Hair Cuts

This has been the year of hair cuts.
I went from long hair to short hair.
Marie followed suit.... but she wanted to be sure that we didn't have the same hair cut.
Julianna donated hair to Locks of Love and got her hair shaped. Now she straightens her hair and it looks very grown up and modern.
Angie wanted bangs. She got cute bangs and then when it was time for her next bangs trim, she decided to donate her hair to Locks of Love also. She got a really cute really short haircut.
John didn't want a hair cut, but he got a minor trim before Summer Semester and a major cut before Fall Semester. When he saw a high school friend at BYU Idaho in the fall, the friend did not recognize him. When John told him they were in the house construction class, the boy said "Oh, what happened to your hair?"
Lee's hair cut came at the end of last year.... and now it is long again. When I ask him if he wants me to cut it, he says no.
James has been taught by Lee the not cut your hair until you turn 19. He tried to stay true to what he had been taught.... but eventually Mom convinced him to let it get cut.
Dad is the only one who keeps his hair consistently the same.
Emily is out of step with the rest of the family. She has decided to grow her hair out. She chose to change her hair by getting rid of the blonde highlights.
Hair is one thing in life that doesn't stay the same.

Feinauers Move

Feinauers now live at Fourth South and First East in a Fine apartment in Bountiful.

Summer is Over

Well, Summer is officially over.
We took John and Emily up to college.
Emily and John are in the same American Heritage class.

Angie started Jr high. She is taking band and art.
Angela joined the Tuesday Salt Lake Children's Choir

Julianna is back to Jr High band + 9th grade Seminary and Theater.
Julianna is starting in the Friday Utah Youth Symphony.

Marie is teaching orchestra at a Private school in North Salt Lake.

The Roof

Over the past few years we have said we needed to replace the shingles on our roof, but until this year we just said we will, but maybe next year. We realized that if we didn't fix the roof this summer before John went back to BYU Idaho, it would be many years before we had Dad, Lee, John and James here and available to work on the roof.



When we realized that we only had 2 weeks before John would go up to college, we decided that now was the time. First, (on Monday August 25th) Rick, Lee and John bought a sheet of sheetrock to fix the ceiling in the kitchen where the water from the swamp cooler had saturated the insulation in the atic and fell onto the kitchen table and floor.





Then we quickly ordered the materials for shingling the roof. Later that day, (August 26th), they delivered the big dumpster that we would scrape all the old shingles into. That evening and on the 27th, Dad, John, Lee and James started to scrape off the old shingles. As they scraped off the old shingles and exposed the plywood, they could see the places where the plywood had started to rot.


They cut a foot and a half of plywood off the south edge of the roof and replaced that as well as a large area where the swamp cooler had let water run down the roof. They finished scraping them on the 28th and started to do some repairs on the ply wood below.



On Friday evening, we again looked at the weather forcast. It said that we were in for "Big Changes" in the weather. It had been dry all the month of Auugust. Now a storm was coming Saturday evening and we could expect rain, heavy in spots on Sunday. Rick began to make calls asking for any assistance that was available.

In the morning of Saturday, the 30th, Mike and Brandon and Isaac showed up at 6:30 am to work. By 8:00, Tom Lindhart, a Neighbor/Johns young mens Leader, came and gave us some professional instruction. At about 10:00 I showed up and they were 1/2 done with the front side, then Mike and Isaac had to leave as well as our Neighbor. We had 2 nail guns, Brandon and John took turns using one and Lee used the other, Marie and I would lay shingles for Lee, and whoever wasn't using the other nail gun was laying shingles for whoever was using it. When Brandon had to leave (at 1:00) John used the nail gun and Marie laid shingles for him. During this time Dad was cutting shingles for the edges. Eventually JP and his friend Clark came up on the roof to help. We worked till about 5:00 about then I got ready to leave and Mike Isaac and Gordon showed up with James to help.

Everyone worked all day Saturday as much as they could. The wind started blowing lightly in the early afternoon. A few times it caught the roofing felt and tore it. About 10:00 at night they finished putting the last shingles on and carried the supplies off the roof.

The next day, just as forcasted, it rained hard. We were very grateful for all the people who helped us reshingle our roof.

Unemployment and Employment

Our family has had a lot of changes in our employment situations. Rick's job at Groen Brothers Aviation finally came to an end. He watched the company struggle to cover the payroll for about 5 months and wondered if they would make it through this tight financial squeeze. Finally at the end of May, they had to decide to lay off almost all of their employees. They were not able to find financing to cover payroll for April or May. They hope to not have to go completely out of business, but they are very close.

Emily came home from her semester in Jerusalem and had to decide if she was going to go down to work at Philmont Scout Camp for the summer. She had a very hard time making the decision. After arriving home after being away for 4 months, she was not anxious to leave home again one month later. She was also anxious to play her violin more and could not take her nice violin to the primitive living conditions at Philmont. She e-mailed them and said she was not coming. Then she started working planting flowers for Bountiful City, and remembered how hot and tiring that work was and so she e-mailed back and said she was coming. Then she looked at pictures of the tent she would be living in for 3 months and got another job as an assistant server at the Garden Restaurant and so she e-mailed again and said she wasn't coming.

In January, Lee started working at Gregory's Wheat Shop packaging granola to be shipped to grocery stores. It was to be part time and temporary until he went on his mission. He also got a job as a package handler at Fed Ex part time from 10pm to 2am. He is still working both jobs and in between, he is pursuing his first love of playing the guitar.

John had worked at El Matador restaurant bussing dishes for almost 2 years. Also during that time he had worked assisting a neighbor installing window blinds in homes. As he got close to High School graduation and planning to go to Idaho for college, he was offered a job in a machine shop that manufactures asault rifles for the military and police. They said he was most highly recommended by his high school machine shop teacher. They wanted him to start then and get trained part time after school and move to full time in the summer. He told them he would be in college during the summer and so he did not take the job. After we analyzed it, he called them back and told them the exact dates when he would be away at college and when he would be home and available to work. They were happy to hire him.

After a week of Rick being unemployed, he suggested that I look for a full time job, and he would stay home and care for the children and home. I have attended training classes for preparing resumes and searching for employment. I have learned that any experience older than about 10 years is considered unimportant and out of date. My bachelors degree is even considered insignificant. When I talk to people about employment, they suggest entry level jobs which require no skills or education. My brother suggested I go back to school and get a masters degree. He said that the investment in education would be worth it since I have potentially 20 more years in the workforce.
I considered taking a job, but I had no intention of giving up my God given job of being a mother. Rick believed that as long as someone is staying home being parent to the children it doesn't matter who does it. He says that "father as provider and mother as nurturer" are rigid roles. I believe that "father as provider, mother as nurturer" is ideal and while I know that in certain situations, adjustments must be made, this is not a serious enough situation to warrant throwing out the ideal.

Since Rick has been home, I have found that more of our needs are being met. Things are getting repaired that have been waiting for a quite a while. And I have confidence that our needs will continue to be met. We will find a way to meet the family's needs that fulfills us. Maybe that will be a good job for Rick where he is happy, or maybe it will be self employment where the family works together. I think we were put on this earth to be happy, not to suffer it out until we die.

John is a New College Student

We moved John up to Rexburg, Idaho yesterday. We found him an apartment in Sunrise Village apartment 47. It is the lower left apartment of a 4 plex. It should be cool during the summer. His roommate's name is Ian (the same name as Lee's roommate during his freshman year). Also, Ian plays the viola (Marie can celebrate about that). And the books on his bookshelf looked like he was studying Construction Management (the same as John). It looked like a magical match. When we met him, he said he was a 2nd semester freshman. He is on Summer/fall track but started last fall.
We helped John get his I card. On his first try, they said his hair was too long over the ears. Although I had thought about bringing hair cut scissors, I had left them at home. The girl at the I card place said his hair was OK except for over the ears so we left trying to figure out where to get a quick hair cut without him needing a car. Then we remembered the tiny surgical scissors in my purse left over from Lee's time in the hospital. They were definitely sharp enough to cut hair, but were they big enough? We took him up the street toward the Rexburg Temple and then turned east by a big water tank, and while he stood in the gutter by the car, I stood on the sidewalk (so I could reach) and with the wind blowing and the rain soon to start, I cut the hair around his ears. No problem with leaving hair around... it all blew away. It was kind of funny to see everyone's reactions as they drove by and stared. After the hair cut, he used water from the water bottle to "comb" his hair. They were very happy with his hair when he came back less than a half hour later. Mission accomplished.
We showed him around campus, and got him some dining dollars, showed him the computers in the library, and where his class would meet the next day. We bought a few things he needed at Wal-Mart and went to Bajio for dinner and then drove home. It was a very late night before we got home, but it was a very successful trip.

John's Eagle Project

John completed his Eagle project during May. The service he performed was to collect clothing, food, and hygiene items to be sent to help people in the Philippines. About 12 people helped pass out flyers to our neighborhood telling people about his project and asking for donated items or money to help cover shipping costs. One week later he and seven other scouts and leaders collected the donated items. After our family and friends sorted the donated items, we were able to pack 3 boxes, 21" x 22" x 23", with about 125 pounds of supplies per box. We were able to put together over 30 hygiene kits that had a washcloth, toothpaste and toothbrush, and soap as well as shampoos and lotions. For clothing, we sent shoes and light weight clothing. The food that we sent was canned meats. He shipped the 3 boxes which cost $390 to ship all the boxes. They are scheduled to arrive in the port of Manila on June 10th, 2008. Completing this project will not only bless people's lives in the Philippines but also was a good leadership experience for me. It was good to see how willing people are to help others.
Congratulations on completing your project. We are proud of your scouting acheivements.