Hello
Everyone,
Fall is such a busy time, but the weather
is so nice and the leaves on the trees so beautiful. That is one of the many
reasons I love to be in Michigan-there are real seasons! In Arizona, the leaves
just turn brown and fall off the tree, there is nothing beautiful about it.
Raking leaves isn’t much fun I will grant you, but we have learned to just mow
them and they turn to mulch and we don’t have to worry about them molding or
anything. So much easier.
After falling and hurting myself
on August 21st (my ankle and foot were sprained very badly) I stayed
down for several weeks. I’m finally starting to do better, but I still have to
be careful. I noticed this morning that apparently I’ve done something to it
yet again because it’s hurting today and was pretty swollen last night. I think
it’s because at times I put my foot up on my tip-toes when sitting and it’s not
a good thing for my foot yet. I have to remind myself not to do that. It was
impossible when I would put it up, but when I have it down it’s harder. I also
can’t stand for long periods of time yet without causing some problems, but the
time I can spend on my feet has improved greatly and I usually don’t exceed the
limit. I am however able to wear more than one pair of shoes, which was getting
really old. I’m still working my muscles often and mostly everything is fine,
but when I put my foot in the position it was while twisting and falling it’s
still quite painful. Now that it’s been about six weeks I can only think about
how I’d be healed completely had I broken it. Still, I can’t complain about not
having to wear a cast. That makes it easier to deal with.
I started working on next year’s
calendar for Church. I make one for me, for Andrew and for the building
schedule. Much of it is copy and paste, but there is a lot of information that
I need to put up on there and it takes quite a lot of time. I figured since I couldn’t
do much else, I could sit and use the computer, which worked out quite well.
I also did a lot of sewing,
though I think I might have been pushing my foot on that one because I couldn’t
do it for long periods of time (at that point). I fixed all the stuff that had
been piling up first. I made several shirts (can’t remember how many now), a
dress, and a skirt (I think-but maybe it was just adjusting a skirt to make it
smaller around the waist and shorter). I also shortened a few dresses that were
way too long which I had gotten for cheap on clearance and then made some
headbands from the extra material. Then I made some bags for grocery shopping which
hardly get used because I don’t remember them until after I’ve gotten out of
the store. Finally I made a tablecloth and some napkins for a friend who is
getting married. It was a busy sewing month!
School began again for Megan and
Andrew had a short introductory course that he did for three weeks. Megan is
loving marching band and although she has a lot of practices to attend she is
glad she stuck with it. Apparently they are planning to go somewhere next year
on tour and then Disneyworld in her Senior year. I hope I get to chaperone that
trip with Andrew as well because we’ve never been able to go and had thought
that we might go on vacation there at the end of her Senior year anyway. I
guess we’ll see. That’s much too far away to plan on who is chaperoning and who
isn’t at this point. I think her favorite class is Seminary. I don’t think she
enjoys getting up so early, but she has come to terms with it. She is excited
to go each day as near as I can tell and that’s the class we talk about the
most often. I’m glad that she is enjoying it enough to already be working on
recruiting those who will have the option to attend next year. I hope the
enthusiasm from her is enough to get them to come. She has been working
diligently on several goals that she has set for herself for the school year.
Others she has not been so good about, but I think she is making good progress
on the most important ones.
We went to Stake Standards Night
and had a really good time listening to the speakers. I was amazed at how much
I enjoyed it because the talks were directed to the youth, but I felt so much
like they were talking directly to me. What a blessing the Lord has given us in
personal revelation. I spoke on the 23rd in Sacrament Meeting and
for the first time in I don’t know how long, I didn’t cry! I was so surprised
by it and also quite grateful. I think it helped that I wrote my talk about two
weeks before I gave it and then didn’t look at it again until I was up in front
to give it. It was on focusing on the temple and I think it went pretty well. A
few people told me they enjoyed it, which was nice to hear. We also had our YW
in Excellence. It went really well and we were blessed to hear from President
Peterson (Branch President), President Montross (1st Counselor in
the Stake Presidency) and Sister Loso (2nd counselor in the Stake YW
Presidency). I felt very lifted by their words. We had a fireside that Brother
Draut came and spoke at as well. He spoke on symbolism in the scriptures. He is
the head of CES in our area so this was no small thing. He followed up his
fireside with over 30 attachments to emails that I received and will forward to
the youth and others who attended. Then on the 29th we had the
General Relief Society Meeting and I again felt inspired and lifted by all that
was said. What a rich blessing I had in September!
School started again for me on
the 24th. I ended up dropping a 4 credit class, Geography, because
the textbook is new and I didn’t want to pay for a new one. I will take it in
the next set of classes and will be able to get it used. That is a much more
reasonable price to pay. That gives me only 18 credit hours this quarter. I was
worried about too much homework, but it hasn’t been bad so far. I’ve been
working hard though because I want to get as much done as possible before I
start doing the 90 hours at a preschool that I have to get done this quarter. I
have about a week before I start that I’m guessing. It will be the middle of
October and that will leave me little to no time for homework so I’m glad that
I won’t have much of it to do at that point.
I went and saw the doctor this
week. He said that all my blood work turned out fine. Some of the numbers are
not ideal, but everything is in normal range. I was glad to hear it. He did
talk to me seriously about my weight and we made a goal for me to lose about 25
lbs. before I go back to see him in April. I am glad that he cares enough to
talk to me about it. I think I will like going to him, even though I miss the
woman I used to see (she moved out of town and doesn’t want to commute an hour
each way every day). She was good and very kind.
I have been realizing that I’m
finally starting to know quite a few people around town. This feels good to me
because we’ve been here three years this month and I knew practically nobody
when we got here. Now I see people occasionally that I actually know and that
feels good to me. I’m surprised at how many I have gotten to know through Relay
for Life, school things (mine and Megan’s academic classes) and now band. I’m
still far from where I wish I were, but it’s good to know I’m getting somewhere
with it.
On the 1st we made a
trip to Paw Paw and surprised Elder Peel who served here some time ago and took
he and his companion (who knew about it) out to dinner. We had a good time
catching up and getting to know his companion a little. Elder Peel meant a lot
to us as he served here for six months roughly and was in our home a lot during
that time. Also, he meant a lot to us because he happens to be Sheri’s cousin,
and Sheri is one of my best friends from back home. We missed him while he was
gone and were so excited that he was close enough to go and have dinner with
him one last time. We have enjoyed many missionaries over the last three years
and we are glad to have the chance to get them here again for Thanksgiving and
Christmas Eve, which has become our tradition. We have nobody else to spend it
with and neither do they, so we do it together.
I got about three inches of my
hair cut off trying to get the layers to be less bothersome. I can’t believe
how much I miss those three inches and how much nobody else can even tell they
are gone! I’ve had so many layers and also some face framing (the front of my
hair was MUCH shorter than the rest) and I’m trying to get it all much closer
to the same length like it used to be. I’ve decided I don’t like having so many
layers. Every now and then I think about growing out my bangs, but I just don’t
like the way I look, so I keep trimming them up.
I got my official mission call
to serve as the group leader for the Addiction Recovery Program in our branch.
My mission began on July 1st and will go for I believe three years.
This is an amazing program that I barely knew existed before I came out here.
It really helps me to understand the Atonement better and is helping me to make
positive changes in my life. I’m still far from perfect, but I keep working on
improving myself each day and that’s all I can do.
My most recent at-home project is to reload all of our music and audio CD’s
into iTunes again. Something happened and we lost A LOT of the files being able
to play. The files were all there, but they wouldn’t all play, so I’m working
on that. It’s a slow process and it can be frustrating at times, but when I’m
done I think it will be completely worth it. I sure do hope so.
I’m listening to Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage right now. I wish I
was retaining even half of what I’m hearing. I like to listen to things as I
drive back and forth to school and I do that four times a week. That’s four
hours of travel for me and I’m going through it pretty quickly. I also listen
to it as I get ready in the morning or run errands. It helps me keep focused on
what’s really important.
