Doll Baby

Life in Richmond is coming along swimmingly. Jarom is learning lots of stuff at his job and is slowly becoming a more productive employee. Alixa is getting more comfortable in her new role as a housewife, and is doing a great job taking care of Jenna and Jarom. She does the dishes, the laundry, runs errands, and even irons Jarom’s work shirts. It seems as though the record shattering snowfalls have stopped, and we are enjoying sunny, if not warm, weather. A few weeks ago Lix decided to give her testimony and mentioned that we were new here, much to Jarom’s chagrin. Immediately after the meeting ended, a line formed of people who wanted to introduce themselves and invite the Winns over for dinner. Nice gestures, to be sure, but not really Jarom’s style. As this was happening he was talking to an old friend who lives in the area and he mentioned that he is usually just happy to come to church and blend into the background. I guess there is no chance of that happening now. Alixa has already gotten into the local recipe group and they went to a get-to-know-you dinner with some other new families as well this week.

This past weekend was highlighted by a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Winn, who drove down on Friday for a 48-hour stay. They came to see their grandbabies and celebrate their recent call as president of the Salt Lake City Utah mission. Jenna was thrilled to see Grandma, who was even more thrilled to see Jenna. Alixa was thrilled because it meant a trip to the Cheesecake Factory. They got to show off their new house and hang out with family, which was great. The closing for said house was supposed to take place on President’s Day, but banks are lazy and don’t work so it got pushed back 24 hours. So on Tuesday Jarom left work early and he and Alixa headed over to the lawyers office prepared to sign papers for hours on end. The process was much quicker than they expected, and they now have the keys. They’ll be moving their stuff in this weekend and personalizing it for the next several years.



Some people celebrate important life events by having a party or going to DisneyWorld. The Winns chose instead to go to the DMV, where they would deprive Jenna of a nap while waiting in the lobby for about 45 minutes. They needed to register two cars, a task they had already attempted one time, only to be rebuffed because Alixa lacked sufficient evidence that she was living in the state. This may sound familiar to you. This time, the Winns were armed with an array of identification, including passports, drivers licenses, and social security cards. They also brought the deed to their newly purchased home, home insurance information, title insurance forms, and several other documents with their new home address and Alixa and Jarom’s names. As you might imagine, this was not sufficient for the DMV, whose motto is “We will try our absolute hardest to find a reason to NOT help you do what you are trying to do.” But Jarom was at the end of his rope, and refused to leave when the hard-to-understand Asian lady told him she couldn’t help him. She finally relented and got her manager, who came over and sifted through the pile of documents spread out across the table in a not so subtle attempt to get their identity stolen. It was a Festivus miracle! The manager is the one DMV employee on earth who was willing to help out a customer. I don’t want to undermine her charity, but it is also possible that the presence of Jenna may have been the reason for her assistance. It was clear she was a little grumpy, but was still doing things that amused the neighboring clerks to no end. The lady on either side of us, both black, kept telling us how cute she was and calling her “Doll Baby” in a deep southern drawl. After two hours, they were finally able to get a pair of new license plates and hopefully won’t have to go back to the DMV for at least 5 years. With any luck, someday soon hospitals and doctors will be run with the same mind-boggling speed and efficiency as these other government offices.