lightening struck the radiator cap of that big yellow Cat. THAT WAS UNEXPECTED! I raised my feet off the metal floor and dared not touch the steering clutch levers the rest of the way to my transportation away from there.

Another experience on the same farm but a different location and another tractor. This time I was loading a small John Deere crawler into a flatbed farm truck, I was not alone this time. My boss, Clarence, had backed the truck up to a bank to use as a loading dock. The dirt bank sloped one way and the truck leaned the opposite direction. When I backed the tractor onto the metal truck bed, the tractor slid to and off the low side of the truck. THAT WAS UNEXPECTED! Deere landed up-side-down. I hit the ground running.

Now to my chosen profession, radio, for which I attended Radio Operational Engineering School in Burbank, CA and as a result obtained a First Class Radio Telephone Operators License. Because of the license I was designated as the chief engineer at both my first two radio stations, KORT in Grangeville, ID and KULE in Ephrata, WA.

It was either the first or second week on the job at KULE when the FCC officer showed up while I was on the air and told me that as the Chief Engineer, I was to accompany him as he performed an inspection at the station. THAT WAS UNEXPECTED! I was not a real engineer. I just had the license. I took him to the remote transmitter site up on Beasley Hill where he took measurements and completed the inspection without finding any infractions.

On our return to the downtown studio the FCC man said I should turn the transmitter on just to make sure we had left everything in the proper mode before returning. What did I do? I did just what I did every morning when beginning my work day. I picked up the phone and dialed the number of the transmitter site. He asked what I was doing and I explained that the transmitter crystal would not oscillate at the proper frequency until the telephone bell attached rang, then it begin oscillating at 730 kilocycles. I was ordered to get the bell off, fix it, and write a letter to him when it was done. So the next day I took the bell off, wrote the letter and the next day put the bell back.

Several years later I was no longer broadcasting but driving truck all across the country. I was just finishing loading lumber in Sault Ste. Marie, MI when I tripped and fell head-first off the load. THAT WAS UNEXPECTED! The next thing I knew I was waking up in a hospital in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and hearing a doctor asking if I knew where I was. I must have a hard head because I just broke my big toe and dislocated a thumb. Oh yes, I broke my glasses too and had to replace them before driving the truck.

I broke my glasses one other time during my time trucking. I was loading gasoline and diesel at the Exxon terminal in Missoula, MT. As I stood by the trailer I heard a loud pop as the sound of turning off and acetylene welder. I turned around to see what had made the noise and found that I had flames on the shoulder of my coat. THAT WAS UNEXPECTED! I immediately hit the ground and rolled, got up and ran a few steps before rolling again. I discovered I no longer had fire on my coat and at the same time the terminal manager came running up and asked what had happened. I replied that I didn't know but we needed to get out of there. About then multiple explosions began. There were no injuries to me or anyone else. My glasses were broken, the truck and both trailers were consumed by the flames and the newly built terminal was destroyed. The cause of the fire was never officially determined, or at least not admitted.

MAYBE YOU SHOULD ALWAYS EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED.

The Heart of the Matter

—Cary Holmquist.

My younger brother Chris was monitored until he was about nine or ten years old for a heart murmur which had been detected when he was an infant.  Every year he would go with one of my parents to a public health nurse and doctor who would listen for a while to his heart, make him run around around a bit and listen even longer.  They wanted to check on his progress, to see if the heart murmur decreased, was the same or got worse.  

By the time he was 10 years old, this annual routine ended and the health experts were satisfied that his heart was entirely normal and fully developed and that he would no longer need to be monitored and evidently his health records did not indicate any diagnosis or comment about it.  Today he still runs many miles each day and participates in long cross-country types of races. 

Shortly after my 50th birthday, I went to my doctor to get a high blood pressure medication changed.  After two years of taking it, the effect of it forcing my heart to beat slower no matter what I  was doing was leaving me winded whenever I was tried to do routine activity at work—such as pushing equipment—and hiking.   

The doctor got a funny look on his face when he listened to my heart through his stethoscope.  He recommended that I take an echo-cardiogram to determine what was going on—I am sure he knew all along, but he wanted confirmation.  

The echo was a strange experience, as the technician let me watch the image on the screen and I was watching my own heart in the mechanical act of beating from the inside—all that squeezing and valves moving and such as my heart moved my blood around.  

The experts read the echo and determined that I had a fairly large hole (size of a quarter or so) between the upper two chambers of my heart, which is called an atrial-septal defect.  It had been there from my birth.  In fact, everyone has this, but it soon heals as your heart develops quickly after birth so your blood circulates appropriately to bring fresh oxygenated blood from your lungs and sent out to the rest of your body—that is the job of the heart.  However, in my case, that hole never healed and I had lived that way for 50 years.   It was a fortunate catch, because it turns out that the usual symptom for this situation is a stroke anywhere between 40 and 50 years.   

This was quite unexpected.  I had been given passing physical examinations all through my life—no one had heard this heart murmur before, even the doctor who first detected it and he had listened to my heart many times and I had gone through a major surgery several years earlier.  

The cure for ASD is an even more major surgery, open-heart surgery in which a small layer of tissue was taken from the outside of my heart and then patched in over the hole and this graft would close the hole and my heart could proceed normally and avoid the stroke.  I was also promised that I would begin to feel at least 10 years younger in terms of stamina.

So, the condition that my younger brother was monitored for his first 10 years of life turned out unexpectedly to be my problem.  The treatment for it when I was a child was reduced activity and monitoring—open-heart surgery had not yet been invented and graft treatment for ASD followed a while later.  Nowadays it is pretty much a routine procedure—though still a major surgery—mostly for children in whom it is found.  Finding it is still the trick, as it evidently often goes unheard even after many years of routine physical examinations.  It was certainly something I never expected!