July 3--Dear Elder: Phone Call Follow Up, Yard Work, Talking to Cass and Jon, Family News

(Blog note:  This is today's exerpt of a letter that I am compiling to send to our missionary son, Matt on Sunday the 8th).
  

Hey, Matt.  It’s Tuesday.  You are in Mexico (I hope)!  Wow, it’s hard to even imagine.  It’s so exciting!  I just looked at your account.  It looks like you paid the airline $40 and that you ate at MacDonalds, and that you spent a bit at the MTC before you left.  It’s cool to see where you went and what you did!  Yes, I am stalking you, ha ha.  I hope that it was a safe and pleasant trip.

I’m so sorry that you weren’t able to get a hold of Dad or anyone else after you called us.  I know that must be really hard for you.  Dad was sad, too, but he understands.  His phone wasn’t getting any reception in the classroom yesterday, so that’s why it didn’t work out.  He wanted to know every thing you said, and I feel like Heavenly Father blessed my little brain to remember every detail for him.  It really made Dad happy to hear it all.  Thanks for calling us!

I loved yesterday.  Thomas didn’t go in to work at all, and Katrina didn’t go in till 2:30, so I put them to work in the yard.  Katrina mowed, Thomas weed wacked, and, I pulled weeds.  Boy, does the yard look good.  Dad has been way too busy to do it and I was so glad to get it done.  Later, I had Thomas sprinkle Preen on all the weeded area so that no new weeds will  germinate.   Preen sure is good stuff.  The apricot tree is full of apricots in various stages of ripeness, and I need to get the word out for people to come pick.   It did post it on Facebook.  Anyway, the yard is so pretty with big cannas growing in the front and the humongoloidious apricot tree in the back and everything nice and mowed.
 

In the middle of mowing, Cassandra Skyped, and we got to talk to her and Lily!  Cassandra and Katrina were talking about Kindles because they both each got one.  While they did that, I laughed and talked with Lily.  I hope we didn’t irritate Cassandra and Katrina too much, but we two had a good old time.  And then Thomas started making faces and Lily made them right back.  It was lots of fun.  We are thinking that our Christmas this year will be to go visit them.  That will be so fun!

I also got to talk to Jonathan a bit.  He got his birthday cards out of the mail yesterday, and he loved them.  He was very surprised to find birthday money from Grandpa and Grandma.  He didn’t expect any because they helped him out so much when they were visiting in June.  He was really grateful.  He already got a present from us, but we each made a coupon for him of things that we would do for him and stuck it in the card from us.  My coupon was good for doing all his laundry, Dad’s was to take him coyote hunting, Miriam’s was for a batch of cookies, Katrina’s was a promise to buy him something at Disneyland, and Thomas’s was good for Jon getting the bottom bunk whenever he visits and permission to wake Thomas up  and make him move if he ever forgets and falls asleep on the bottom.  It was fun to talk to Jon.  We are praying that he will get a job soon, he could use your prayers, too!

Kat, Thom, and I also took care of Grandma and grocery shopped before we drove Katrina in to work.  It was very nice to have them with me.  When Dad got home, Thomas played at Garred’s and I helped Dad package up a bunch of currency he sold on Ebay.  He’s pretty excited because it went for lots of money.  Grandma had been asking to put on shoes so that she could walk outside all day yesterday.  Well, of course, she can’t walk, but after packaging the currency, we did put on her shoes, loaded her up in the car, and took her with us to the post office to send off the currency.  We also went to Costco and then we picked Katrina up at work and came home where Miriam and Thomas were waiting for us so that we could have Family Home Evening.  By the end of the drive, Grandma was telling Dad to slow down quite a bit, but I still think she liked it. 

For Family Home Evening, we ate at Taco Bell as a family and then went to the Fourth of July booths by the old courthouse.  The kids went to the hair design booth and got their hair done.  Miriam’s was swept up big on her head and came to a point at the crown—the whole thing, head and all was kind of shaped like a tear drop.  Katrina got hers swept to one side and pinned in pretty curls against her head, and Thomas went for a faux hawk.  We got many interesting looks as we checked out the booths.  It was really fun to be with the family just hanging out.   No one bought anything, but we did get some free ice cream.   We read scriptures on the way home and prayed in the car when we got there.  Then Dad went exercising and I put Grandma to bed.  The kids came in and sang a song to her and kissed her good night.  It was such a nice day!

Today has started off well.  I saw Dad and Miriam off to work, and Katrina and I had yogurt together for breakfast.  I love yogurt!!!  I had it with almonds and uncooked oats mixed in.  It’s amazing that the oats taste so good in it and don’t confuse my palate J  While we ate, I told Katrina about what I studied in the scriptures this morning and she was so nice to listen.  Now she is downstairs watching a show (that won’t last long, bwah hahahah), and I am here writing to you. 

Yesterday I shared what I learned in the scriptures with Miriam, Thomas, and Dad.  Thomas shared something with me that fits right in to my studies.  He said that at EFY, he tried to act on every prompting he felt, and once he felt like he should sing and so he did and afterward, someone came up to him and told him how much they needed to hear that song.  You know how I am trying to have the words of Christ in my thoughts, words, and deeds?  As I said before, I figured I’d have them in my thoughts by pondering and in my words by sharing with others, and now Thomas has helped me figure out how to have the Word in my deeds—by trying to act upon every little prompting from the Holy Ghost that I receive throughout the day.   I love how Heavenly Father guides me to study and hear things that all come together and that point me to His Son, Jesus Christ.

(Blog Note:  That's it for today!  Stay tuned for tomorrow's installment.)