July 21--Another Letter Installment for Matt: In the Kitchen, At the Park, In the Basement

Now it is Sunday morning.  I really enjoyed having Jennifer and Emily over for lunch on Thursday.  Katrina and Thomas helped me a lot to get ready.  In fact, they did most of the cooking.  They are good hamburger cookers because Thomas barbecues with Jon so much and Katrina likes making herself occasionally.  Katrina and Thomas ate with us, and it was a most enjoyable time.

Thomas ate his burger without a bun because we have taken him off of wheat completely.  He has been feeling unwell for some time now, but since we took him off wheat earlier this week, he is doing better.  By the way, that kid is one lean, mean muscle machine!  He was doing pull-ups last night, and he pulls his chin up more than a foot above the bar!  He has incredible upper body strength and would make an awesome gymnast.  Remember all the tumbling tricks he used to try out on the living room couch, ha ha.  Also, he is an amazing jumper.  He’d not only be good at gymnastics, he’d thoroughly enjoy it.  Kind of like the shoulder angel on Studio C.  Do you remember the shoulder angel, Matt?

Friday, Jon needed us to bring him a mattress from home before he went to work, and Thomas had work an hour later than Jon needed us at his house. Jon’s front yard opens right out onto a park, so I called Elizabeth and she and her kids met Thomas, Katrina, and me at the park after we dropped off the mattress to Jon.  It was nice to see Jon.  His roommates had taped paper to cover the little window by their front door, and I’d given Jon some nice rice paper-looking window covering to put up instead, so while we were there, I helped him put it up.

It was also nice to be at the park with Elizabeth and her family.  We had a good time.  I left after about an hour to drop Thomas off at work, and after that Katrina and I went shopping first with Elizabeth and kids and then just the two of us.  When we came home, I crashed for awhile.  After that I finished up the meal I was making for the family whose son passed away.  They needed gluten-free food which was nice because I just made double to feed our family, too.  I was happy to be able help them out in this small way because I am sure that little things like making dinner are hard to do at such a time of mourning.  Miriam helped me bring the food over, and we volunteered to return dishes from other meals to their owners so that the family didn’t have to do it.  It was nice to help them with that small burden.

Since we had food to eat, Dad and I bucked our Friday night tradition of going out to eat, and we ate as a family instead.  We don’t take up the whole kitchen table now, and I sit next to Dad instead of at the other end.  It’s cozy but strange.  We had barbecue pork roast, rice, corn on the cob, and salad.  Afterward we read scriptures and said prayer together.  Miriam drove Katrina to watch a performance of “The Sound of Music” with her friend, Ashton.  Thomas went with them and after they dropped Katrina off, Thomas and Miriam went shopping.  Dad and I left for our date, but after a stop at the laundry, we decided to come back home, eat ice cream, and watch film noir, which we did.  It was a nice evening.

Yesterday Thomas went on a hike up one of the mountains close by.  It was twelve miles up and back, and coming back down was very punishing on his knees.  He also got a bad sunburn.  When they got to the top, they signaled with mirrors.  I think scouts all over the country were supposed to do the same thing—hike to the top of a mountain and signal with their mirrors at noon on Saturday.  We saw Thomas’s signal, and we signaled back to him with the big closet door we had just removed from the room we tore apart.  Thomas couldn’t miss it, ha ha.

Dad and I finished tearing out and cleaning up the basement room.  When we very first started in the morning, Dad twisted his ankle and it hurt him badly all day, but he worked anyway, of course, you know Dad, he's amazing! We hauled off the lumber, sheet, rock, and carpet, and swept up.  Dad glued down the 2x4’s in order to start framing on Monday.  He has to be done framing by Tuesday evening so that Jeff can come help him with the electrical.  It’s nice to have a deadline like that to keep us working hard and fast, ha ha.  I just wish Dad’s foot wasn’t hurting him.  He was able to sleep last night, though, which was good, and he plans to go on a walk this morning.  Miriam took Katrina shopping, and when they got back, Katrina mowed and she and Miriam and Thomas helped us unload lumber for framing.

Lily is not doing better, she is doing worse.  Please keep praying for her.  All the tests taken so far have been negative.  They are now wondering about a twisted bowel.  I will be fasting for her.  I hope we can Skype them today or tomorrow!  Today we have home teachers, though, so we probably won’t be able to Skype today.  Lily goes to bed just about the time we get out of church anyway because of the time difference.