Dear Elder,
Hi! How are you? I sure hope you are feeling better than you did last week! I am so sorry that you have been feeling sick, and we are so happy that Heavenly Father helped you to know to eat something so that you could feel better that night. After reading your account, we decided that your parasite must have needed a midnight snack, ha ha. Actually, having a parasite is no laughing matter, and we sure hope that medicine does the trick, but I have my doubts, so make sure you get more help if the problem persists, okay? We are praying for you to be healthy, Matt, so that you can do the work of the Lord!
We watched the Saturday sessions last night, and I am so excited to be watching again soon, today. Grandpa and Grandma are in town and they will be watching the morning session with us. As a family, we will listen to the afternoon session of General Conference on the car radio as we drive to my brother Rick and his wife, Kelly’s house for a get-together. Their son, Ben, is going to read his mission call, and we are going to celebrate Grandpa’s seventieth birthday. Can you believe that he is seventy years old today? I told him that seventy is the new sixty, ha ha.
Did you get to watch Conference? Wasn’t it wonderful? I have to admit, Matt, that I was a bit concerned going into conference that I would be overwhelmed with more things I need to incorporate into my life because I am still trying to incorporate my goals from the last general conference into my life. Instead, conference strengthened me and reaffirmed the importance of my goals and gave me insights on how to go about meeting them. As I listened, one of the impressions I got was to buy the book that my sister, Elizabeth recommended to me called “Every Day Missionaries.” I bought both the Kindle version and the hard copy version which should be here by Monday or Tuesday. Anyway, I have begun reading the Kindle version, and I really love it. I am learning how we as members can be missionaries every day of our lives.
The reason that Grandpa and Grandma are here is because my sister Sarah’s husband, James’s mother passed away this last week. Do you remember her, Matt? What a sweet lady! She has been suffering from cancer, Matt, and has been sick for quite awhile. James was able to be in town when she passed away which is a real blessing. She died Wednesday, I think, and Sarah and the kids flew in Thursday for Friday’s funeral. Grandpa and Grandma were going to come up for my brother, Rick’s son, Jesse’s baptism next week, so they came up early to attend the funeral as well. I missed the funeral because of work, but Elizabeth also attended. Grandma says the funeral was a very sweet experience. I wish I could have been with them, and I am so happy that we get to see Sarah and James and their family at Rick and Kelly’s today.
Yesterday was a wonderful day, first, because of Conference, and also because Grandpa and Grandma and Elizabeth and her kids all came over for a visit. We didn’t know whether or not we’d see them yesterday, but Julie’s son Richard called them and told them that he’d be opening his mission call at 5:00 pm and that they could watch him do it on Facebook. When they tried to set it up at Elizabeth’s house, it didn’t work so Grandpa and Grandma came over here. It was total chaos as we talked to Rick, Sarah, and Elizabeth on the phone while Richard’s family was on video. The video ended up failing, and we heard the mission call over the phone after all. Richard has been called to serve in the Rapid City South Dakota mission. Richard was really excited because ever since Jacob got his call to Singapore, Richard has joked that he would be going to South Dakota. He even told his stake president he would be going to South Dakota. He was joking, but when the call came, it was official. It is wonderful the ways Heavenly Father lets us know that He is in the details of our lives. After Dad and Thomas and Grandpa left for the priesthood session, Elizabeth and her younger kids came over to join us and Grandma for a little party. We ate pizza and talked. It was so fun!
Well, Matt, we just finished watching the Sunday morning session of Conference. Grandpa and Grandma joined us for conference because Elizabeth and her family had another family over to watch this session of conference with them. I have to ask Elizabeth about the family they invited over. I suspect it came about because Elizabeth had read the book she recommended to me. She is pretty excited about it.
It was nice to have Grandpa and Grandma over, and we really enjoyed this session of conference. Now we are writing letters to you and eating and getting ready to drive to Rick’s during the afternoon session. It makes me so happy that you are watching Conference, too.
Katrina missed conference yesterday because she was at the Shakespeare festival. She had an enjoyable time, and got home while the guys were at the priesthood session. Last year, she missed Saturday, too, but watched them between the Sunday sessions. This year, because family has visited, and we have Grandpa’s birthday to go to, I don’t think she will be able to do that, but I have confidence that she will find a time to view it.
Dad has worked every spare moment installing the furnace at the laundry. He took time off to watch both conference sessions on Saturday because I begged him, too, and of course he’s not working today on the Sabbath, I’ve been praying that it will be a good day of rest for him. He is really getting burned out. He says he never wants to accept a job just for the money again. I hope not. Its not worth it. If he hadn’t said he would do the furnace, Vic would have just hired someone else, but Dad saw dollar signs, poor guy. He also has been working very hard teaching. I think that things are beginning to get better, though. I am so glad for that answer to prayer!
Since Dad was working so much, I went to Thomas’s football game on Thursday in his place. Because he misses football for gymnastics every week, Thomas is not allowed to play in the games even though he makes up the absences by doing twice as many monsters as required. Well, Thursday night, one of the coaches obviously didn’t get the memo that Thomas isn’t to play in the games, and he played Thomas! It was so wonderful to watch him out there giving his all to the team, and I was very happy for him.
Besides working, Miriam has been going shopping and also a co-worker couple invited her over to their house for dinner. She and Preston have cooled it off for awhile, maybe permanently—we will see. I know it is hard for her because she has spent so much time for him, the rest of her social life has suffered. I know she’ll make it through.
I also got to talk to Cassandra and Lily this week and Skype with them. When I called, Lily was in bed after her nap and didn’t want to get out of bed. Cassandra was trying to convince her to get out. Finally, it was Lily’s desire to “show” me her toys (we were only on the phone at the time, not Skyping) that got her out of bed. She is so cute! She sang songs to me including “Hip, Hipooray for the Piglet and the Pooh” and “Let’s Go Fly a Kite.” She put her owl pajamas on over her clothes to show me how they looked. I am so glad she likes talking to me on the phone. Cassandra is very patient to hold the phone for me to talk to Lily and to talk to me, too.
I got to visit with Jon on the phone for a couple of hours this week, too. He is doing well. He also helped Dad with the furnace for a few hours which I know Dad really appreciated. He is lookin so good! He has an awesome goatee and ‘stache. When I went to Costco on Saturday to buy pistachios for Conference, he was there, which I always love. He was wearing some very cool shoes which turned out to be slippers he’d bought there at Costco, so I bought some for Thomas for Christmas. Shh…, don’t tell
And what have I been up to? Hmm…well, have I mentioned that I love my job? I love my job!!! I had such a rewarding week teaching and tracking amazing students. Besides that, I’ve been home being a mom. Did I mention that I love being a mom? I LOVE being a mom!!! And that includes being a grandma. I’ve Skyped with Lily, driven with Katrina, eaten dinner with Thomas and Miriam, and done various and sundry mom things that make life worthwhile. I also love being Dad’s wife! Dad was going to work all Friday, but he was so burned out, he decided to only work till 5 and then go out on a date with me. We had such a wonderful time! We drove to the ski resort and ate at an incredibly delicious barbeque place that Dad discovered the last time he was there. We also walked up and down main street and it was really fun and really cold. We had lots of fun talking on the drive up and back, too. When we got home, we ate ice cream (surprise, surprise) and watched TV. Life is beautiful, Matt.
That is our week and our life. How was your week and how is your life? Please tell us everything. Have you found Christina? What about Jesus? Is Erik totally out of the picture? I really really hope you have been feeling well. If you haven’t, don’t just suffer, GET HELP!!! I love you, Matt.
Love,
Mom
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