Tuesday, Thomas and I helped Jonathan move. It went quickly, and soon we were unloading at his apartment. It is a new place and I like it. The men living there keep it very clean. I saw one of his roommates and he seems like a nice guy. There are pictures of temples on the wall, so I’m thinking they are active in the gospel. The front of his apartment opens up on the park, so he’ll have lots of green space in which to play disk golf with Thomas.
My job was to open and close the glass door for Jon and Thomas as they unloaded the stuff from the car, and while I did that, I Skyped Lily. A few days ago I had sent her a Hello Kitty purse and sunglasses, and it had just arrived in the mail. Cassandra showed me Lily wearing the sunglasses and playing with the purse. Lily was too busy playing to visit much, but it was really fun watching her enjoy the gift I’d bought. Matt, Lily is really sick. She has been throwing up off and on for more than two weeks now. Tuesday night she was up for five hours in lots of pain and throwing up. They have been to the doctor and he is trying to find out what’s wrong. She could really use your faith and prayers.
I left Thomas to help Jon pack, and then Jon took him into work an hour later. After that, I cleaned out the stuff we had in Jon’s room, and it went much more quickly than I expected, and by the time Dad got home, I had lots of stuff to donate to the second hand store. Dad helped me load it up, and we drove in. First we stopped at Elizabeth’s house so she could take any of the stuff she wanted, then we donated the rest. We stopped at the laundry to throw away trash from the room and we also stopped at Walmart to buy supplies for the tres leches cake I was making for a funeral luncheon and to pick up sausage for dinner which was Dad’s famous oat waffles with eggs and sausage. Yum!
We got home late but managed to make and eat dinner, move our bed and stuff upstairs, and get the cake made all before bedtime. Katrina and Miriam really helped me a lot because I realized that I’d forgotten one thing for the cake and they went to the store quite late to get it for me. I didn’t even realize that they had gone and had decided to make a plain old cake that didn’t have to be refrigerated overnight instead of a tres leches, but then they walked in the door with the ingredient I needed. They are so sweet!
The funeral that I made the cake for was Nathan's. I asked Dad to tell you about his passing in his last week’s letter because it is hard to talk about. It is such a tragedy to have happened in our ward and to our friends. Wednesday Dad and I went to Nathan’s viewing. As we stood in line waiting to comfort his parents, I looked into their faces and thought about how I would feel if I were to lose one of you kids. His mom's’s face lacked it’s usual light as she tried to function despite the pain of her loss. When it was our turn to speak to them, I looked in her eyes, and hugged her and we cried and mourned together.
As you know, Dad and I taught Nathan's sister when we first moved into the ward. Do you remember that class? She would seldom come, so I’d visit her every week and tell her about our lesson, and she and her family began coming to church again. Later her mom told me that I helped them to come back. Matt, I can’t imagine the depth of their pain had they not had the comfort of the gospel to sustain them. They have been sealed together for time and all eternity in God’s holy temple, and death cannot separate them for long. I know that this fact sustains them in their suffering.
I had to take Thomas to work and so I missed a lot of the funeral, but Katrina and I were there for the last part of it. It was good to be there, and I’m glad Katrina was with me. After that we went grocery shopping. When we got home I took a nice hour-long nap and then cleaned up some mess left over from moving upstairs. Dad went over to State Farm after work, and switched all his insurance coverage over to them. Horace Mann has been raising our rates a ton the last couple of years, and Miriam was able to save us and also Jonathan lots of money. She is also paying her own car insurance now, so we are paying tons less than before.
When Dad got home, we had soup, salad, and biscuits for dinner. After that, Katrina and Thomas went to young men and young woman’s where they played ultimate Frisbee in the wind and sprinkling rain. After helping with the dishes, Dad tore into the room downstairs, literally. The closet is gone, the ledge/wall under the windows is gone, and the sheet rock is almost all off the walls. Dad got it all done super fast. He is amazing! The pickup is laden with stuff and ready to be driven to the transfer station this morning if Dad ever wakes up, ha ha.
Downstairs--AAHHH!
Today I am having my visiting teaching companion, Emily, and my visiting teaching sister, Jennifer over for lunch. Emily and I decided that would be a fun way to do our visiting teaching. We are having hamburgers, soup, tater tots, grapes, and cookies. I am looking forward to it. Thomas works later in the day, and I’m sure Dad and I will be working more on the basement. Katrina was coughing all night last night, so I’m going to let her sleep in, poor girl.
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