January news

Rose writing: Just wanted you to know that we are still here. We still enjoy living in Gilbert and we still like our home. This past weekend Ruth Warnick was blessed in her home ward by her father. We attended and then had a luncheon here at our house. The traveling Warnicks stayed with us over Sat night.

We do a lot of reading about political things. I do write to congressmen and senators from time to time. Is that enough? What could we, Rose and Bob, and you who are reading this do to help our country remain free from socialism? I like making decisions for myself. I do not want the government decided things for me. I am finding that there is sooooooo many things to read and so many opinions that contradict each other it almost makes me want to forget the "whole mess" but we can't! We need to get involved.

We have been eating peas, radishes and lettuce from our garden.
We had a lot of rain but thankfully no flooding in and around our house. We are thankful for our blessings.

Heavy Rain in Gilbert

We are almost through a record setting heavy rain sequence here in Gilbert. Many roads are closed due to high water. We expect this to all be past by Saturday morning.

the enlarged dukelow family

family picture

The original Dukelow family

New Year, New hopes, New Pictures

Rose writes: Life continues to treat us so good and we are so thankful for that. We had a nice Christmas season and had a lot of fun doing graham cracker houses on Christmas afternoon. It is becoming a yearly tradition. We make them and then send pictures to those who are interested to do the judging and they respond back through email or phone calls as to which one they like. If you want to be included in the judging next year, send us your email address.

Laura came for a visit on Dec 29 and stayed until Jan 6. That was a very pleasant visit. Gwyndolynn and her family came on Jan 1 and stayed until Jan 5. Thankfully Rebecca and Lydia are close by so it was fun to have us all together and we even managed some pictures which I will attach.

We really appreciate the warm weather here in Gilbert as we listen to the weather report around the country. We are sooooo glad that we are here.

Thanks to all who sent cards, family letters and pictures. We did not do that this year but I feel I still need to write a "year in review" or I just might forget what we did during 2009.

In April my(Rose's) siblings are coming for a reunion. I am really looking forward to that. Our main interest is genealogy, pictures and having a good time together.
If you have any information that will help us with genealogy, please send it along.

I have another email address, politicalconcerns@gmail.com, that I am using for political information and pass-alongs. If you want such things coming to you via email, just send me an email to the above address and I will include you on my list.
I feel it is important for me to learn more about my town, county, state and country and to study the lives of the people who will be running for office and are already in office. I want to vote based on what I know about them and what they believe instead of just recognizing their names.

I am really excited about the new format of The Ensign, our church magazine. There is definitely something for everyone. Our new Relief Society/Priesthood Manual is also new and different from what we have been used to. I think by reading all the scriptures and pondering what they mean to me in my life today I will grow closer to my Heavenly Father and He will provide strength to me that I can live more like Him. I am so thankful for my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I know I am a child of God and that I have great potential if I will just develop those talents and gifts that he has given to me.

I will add, hopefully, several other pictures in another post.

What did you do for freedom today?

Rose writes: When I saw this old poster I knew I needed to save it and to share it. I am a very blessed person. I enjoy so many modern conveniences. Life is good to me but I had to think, how long will it be this way. What am I doing to make America the great land that it has been for so many years?

What is going on in our lives.

Bob and I had a beautiful drive to Utah via Bryce Canyon. Driving back was also a very beautiful drive. I do have pics but have not downloaded them to my computer. I think Bob has put some on his facebook account.

My sister went into the hospital with blood clots in her lungs so that stopped her from getting her planned knee surgery. That,of course, was a big disappointment for her.

It was good seeing our daughters while in Utah. Gwyndolynn slipped on an uneven sidewalk and broke a bone on her foot which will require 6-8 weeks of wearing a "boot". She is busy studying law at the U. of U. Laura is really getting in the swing of things in her job.

Lydia is still"growing". Baby is due in Dec. Rebecca is busy, busy, busy with work and teaching. Life does go on. We do enjoy our lives. We are so blessed.

My immediate passion is working on family history work. I am trying to compile records of living cousins and their children on the Peine line. If you know of anything to share, please do.

My other goal is to get my food storage together. I must get serious about this NOW.

Health care is a big issue going on in the United States today. It is time that we all tried to give our bodies the right food, the right amount of sleep, less stress and more exercises (I don't like to exercise but my body likes it!)

While traveling we listed to some books on tapes. One was The Wisdom of crowds: why the many are smarter than the few and how collective wisdom shapes business, economies, societies and nations. We found this very informative.

The second book, we haven't finished it yet, is Intelligence matters :the CIA, the FBI, Saudi Arabia, and the failure of America's war on Terror. Wow! I almost wish we were not listening to it. It is so SAD that these agencies mess things up so terribly. The intelligence committee just does not want to cooperate and share information that would help America be prepared. Sadly, the government officials do not want to accept the facts- they have their own agenda.

As I (Rose) have been reading in the Book of Mormon I can see sooooo many similarities between their day and ours. I am so glad that we have this scripture. I know it is true and it is for our day to help us make better choices if we just would.