Rebecca–Class of ‘11

I’ve been through four major graduations myself (high school, bachelor's degree, master’s degree and law degree), I’ve been to lots of other graduations (Michelle’s Bachelor’s degree, Brenton’s, Jameson’s, Jessica's and Rebecca’s high school at least and probably a few others).  I’ve even missed some graduations (Brenton’s Jameson’s and Jessica’s Bachelor’s degree).  Each one was amazing.  Each one a time to celebrate and congratulate. 

After last night, we had a great time celebrating and congratulating Rebecca, our newest graduate.  Her graduating class was 85 people.  Because of the small class size, they were able to take more effort to recognize each of the graduating students.  But I’m getting head of myself.  Here’s the evening from the start.

As we walked onto the school grounds, they had two elephants to greet everyone.  The riders threw flower petals on people’s heads as they passed.  This elephant is named Morning.

You then passed through a tunnel decorated with lots of small lights.

A ‘band’ was playing.  There was this guy on the water bowels.  Played with chop sticks btw.

This guy on the dulcimer.

And these guys playing the drums and what looked like toys.

They’ll probably never make the top 40, but it provided an appropriate backdrop to the evening.

You couldn’t even recognize the gym as they really know how to decorate it up.  You’ll see flowers everywhere, lining the walls and dropping from the ceiling.  They smelled amazing.  The graduates came in and stood in the back.

While they were there, they had a short slide show with two pictures of every graduate and their selected quote.  The top people quoted seemed to be Michael Jordan, Dr. Suess and Ghandi.  There was even one graduate who selected a Marlyn Monroe quote that was about a paragraph long.  I didn’t know she ever said that much.

After the obligatory speeches, the graduates received an actual diploma, with their names on it.  None of that “silly place holder things until we see if you really did graduate” stuff over here.

Of course the tassel turning thing happened.  Trust me, Rebecca is up there somewhere.

And it was all over except the recessional and pictures.

Becca’s going to BYU in case you didn’t know.

Puttin’ on the Ritz

Life is full of beginnings and endings.  We go to Disneyland for the first time—beginning.  We swear we will “never do that again”—ending (we hope).  We say goodbye to a place we’ve lived forever—ending . . . and beginning.  Well this week was one of those ending things for us. 

On Friday (April 29), Rebecca had her last concert (at least for high school).  Michelle noted that we have been going to concerts and performances of one type or another ever since Brenton was in elementary school.  So after 20+ years, we are finally through with school performances.  To tell you the truth, I’m not sure how I feel about that.  I have enjoyed the kid’s concerts (well mostly, there were some band concerts that bordered on the painful!).  This week was no exception.

The band was great, the stringed orchestra sublime, and the choir simply amazing.  Rebecca sung in four numbers.  They kicked things off with “Do You Feel the Rhythm”.  They also sung “One Note Samba”.  Rebecca and two of her friends stole the show with their rendition of “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend”.  Finally, they choir finished up with Queen’s “Somebody to Love”.  Which (of course) is the center of my most favorite scene in Ella Enchanted.  Michelle leaned over to me and said “Give it a little more soul!”.

So click here to see Rebecca and her friends sing “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend”.

The opening of “Diamonds”.

Honoring the Seniors that are graduating.

Rebecca and her friend Morgan.

And of course, Rebecca hamming it up.

Baggage–A Dance/Theater Performance

I’ve come to conclude that dancing cannot be genetic.  My experiences with dance have taught me that.  My first experience with dance came in elementary school when they made us dance some crazy Mexican dance with yucky girls!  Everyone knows that girls have cooties, and I thought I was going to be sick forever.  Well, I didn’t get sick, but I never picked up the desire or skill to dance either.  In my high school years, you could see me and my friends standing along the wall.  It didn’t change much in college either.

Fast forward to now and I have children that not only love dance, they are really good at it.  So there you have it.  Proof that dancing isn’t genetic.  Otherwise, my children would be as bad at it as I am.

Rebecca joined the dance troupe at school and has been working very hard.  They put on a performance this last week.  It was a lot of fun.  Although the photographer (me) didn’t do a great job, these should give you an idea how great it was.

And so you can see her in action, click here for a video.

Way Too Cool!

Ok, this is just way too cool. I guess I'm easily amused by Rube Goldberg machines. Click Here for the Best Lego Rube Goldberg

Maybe not quite as good as Baby Monkey Riding on a Pig, but pretty close

Prom

When I was in High School and a dumb teenage boy, Prom didn’t seem to be that big of deal to me.  You figured out who you were going to ask, and after weeks of trying to get up the courage, you finally picked up the phone and dialed her number.  After almost hanging up three times, she would eventually get on the line and you would blurt out “the question”.  Once that few moments of sheer terror were over, you were done and you had a date to the prom.  You never needed to worry about anything until the dates of the guys you were going with made you try to figure out what the group was going to do that night.

Since I’ve had girls, I’ve realized that Prom is a much bigger deal.  First there is the anxiety of who is going to ask who out.  Then there is the dress and the shoes and the planning and the nails and the hair and the makeup and the list just goes on and on.  Becca’s prom had all of that and maybe more since she couldn’t find a dress in India to fit that she liked.

While Michelle and I were in the states, we went to the store and took lots of pictures of dresses and sent them to Becca.  The women in the store was interested when we told them we were helping out daughter who was home in India try to find a dress for Prom.  Her words: “Best Dad Ever”.  Becca, are you paying attention?  Best Dad Ever.

The dress and shoes made it home, the nails and hair and makeup were finally finished.  Becca looked amazing.  Finally it was time for pictures.  Everyone looked great and it was nice to meet the parents of all the kids.  The only part that wasn’t fun for me was waiting up until much, much past my bedtime to welcome Becca home.

Now I Know Why Grandparents Drone on About Their Grandkids!

Have you ever wondered why grandparents drone on and on about their grandkids?  I know that I would rather sit next to the huge, sweaty Harley Rider on an airplane than a tiny grandma with a wallet full of pictures of her grandchildren.  They are just waiting for you to glace over or look at them so they can engage you in a conversation about their grandchildren. One glance and you can forget about a nap or anything else – no matter how long the flight is!  However, after the last week, I think I’m finally beginning to understand – not that I want to ever sit next to a grandma with a wallet full of pictures yet. 

We were absolutely thrilled when Chloe was born (January 19) and we passed into that almost mythical status of grandparents.  I always wondered what that would be like to be a grandpa.  Would I feel old?  Would I be old?  What would having grandkids be like relative to having children?  Would I have to get a wallet so I could carry around pictures?  Would I finally get the senior discount at Waffle House?  (Not sure that Waffle House has a senior discount, but if not they should.  Two words: Pecan Waffles.)

Well, so far, I still don’t feel old (except after my Saturday bike rides – 34 km today!).  I don’t think I’m old, but who am I to judge.  Having grandkids is both more wonderful and less wonderful than having children.  I don’t have a wallet, so no pictures yet.  I still don’t qualify for any Waffle House senior discount – if there is one. 

All this new grandpa-ly knowledge has come from the week Michelle and I spent in Provo for Chloe’s blessing.  Let me tell you – one of the best weeks ever!  We are absolutely thrilled that Jameson and Becky held off until we could come to the US for the blessing.  I know that it was a really stressful week for Jameson and Becky, but they were fantastic hosts and brought everything together for a fantastic blessing.  Baby blessings are one of the most spiritual events.  Here is this little child, so recently here from Heaven and so innocent and trusting.  Add to that the power of the priesthood, a father and mother that love her so dearly, a circle of worthy men who gather to help, and family and friends come from far and wide who have come to share the experience, and you have a spirit filled experience.

It was great to see all the family and friends who attended.  We had about 30 people or so that came to blessing including my Mom, Lynda, Randy and June from Las Vegas, Michelle’s sister Dena, her husband Earl, as well as one of her daughters and husband (and children) from Bountiful, Becky’s Mom and Dad from Seattle and Becky’s Mom’s friend Rebecca (Becky’s namesake), Janet, Alan, Dianne and many others.  What a special time.

Here’s Chloe in her beautiful white dress (it was the dress that Becky was blessed in!).

Grandpa Beau taking a few minutes.

The happy Mom and Dad

Great food!  Thanks to all the cooks!

Great Grandma Ranck talks to Chloe.  The hat is really an owl.  I think it looks like a frog.

Parents and Grandparents and the little princess.

It was great to see my Mom, brother and sisters!  (Still learning how to use the new camera.)

See, this is why grandma’s talk about their grandchildren.

Of course, Chloe spent time with Grandma Ranck

And Grandpa Ranck.

And she’s even picking up Granda Ranck’s habit of grabbing the M&Ms!  (That id Dad holding her, not grandpa!)

A genius is just some dumb kid with a grandma.

OK, Get off your duff and blog!

Sorry there haven’t been any updates since Christmas!  Four months!  Brenton came for the holidays and after he left, I got real lazy and was always going to get to that post tomorrow.  Well as Shakespear said:

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, . . .

and if we don’t pay attention, before we know it, time has slipped away and we can’t figure out what happened.  So here’s a first update with more to come – I promise.

First off, some housekeeping.  I finally figured out how to get the RSS feed working, so you can now actually subscribe to the blog through RSS and read it in your favorite reader.

Stay tuned – real updates coming.

Welcome to the New Year

Welcome to the New Year! I love the new year. Although I am sad to see the holiday season go, I look forward to a mark in the year when I can assess things that I want to change and do better. Of course, deciding what I need to do better and actually doing them are two very different things. I have been thinking of this for the last few weeks on and off and have decided that if there was ever a time in my life when I should/could succeed at some of those 'perpetual' new year's resolutions, that now is the time.

With the move to India, our lives are totally changed from what they were a few short months ago. I have a lot of flexibility in my schedule, perhaps more now than I've ever had in my working life. I have no yard to take care of and few chores around the house. My life mainly consists of 1) Work; 2) Church; 3) Family, with few distractions outside of these areas. When I think about those areas of my life, I have huge challenges at work and need to develop some new habits to make sure that my efforts succeed. I have a tremendous opportunity to serve in the Church and do some real good here in India. I also have a changing family life. Rebecca is headed off to college in a few months and Michelle and I will be here alone. A perfect opportunity to renew some habits that I have gotten out of since we were dating in college.

So how to go about all this change and be successful? I've been reading a lot about habits on a blog called ZenHabits.net and LifeHacker.com. Click the links and search for habits and you'll have more to read than you can do in one sitting. I think one thing I need to do is not get too anxious and try to make too many changes at once. (Click this link to read a theory about that.) That is going to be hard, given the number of things in my life that can be changed and improved. Still, I'm going to start a few things, but spend my time focusing on one habit at a time for a few months. I'm also going to use this nifty habit list, which hopefully will help me see how I'm doing.

So maybe this will be the year to make some very permanent changes. It is going well so far! :)

You Can Now Subscribe to the RSS Feed

Some folks have told me that they forget to come check my blog. I'm shocked! Absolutely shocked! Shocked that anyone could forget to come check out my blog! But I guess there are some folks that have a hard time remembering that they like us, or that they are related to us, or that we have such a cool blog that you need to check back almost daily to see if anything else has been posted.

For those that have no idea what an RSS feed is and want to find out, click here. Basically, it lets a program go out and pull in blog posts and other stuff so that you can read it in one location without having to go check each website. Of course, for those of you that only follow my blog (and I'm sure that there are literally ones or twos of you), you still have to remember to check the RSS reader, so you might as well just check here.

To subscribe, I think all you should have to do is click the subscribe to gadget link on the side panel here.

Merry Christmas to All

Christmas is less than one week away and sometimes it is hard to remember that Christmas is so close. Living in a country where Christmas is not celebrated as a national holiday or a religious holiday by most of the country is an interesting experience.

On the one hand, retailers are not trying to convince you that the only way to show someone that you love them is to spend more than you can afford. On the other hand, no one is talking about Christmas or discussing their plans. The little signs of Christmas, like lights going up, Christmas trees appearing at the local market, and Christmas music on the radio are absent. You are left to create your own Christmas spirit.

I am reminded of one Christmas on my mission in Taiwan 30 some years ago. I was serving in a very small Branch way out in the country. The Branch had all of five members, any two of which might be missing from Sunday services since they were fighting with each other. I remember that the only Christmas decorations my companion and I had in our apartment were two small plastic wreaths of Christmas lights hung above the desks we used to study and write our reports. There were no signs of Christmas outside our apartment, only a few things inside, but we had the Christmas spirit anyway.

Unlike that Christmas so many years ago, we have so much to help us remember the Christmas spirit here in India. We have a lot of Christmas inside our home. There is our Christmas tree:

And our stockings, just waiting to be filled by Santa:

We have our advent tree that gets an ornament hung each day until Christmas:

We even have our book that we read a Christmas story out of each night:

We also had our ward Christmas party. The building was decorated wonderfully:

Each auxiliary put together a small performance of something. The primary sung several songs, the young women sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Holly Jolly Christmas, Rebecca and her friend Ganae Osorio sung a wonderful duet of Winder Wonderland. But the Oscar performance goes to the young men who wrote and performed an original play entitled Santa Meets the Missionaries. Watch by clicking here.

Michelle and her friends made gingerbread houses. Of course, gingerbread and all the traditional US candies were a bit hard to come by. So they substituted crackers and Indian candy. Still it looks like they had fun!

But most of all, we have our family and friends. Brenton will be here on Tuesday evening and we are so very excited to have him come. Although we know that our other family and friends will not be joining us here in India, know that our hearts are with you all. We look forward to talking with everyone this weekend, so get on Skype or at least call our phone!

Some Cool News

On Wednesday, I received an email from Rebecca's school. Basically, Rebecca's art project was accepted for the front cover of the school curriculum guide. It was a pretty amazing thing and Rebecca had no idea her picture was being considered. Needless to say, she is very happy and we are very happy for her.

Here's the letter:

Rebecca :

I am writing with a message of congratulations. Each year as we enter the process of updating our curriculum guide for the following school year, the Art Department submits numerous pieces of art from all of the different classes for review, only one of which is selected for the cover.

I am happy to inform you that the digital image you created of AES (attached for your parents to see, too!) has been selected for the cover of the SY11-12 Curriculum Guide. I realize that you will be graduating in May, but next year's guide will be handed out to all continuing students during the registration process in February of 2011. So you'll still have a chance to see it all around the high school anyway.

The team that agreed on your piece of work found your color combination dynamic yet soothing. We also agreed that the AES theme was perfectly suited to the cover of the curriculum guide.

Congratulations, also, on a successful completion to your first semester here at AES. Inbound seniors often experience a more difficult transition than younger students, and yet it seems that you have managed this transition well. Have a wonderful holiday.

Best regards,

Ms. Miller-Manchester

Beth Miller-Manchester

High School Assistant Principal

American Embassy School - New Delhi

And here's the picture:

The Happy Artist:

Another Biking Video

So I'm realizing that I am not posting to the blog as often as I should. I'm blaming Becca for always working on homework and not letting me have time on the family computer. At least that is my story and I'm sticking to it.

One of the things that I love about living here in Delhi is the sun all winter long. Although we are well into 'winter' here, the weather is chilly at night (say in the 40's) and pretty warm in the daytime (60's or 70's) with sunshine every day. No grey skies, no rain, no drizzle, no snow. So although the days are short, the sun comes out and it really is beautiful weather.

Mornings are often foggy/smoky/smoggy/whatever and the sunrise is more like a round orange ball behind a curtain. Still, it is fun.

One of the things the great weather lets me do is go for bike rides every Saturday morning with the biking crew. We tend to go for a longer ride, leaving sometime between 6 and 7, depending on where we are going, and getting home between 11 and 1, also depending on where we are going. Sometimes we just head out from the house and into the 'bush'. Sometimes we drive in the cars to another area where we can head along the river, or out into another wilderness area. Sometimes we just head down and ride the streets of Delhi and Old Delhi. It is always fun and always an adventure.

I've put together a short slide show of some of the pictures I've taken while out riding in the bush. Hope you enjoy it. Watch by clicking here.