May 05 Greenleaf Post

Dear Family and Friends,

April was essentially one Soccer game after another - one big black and white blur! We have been suffering from too little moisture so April decided that it needed to offer extra showers and it did. We rarely had a game that wasn't cold, wet, windy and miserable. Jarom and Hannah have one more week then we are finished with this particular season. It has been fun for them and we have decided that Soccer is our preferred sport at this season vs. baseball. The games are shorter, livelier and the kids get more action.

Lareen is the new Relief Society President (a church women's organization) - so she is very busy with that. It was sure nice when she was the music director and Nursery leader - but we knew that wouldn't last long. It was a nice break. She has such great leadership qualities that she ends up in administrative roles often. This particular role will really stretch her growing skills at delegating. Her area of responsibility has a lot of need - single Moms, elderly, plenty of financial struggles and lots of apartments with people moving in and out regularly. We are reminded of how truly blessed we are as Lareen serves those who are less fortunate.

On the home front the Packer house is getting healthier. The struggles with the flu, pneumonia and other issues is mostly over - whew. We are grateful that Lareen is feeling much better as well. It would be a real struggle for her in her new position if she wasn't doing much better. We have been blessed in this regard.

On a sad note - we lost a baby horse this past week. The mare that mothered our last year's filly, Dot, had another little black and white paint this year. It wasn't very strong - so we were concerned about it. It was able to get up and around and it was able to nurse, so we had hope. Well, on it's 3rd day of life it slipped into the deep mud by the stream while it's mother was drinking and when the kids got home from school they found her - very lethargic. Lareen was able to get her out (a testament to her strength). She called me and I hustled home from work and we rubbed her down, warmed her up, milked the mare and fed the baby with a syringe but after a few hours she gave up the ghost. It was a sad time. We are fortunate that we had her only a couple of days so the kids hadn't named her yet and hadn't gotten as attached - but it's still hard.

On a positive note - our 2 year old (horse) named Misty is doing really well in her training. I've been working with her and riding her on Saturday's for an hour or so and she is progressing nicely. It has been interesting to learn how to train and "break" a horse but she is doing really well. Yesterday was a big breakthrough and I was able to take her down the trail by the RR tracks quite a way and she did OK. Just about lost me when some Quail startled her and took off about 3 feet from us. Wow, I'm fortunate I stayed on her for that little bit of excitement. Anyway, it has been a fun project.

Another very positive note - Jarom took 1st place with his Pine Wood Derby car. It's amazing. The first 2 years we really took time to perfect the cars and ensure that the nails and wheels were sanded and had little to no friction. We aligned the wheels just right, blanced the weight. Tried the weights toward the front and later the back. The first year he only won 1 or 2 races the whole night. The second year he was respectable but still nowhere near winning. This year we ran out of time and threw the car together at the last minute and he won! Anyway, I'm guessing that my lack of skills have been the problem and this year I didn't have enough time to really mess up the car.

We hope that all of you are doing well and happy.

Brian & Lareen Packer Family