Teaching, Life, Charity, and Love

The days are going by very quickly. I can not believe that we have been living in Oregon for 3 months now. And at other moments it seems crazy that we have accomplished so much in only three months. I am already at midterms at portland state for my first quarter, and Blake is taking his fifth test tomorrow. So far he has been doing great and getting above 90% the first time which is great. i have every confidence that he will do just fine on tomorrows test as well. Well besides going to school full time Blake has been playing the Oregon in church every week. I know he likes this calling because it is a sunday only calling and he does not have to worry about it during the week. I am the laurel advisor which means i teach a lesson twice a month and have activities with the girls on wednesday nights, some of which i don't make it too. I have also picked up a small job on tuesday and thursday nights were i tutor a 14 year old girl. I meet her last night she is busy busy and likes to talk but what 14 year old girl does not like to talk. I always said that i would not know what to do with daughters seeing as i don't have any sisters and i had very few girl friends growing up. it seems the lord is teaching me what to do with teenage girls in around about way seeing as 3 nights a week that is who i am hanging out with teenage girls. It's funny now that i am not a teenage girl i like to be around them a lot more.

I have a degree and am working on another degree in teaching music but at the moment i seem to be teaching everything but music. On sundays i teach nutrition, time management and the importance of education along with other useful things. On Tuesday and thursday i tutor in Geometry, science and computers. I just thought this was an interesting fact.

I had a very interesting conversation last night about the church. i would like to note a couple things. first i was told a very touching story from a german violinist i had dinner with. He told me of his first violin student she was a 20 year old LDS girl, who he said had the sweetest spirt. he said you could not help but lover her not a romantic love but just love her. He said that she seemed to know things. She was hit by a garbage truck taken to the hospital where she was put back together and lived only to suffer a stroke shortly after and pass away. He was told at her funeral that she had written emails to some of her friends before she was hit telling them that she was sorry for being busy and wishing them the best in their lives. She seemed to know her time was at an end and was ready for it he was very touched by this. he said that he was given a book of mormon in german at the funeral, but has not chosen to convert. My thoughts on this are i am sure that young women had no idea what an influence she was being by just living the gospel to the best of her ability, she is a great example to me. And second i hope that when we give Books of Mormon to nonmembers we have the courage to follow up with it. Find out if they read it and answer any questions they may have. I may never see this German Violinist again but by one conversation with him i want to be a better person.

Never be afraid to share what you know.

I was also asked by another dinner companion that night about the members in Portland compared to the members in Utah and was happy to tell them that no matter where you go the church is constant the same. I told them that when i got to portland the missionaries were unpacking my home and the bishop was there with a list of doctors for me and food for that night so that i would not have to stress about the small things in my condition. this questions was asked by a person who claims to be anti-religious but pro community and wonders why charity(this is not the word he used) has to be tied to a religion. Why can't you pull up to your new home with a moving truck and the neighbors just come out and help no matter what religion anyone is? I love this thought and as members of the church we should be showing charity to everyone not just fellow members and the world should follow suit.

well those are my thoughts for the day.
Jamie

Quest for Knowledge

Blake and I have emerged ourselves in a typhoon of information. Struggling to gather as much of this information as possible and cram it into our heads only to be expected to recall said information at a moments notice. How are we handling our said adventure? Our heads are held high, our shoulders back and we fake a confidence that will see us through to the end. Our days are repetitive, and slightly mundane; mine is spent in a practice room where i shlep my way through pages of music, labeling this as R and this as L, remembering to keep my hands low and my sound even. Others may hear the repetitive"1e&a 2e&a" under my breath only to be answered by that dadatdada of a snare drum, while preparing for an ensemble rehersal. Most of my daily confersations are with myself arguing over how this or that is to be played. The dual personality of teacher vs. students dialoge playing in my head.

Blake on the other hand spends his day surrounded by 97 other students trying to make there way through slides of information and the constant dialoge of professor after professor after professor. only to be left with hours upon hours of processing the information and understanding course objectives. The evenings are spent hunched over a lap top and surrounded by books. The hours of the day becoming shorter as the information becomes exponentially larger.

I had to write this for class, just thought i would post it.

“Jamie, I think it is time you quite piano lessons. You just don’t have the musical ability to continue.”These are the words that were said to her as she left elementary school. She happily complied with her piano teacher and never took another piano lesson. She was not, however done with her musical exploration.


Jamie was born in 1986 to Randy and Loralee Wagstaff and at two years old moved into the home she would spend her childhood, a fruit farm next door to her grandparents. She spent the next 16 years learning to work hard. She learned skills such as pruning, thinning and picking peach trees, driving tractors, raising cows, canning food and taking care of younger brothers. Along with these skills Jamie and her brothers, Aaron and Caleb, were expected to take piano lessons through elementary school. After that they could choose to continue with these lessons or to pursue a new venture. It was at this time in her life when she chose to study violin.

Through the violin Jamie found reasons for living and a way to express emotions that had not and could not be expressed any other way. She made great lifelong friends with other students in orchestra, her stand partner in particularly, Braden.

Braden was a fine violinist and amazing pianist. Together they worked on many projects most of which would end in a church, inspiring emotions in others. While playing in school and taking private lessons was an essential, nothing brought more joy to Jamie then waking up and attending symphony rehearsals on Saturday morning. This is where she learned to love Schubert and take comfort in Brahms. Through this symphony she was able to learn and grow as a person and as a musician. During her senior year of high school she was invited to play in a side-by-side concert with the Utah Symphony. She also received the national school orchestra honor and director awards. The violin then led her to collage where she had intended to study music education with an emphasis in violin. However this goal was slightly altered along the way.

The Southern Utah University Professors were desperate for percussionists. They watched the students carefully, looked at their goals and aspirations and then approached Jamie in an attempt to recruit her as a percussionist. They started slowly, asking her to take a half hour lesson with the Percussion Professor, Dr. Patrick Roulet. When that was accomplished they then asked her to switch entirely and be a Percussion Major. Since there were no other percussion majors at the university, she was thrown into the deep end of things; playing in four ensembles a week and figuring out how to play each instrument quickly and accurately. Through her hard work and dedication, she found an energy and new found love for music of a different nature. As her senior recital approached Dr. Roulet left the University for ventures of his own. While Dr. Lynn Vartan took on the role as teacher and advisor for Jamie’s last year of undergrad.

As graduation approached, Lynn encouraged Jamie to consider her options of teaching or continuing her education. Graduate school was not something that she had considered before even though her husband Blake Francisco and been very open to the idea of her continuation in school. Jamie knew at this time that her destination was set for Portland, as this is where Blake was headed for pharmacy school. Her options were limited, but spirits were high, and she applied for Grad School at Portland State University, only to with draw her application months later when she discovered she was pregnant with their first child.

Five months later, as they prepared their move to Portland, Jamie went in for an ultra sound. She was there to find out the sex of the baby and yet she felt sick with nervousness, some part of her knew something was wrong. Her doctors couldn’t tell the sex, the fluids were low and something was wrong. She was sent to a specialist in St. George the following day. She found out her baby was going to die, she hates the specialist. That morning they had moved out of their home, her bed and comfort was packed in a U-Haul headed for Portland.

On arriving in Portland, Blake did everything he could to get Jamie to a doctor. It took a lot of time and yelling at people over the phone, but he got her into the best doctors for high risk pregnancies. After four hours of being poked with ultrasound equipment and needles the doctors told her that her baby had Body-Stalk Anomaly. There was a zero survival rate. She lost the baby.

With the pieces of her life and soul scattered about, she made the decision to try. To try and put some part of a life together in Portland. She contacted the Professor, at Portland State, Dr. Joel Bluestone and asked for help. He remembered her from her application before and pushed her application through the system. School started in less than a month.

Now she stands at a new door of opportunity and exploration. She may be more battered, her soul maybe bruised, but she is no worse for it. Emotion is what makes a musician. It is the ability to evoke such emotions into others, to allow them to feel what they may not have been able to on their own.

Our Blog got a Cute Makeover Yeah!

Random Pictures of the Last Month

This is a cute little Lighthouse just outside of Tillamook.

This is documenting Caleb's first view of an Ocean!

This picture is taken from the top of the Waterfall

(Caleb is slouching trying to make us feel taller. My height 5'8 Blake 5'10 Caleb 6'3)

This is us after hiking to the top of the waterfall. I felt completely out of shape, But felt better when i relised that i am only a month out of surgery and being 5 months pregnant so Yeah Go me for hiking to the top of a waterfall. It was Worth it.

These pictures are the views from our apartment. Jim says its like being at the cabin. Randy says it is like camping.

This is Blakes First Day of Orentation. Does he not look cute!

(Blake just loves that i put this on the internet)

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Blake told me to stop freaking out and stressing over every little thing. The reality is that if i commite to two more years of schooling we will only have a 6 month period of time that we will have to make payments on my loan with out his income and if we save we could do that without too much of an income from me as well. Torri is right in the fact that i have the time to do it now and it could help a lot if God forsaken anything ever happened to Blake and i had to support my children. She is also makes apoint that the lord has told women to get an education when they can. And while Jan makes appoint about their being a time and season for everything. I don't have children to raise right now and i have to wait to get pregnant for my own saftey and health. The Lord took my child from me at it hurts and i am angrey and fight depression everyday. My Dad and blake are admit about the fact that having something to completly lose myself in like furthering my education would help me mentaly and emotionaly. It would also speed up the time that i do have to wait to try again for children.
So while it may be hard. I go forward taking my test in 8 days. Pray for me I'm going to need it in the Aural skills portion of the test.
Jamie

I don't know What to do.

Second thought on Grad School... Vent... If it weren't for the money thing I would just go. Yes Blake will be a pharmacist and we won't have any trouble paying back the loans when he is...But... I will be done with school a year or two before he will be done which means I will have to pay back my loans myself which means getting a job... Problem... Shortage of teaching jobs in the musical field...Problem... What if I get pregnant during or after grad school? I want to have children the Doctor says I can have children I just need to wait a while. But how do I pay back a loan when I am pregnant or have a baby. Do I work? I don’t want to work when I have a baby being raised by someone else I promised myself I would not do that. So how can I go to School now? If I knew I could defer the loan until Blake was done. I would do it. But really going to school now just puts us into more debt. I don’t think it is fair...But can I get a mediocre job now to keep myself busy and hope I get pregnant? I worked for 5 years on a degree I can’t seem to use except to go to grad school. I got pregnant but that turned into my own personal hell. So can I count on it again? What do I do? I have less than 10 days to decide.

A McMinnville Excursion

Last Saturday, Jamie and I had an excursion to McMinnville, Oregon. Jamie wanted to buy some Maurices' pants, and according to our GPS, this was the closest location. We had a good time seeing the country, and the several little towns as we drove. There was one in particular we found to be comical, by the name of Yamhill. We thought this was very original, and wondered where the hill of yams were. Also we wondered if they were close to blueberry hill, yet as luck would have it, we were unable to spot either one. We eventually found Maurices, and pants too so that was exciting. Later we ate lunch at Dairy Queen (my personal request) while there we saw a 1950 Chevy Deluxe car just like my old car. Yeah, I was really excited. I look forward to cruising around in my old car with Jamie, someday. It was quite the trip!

August 3rd

We are 20 weeks along in our pregnancy and we have gotten some really bad news. First the baby has a twin that has already died. Second the fluid around the baby is very low. Third the baby has what is called Body Stalk Anomaly or Limb Body Anomaly. This defigurations is Lethal and the Baby is going to die. Body Stalk Anomaly has many characteristics such as a short amblical cord, Limb Deformations which in our case is the legs, Absent Kidneys and Bladder. This baby has very small abnormal Kindneys and no bladder. The Baby also has a shortened limb. This Anomaly happens in only 1 to 10,000 pregnancies. We have been told that is not a genitic disorder and the Doctors have high hopes for normal future Pregnancies. We are grateful for all your support and prayers.

-The Franciscos-

Yellow Stone Trip 4th of July Weekend

We made it back from Yellowstone National Park it was so much fun! Blake has never been up there before so this was a new experience for him. It was cute he was so excited to see every little thing that it made it new and exciting for me too. It was a long day of travel that first day but well worth it when we got up there.

What we Saw!

Buffalo lots and lots of Buffalo
(We got stuck in a herd of them crossing the road)

Two Black Bears

( I had never seen a Black Bear before)

Elk and a Bull Elk

(Blake had to get off the road when he saw the Bull It was Exciting)

Dear and Bucks

one lone Coyote

(grandpa said it would be a cooler story if we said it was a wolf but it was indeed a Coyote)

Tons of Not very smart People.

(Orientals trying to Pet Wild Animals)

Attractions:

Old Faithful

Geysers

Mud pots

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Water Falls

Mammoth Hot springs

(grandma Was said because this has changed and is no longer active)

Grand Tetons on our way up.

We had a great trip we stayed in my grandparents Moterhome with them. My parents and Caleb had their Trailor also. After yellowstone we were happy to go to bear lake and have a hot shower. We all needed them by then. That is where aaron and his new bride chrissy meet us and spent the night. It was a great trip to have with everyone before we make our way to Oregon Next week.

Percussion Retreat in June

My professor Lynn Vartan decided that it would be a fun idea to get people together during the summer and have a percussion retreat. She was right it was a blast we had two of her students from Suu (me and Joe) along with three students from California come and enjoy this week of playing music and having fun. The week consisted of three private lessons (in which i learned and memorized a new piece which for those who know me know that the memorizing part was a huge accomplishment.) Three master Classes where we play for each other and get feed back and talk about issues such as how to promote ourselves and further our education. We also worked on several ensemble piece that we recorded together at the end of the week. So much Fun!

Along with working hard we took a day to see some interesting and beautiful things around cedar city.

Our first stop was stoping around Cedar Breaks. It was a beautiful day for this.

Lynn, Aime, Kat, and Megumi ( I am not sure how she spells her Name)

Next we found our way over to the Parowan Gap which i had never heard about before but it turned out to be a really cool Site.

Needless to say we had a great week and look forward to doing this in years to come.

Graduation May 2nd, 2009

Graduation was alot of fun my family and friends were able to come from northern utah and celebrate with us we also had blakes parents and grandparents who put on an amazing party for us complete with great food company and presents. I have included pictures above for your enjoyment. my mother is going to send more so maybe i will put more up later.

Trip to Portland

This Week Blake and I went on a trip to portland Oregon to see if we could find a place to live for the next three years while Blake attends Pacific University. I have quikly Fallen in love with the Portland area and look forward to living there.

The Bonuses of Oregon:

• My Skin was Soft and did not itch from being dry


• It is so much easier to hike there becouse you are so low in altitude you don't lose your breath you feel to strong and energetic.


• You feel like you live in the woods even if you are in the middle of the city because there are so many trees and they are so tall.


• It is only an hour drive to the ocean.


• It does not get as cold or as hot as Utah and you don't have near the amount of snow.


• The Oregon residents assure as that it does not rain all the time.

We found a great apartment that we really want and hope to have seccured in July the lady working with us to get it seems really optamistic.

Please enjoy the photos we took.

Last Weeks of School

It is crazy how quickly the semester has gone by. Blake is finishing up his last weeks of school and i am finished and just waiting for May 2nd to come when we can be declared collage graduates. This semester Blake has been taking a communication class and an economics class both of which he finds a little boring but he is willing to do the work. I have been student teaching out at Parowan which is about half an hour north of here. I really enjoyed the students and miss them all ready. Now that i am finished there i have finished up my Teacher Work Sample or TWS and my E portfolio what a stress relieve to have these finished. To pass my time now I do a little cross stich and a substitute teach once and a while. i am also joining my former students on their trip to provo to state solo and ensemble festival which takes place on the 24th and 25th of this month. Cary(the teacher) and I will both be driving vans up with approx. 9 students. we will get their on the 24th treat them to some activites for their hard work and then do their competition and drive back home on the 25th.
On the 18th of these month is SUU's Day of Percussion. it is a day packed with Percussion classes and master classes along with performances and just a whole lot of fun i missed last years Percussion day Because we were getting married but look forward to attending this years.

Blake is the secretary to the bishop and is working as a manager at Brad's Food Hut. When he is not doing these things or studying he is trying not to cut his fingers off doing wood working kits or using the new saw he got for his birthday yeasterday.

Graduation takes place on the 2nd of May. President Thomas S. Monson his the key note speaker at 9:00 in the morning. Our 2nd ceremony takes place at 2:00 in the randall jones theater on campus.