ear Elder Cole,
Hi! How are you? How has this week gone for you? I hope it has gone well, Matt. I know that you are having a slow time in your mission, but hang in there; you have no idea the amount of good that you are doing.
Now, for a little business. I checked your account and you seem to be low on money, so I deposited another $100. I wonder how much you will need for travel. I'll ask Dad about that. Also, I got on to your facebook page and invited all of your friends to your homecoming. I hope you don't mind that I changed your profile picture from Bill Murray to Elder Cole. If you do mind, just let me know and I will change it back. I also called Elizabeth and Rick and invited them and their families to come.
Well, this is the hardest mental exercise I do all week: trying to remember what we did so that I can tell you, ha ha. For some reason, I always forget what we did on Monday. Hmmmm...Heck, what did we do on Tuesday? Oh ya, we went to Katrina's last choir concert of the year, and we really enjoyed hearing her sing. At the concert her choir teacher announced that they have been invited to sing at Carnegie Hall next year and asked us to vote on whether or not we wanted the choir to go. So later we talked to Katrina and Thomas, who will both be in concert choir next year and told them how much we could contribute to the trip, and they told us how much they could earn, and we looked into a couple of other possibilities. After determining all that and finding out how much it would cost, we decided to vote for the trip. They are very excited about the possibility, especially Katrina, so we'll see what happens.
Earlier that day, my school class went to fishing day at a pond. It is a big event put on by the Department of whatever for all the special needs kids in the valley. The students get to each catch a fish, and they also get served lunch. Our students had a wonderful time, and I enjoyed taking pictures of everyone which I am adding to the year book that we are making for each student. It is kind of my project since I took all the pictures and no one else knows how to put pictures on the computer. All of my coworkers are older than me, so at work I'm considered a young whippersnapper. I love my job, ha ha! The teacher I work for is retiring this year for sure, btw, which means lots of changes in my job.
Oh, I forgot that it was also Thomas's birthday, and it figures that I would forget to write about it till now, because I also forgot to wish him happy birthday that day. He had to remind me. I felt so bad! I don't think I've ever forgotten to wish any of you kids happy birthday before. We celebrated his birthday on Sunday, so we didn't do much for him that day, but you'd think he'd at least get wished happy birthday without having to remind everyone about it. Later that night, when it arrived from Amazon, I did present him with a six foot long poster of the galaxy to hang in his bedroom. It's pretty cool. Then, Friday, another poster of a nebula came for him. His room now looks out of this world, ha ha.
I did, however, remember to wish my sister, Elizabeth, happy birthday which, I found out previously, I've never remembered ever since Thomas was born on the same day, not even to wish her a late happy birthday. I told her the reason I remembered her birthday this year is because I forgot Thomas's and since it is obvious that I can only remember one or the other, this would be the last birthday of hers that I will be remembering since I can't very well forget Thomas's again. I gave her a hanging flower basket. We siblings don't usually give each other gifts, but since this will be the last birthday I remember, I figured it was the least I could do. Of course, I was kidding her: I hope to remember both of their birthdays from now on!!!! Wish me luck on that, I'll need it. Some young whippersnapper I turned out to be, huh?
Wednesday, Thomas went to his first priest's activity which just happened to be a combined activity with the Laurels, so Katrina was there, too. I think they both had a nice time. With both of them taken care of for dinner, Dad and I decided to eat out. We invited Miriam to join us, and ate at Panda Express, a place that Thomas can't eat. We enjoyed eating and visiting together.
Thursday Thomas worked and Katrina had voice lessons, and on Friday, Dad and I went out to eat. He was pretty exhausted, so we went home after that to watch a movie and eat ice cream. We watched "Flipped" which you may have read, Matt. It was a sweet movie, and it made Dad cry, which is why I married him.
Saturday I exercised, cleaned house, went to the girl's camp to check it out, and watched the tube in the evening with your still-exhausted daddy. It's Sunday night and he's still utterly exhausted. He put in the coolers at the laundry this week, and it was hard to do. He goes straight from teaching to that and stays there late. No wonder he's one tired hombre. By the way, Dad is being transferred to the junior high next year which he is very happy about. The fact that he can be happy about moving to junior high attests to the misery of his present situation. I sure hope is ends up being a good thing for him. It will be, monetarily, because we wont be facing the pay cut that we thought would happen. Heck, he may even buy himself the vehicle he's been wanting to replace the little pick-up which is twelve years old now, I think. It would be good to have it for a second kid car.
Today was a weird day, but I don't have the emotional energy to go in to it. We also did some nice things, though, like go to a church history museum and watched a movie about the resurrection, and eat dinner together as a family. The highlight of the day is when Thomas got ordained to the office of a priest in the Aaronic priesthood. We are so happy he is worthy to be so trusted by the Lord.
Lately I have been studying Lehi and Nephi's visions of the tree of life. I've often thought that if I were to paint the scene, which I long to have the skill to do, I would add a gate at the head of the path leading to the tree of life. Read 2 Nephi 31:17-18 and tell me what you think. Also, we are reading the Isaiah chapters as a family, and I have been reading a commentary along with it. Thank you for telling me what you are studying, Matt. Alma 17-27 are wonderful missionary chapters! What insights have you had about them?
Well, Matt, I love you so much. I have been praying for you. I always pray for you, but this last week, I have been praying even more. I hope that you are feeling happy and seeing the fruits of your labors no matter how subtle. We see them here as your faith and example continue to bless our family.
Love,
Mom
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