Sunday, November 24, 2013
6:31pm
My neck and shoulder have been hurting me often
this week. I have been having muscle
spasms again. I think it is because I
have neglected taking my vitamins and now that I’m depleted it hurts. The pain isn’t unbearable, just more of an
annoyance. I can still function properly
enough to attend to all my normal duties. (Ha, I just said duty. That joke is for my nephew Jake.)
Last Sunday night I went to a fireside about the
temple cultural celebration that will happen on March 1, 2014. I need to teach all the youth in our ward 5
songs in three weeks. Does anyone have
any great ideas of how to make it fun?? Some
of the songs aren’t finished being written yet so I can’t start early. I’ll get 45 minutes with the youth for three
weeks in January before they’ll have to start going to regional practices. I came up with one fun idea. It’s kind of like fear factor. If the youth sing well and learn their parts,
then their Young Men’s and Young Women’s leaders will have to crack an egg on
their head or eat something weird. I’ll
have to ask their leaders if their up for that.
On Monday Marlee threw another big fit before
going to Costco. She keeps throwing fits
about wearing pants. I put her summer
shorts away and she doesn’t like to wear pants.
I’m holding my ground because it’s getting kind of cold for shorts and I
don’t want her to get sick, plus she needs to get used to pants for when she
goes to school. Our school doesn’t allow
shorts. I got a reply from last week’s
letter from Reggie. He liked the letter
I wrote to my Dad. It was nice to hear
from him, it meant a lot to me. I didn’t
know he was actually reading my letters.
I told him I would send them to him by post though so he can have more
time to email his mom. My nephew Jake
and niece Jewel and several other people on Facebook also sent nice comments on
the letter I wrote to my Dad when I posted it on Facebook. Their comments and positive feedback meant a
lot to me. Monday afternoon I worked on my art
masterpiece lesson for Spencer’s class.
I’m teaching about Norman Rockwell this time. I like his work. I also practiced the piano. I’m working on getting Bumble Boogie ready to
perform for the Angle reunion this Friday.
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| Marlee found my neck brace from my when I broke my neck in 2009 while we were cleaning out the garage on Monday and wanted to try it on. Hopefully she, nor I, nor anyone I love will have to wear one of those ever again. |
Tuesday the missionaries forgot Puring’s
discussion. I was kind of shocked that
missionaries ever forgot discussions.
Chad was too. But who knows what
challenges they are going through? I’ll
let the Lord be their judge and just love them anyway. Our washer started leaking. Chad researched the problem and found that
lots of people have the same problem. A
certain part wasn’t designed very well and wears out and leaks every few years. Chad ordered two parts to save on shipping since
we will probably need it another one again in a few years. Chad’s getting very handy now, with the help
of the internet. What did people do
before the internet anyway? They probably used repair books asked their Dad’s
and friends and neighbors for help. I’ve
thought a lot about the internet this week and how much of a blessing it is. However, it is also a curse for some. It sure does provide a lot of “light and knowledge”
though. I’m glad the Lord blessed us
with it.
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| Tilly and Marlee wanted to do homework too since Karalee was busy doing hers. |
Early Wednesday morning while I was walking I
noticed a beautiful sunrise and thought of my brother Shon and what he said in
his letter last week. Here’s what he
wrote. “A couple of years ago I was going through some personal trials and was
spending a lot of time on my knees pleading for help - I know that everyone
goes through those stages in their lives, and this was one of mine. I had
gotten to work a little early one day, and as I went around my campus doing the
normal things I do to get each day started, I noticed a very spectacular
sunrise in the eastern sky. I stopped and looked at it for a while, and
realized that because I was alone at school, and because anyone else who
happened to be looking at the sunrise would be seeing it from a different angle
and from a different perspective, it was very likely that I was the only person
in the world who could see that magnificent display of color and beauty.
The thought came to me, and I’m certain that it was the Spirit speaking, that
the Lord had created that whole panorama just for me! He loves me
unconditionally, despite all of my shortcomings, and wanted me to know that he
knew my needs and was not leaving me alone to struggle through my difficulties.”
Hopefully Shon doesn’t mind me including
his thoughts in my letter, but I loved them and think it was very wise and
profound.
Wednesday I took my friend Lindsey to her OB doctor
appointment. She is really close to
having her baby. She asked if I would
watch her two girls for her if she has her baby before Brenda gets back from Ireland. I told her I’d be happy to. Wednesday night I went to a craft night at my
friends how to finish up my crafts from our ward’s souper Saturday. It was fun.
That day I also cleaned the back porch, worked on the photo book I’m
making, and made a list of all the things I need/want to get done before Thanksgiving. This list mostly consists of getting
Christmas gifts ready for my family members who live out of town so I can hand
deliver them on Thursday instead of paying to have them shipped. The list is kind of scary and long and keeps getting
longer. I’ve decided to forgo checking
Facebook for the next couple weeks to give me more time to do everything on my
list.
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| Tilly playing at the playground in Lindsey's doctor's office complex. |
Thursday tried a new crockpot chicken recipe. It was pretty good, not amazing like I was hoping. Thursday afternoon we had makeup discussion for
Puring’s since Tuesday’s discussion didn’t pan out. That day I started accomplishing things on my
“to do” list. I got a little too focused
on it and was prompted that I need to make time to play and have fun with my
kids too and, not just worry about myself and my “to do” list. Thursday night I had a scout come to pass off
the personal management merit badge. He
was very well prepared. That evening I
finished my lesson plan for the Norman
Rockwell Art Masterpiece presentation for Spencer’s class.
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| Marlee likes to lay down in Tilly's room with us, while I rock Tilly to sleep. |
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| Karalee playing at her friend Sammy's house on Thursday afternoon. Sammy's Mom texted me the picture asking if I'd like to sign Karalee up for coach pitch with Sammy this spring. |
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| Daddy's girls during morning scripture reading |
Friday I almost forgot my visiting teaching
appointment. I was so glad my partner
Sarah texted me to ask if we were still going to be able to go. We had a nice visit with our sister Shelley. It was nice to get their opinion about Marlee
fits about wearing pants since Marlee threw another big fit about it that
morning. After our visit I decided to
not make such a big deal out of it and just let her know that she would get
blessings if she obeyed, but that it was her choice. That plan has worked well already and I think
we won’t have much of an issue any more.
Friday afternoon I taught in Spencer’s class. The first part of the lesson plan was kind of
boring. I went over too many facts. I felt bad I didn’t prepare something more
exciting. I guess you can’t be super
exciting all the time. The students
seemed to enjoy the second part though. Friday
evening was Puring’s baptismal interview.
A lady in our ward from the Philippines went into the interview with her
to help translate. She passed the
interview and is all set for baptism this coming Saturday Nov. 30th
at 10:30am. If any of you would like to
meet Puring we’d love to have you attend her baptism. Right after the baptismal interview, Puring
and I stayed for a tour of the stake center that the Elders in our area had
prepared. They had been planning it for a
while and had announced it in our Sacrament meeting for a couple weeks. Well … Puring and I were the ONLY ones who
showed up. I felt so badly for the
elders. There were 4 companionships that
put it on and they all had prepared nice presentations and videos. It was very well thought out. I was glad Puring was able to go. She got to see the baptismal font. She’s very excited for her baptism and says
she is so excited she can’t sleep. I’m
excited too. While I was at the stake
center with Puring Chad was home with the kids and their friends. They had a “late night” with their friends. (We do “late nights” with friends since we
have a rule that we only do sleepovers with cousins.) Chad fixed
our washing machine while they played. It
doesn’t leak anymore. Hooray!!
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| Puring and Me |
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| I gave the girls their first bubble bath on Friday night. I think from the look on their faces it's safe to say they liked it. I can't believe I waited this long before introducing them to bubble baths. |
Yesterday all the kid’s soccer games were canceled
because of all the rain we’ve gotten this weekend. It was so nice not to have anything on the
calendar. They will play their last
games on Dec. 6th and 7th now. Spencer will get to play in a game for his birthday. He loves soccer so he’s happy about that.
Chad got a new iPhone yesterday and has been having fun playing with it. He decided
to get his own plan and put work info on it instead of having a work phone that
he has to wait 3-4 days to get fixed when something goes wrong. The blackberry his work provided kept braking
down. His work will still pay for his
plan, but he will have to submit receipts to get reimbursed instead of the bill
going directly to the Chase. Chad and I
went to see Catching Fire last night the second Hunger Games movie. It was kind of gory. There were two other parts I wished I hadn’t
seen, not super bad, but I like
Today has been a nice, relaxing Sunday. I love the Sabbath Day.
My quote for today is from Elder Bednar’s talk, The
Windows of Heaven. “Often as we teach and testify about the law
of tithing, we emphasize the immediate, dramatic, and readily recognizable
temporal blessings that we receive. And surely such blessings do occur. Yet
some of the diverse blessings we obtain as we are obedient to this commandment
are significant but subtle. Such blessings can be discerned only if we are both
spiritually attentive and observant (see 1 Corinthians 2:14). … I testify
that as we are spiritually attentive and observant, we will be blessed with
eyes that see more clearly, ears that hear more consistently, and hearts that
understand more fully the significance and subtlety of His ways, His thoughts,
and His blessings in our lives.” I
loved this talk. I think it will become
a “classic”.
Reading that quote over just now I was reminded
that when I went to do sealings a week and a half ago the work observe in the marriage sealing stuck
out to me. It has at least two meanings,
to do and to watch. I guess we are
supposed to watch good marriages and follow them like was mentioned in this
April 2013 conference talk.
Love,
Mindy
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