August 2012

Hi Everyone,

I can’t believe July is already over. I spent most of it trying to catch my breath! I was glad for the break on the 4^th as we celebrated the Declaration of Independence, especially since it seems like it was the only break I got.

The 11th-14^th was Stake Youth Conference. I had so much fun going to Nauvoo with the youth from our branch. I wish that I had more of them as part of my temporary family that I was assigned to. I was grateful that there were a few more on the bus we rode. I found myself singing a lot with those who sat up front. I also got to talk quite a bit to our bus driver, Larry. He was a very nice man and it was enjoyable getting to know him. On Wednesday night we spent the night as a YW group from Marshall together and that was very fun. We got very little sleep, but I think we all knew that was going to happen to begin with. On the 12^th we left for Nauvoo very early in the morning (I think it was 6am) and we did all kinds of fun things through the 14^th when we left to come home. We went to the Nauvoo pageant, we went to the Country Fair there, we watched a short musical presentation at the visitor’s center called “High Hopes and Riverboats” which was amazing, we did baptisms for the dead in the Nauvoo Temple (so amazing!), toured a few of the homes and businesses around old Nauvoo, ate lots of good food, visited Carthage, had a testimony meeting and I’m not sure what else. It was packed pretty solidly. By Saturday we were pretty worn out from lack of sleep and having so much activity. In fact the last few hours in Nauvoo a good chunk of those with us just sat around and tried to keep from getting too hot. We got back very late, but were grateful for the chance we had to go. What a privilege it is to work with and serve the young women in the Marshall branch!

The following week I attempted to breath before plunging into Relay for Life. It didn’t seem to work very well, but I gave it a good try anyway. Relay was busy. Our branch raised about $1000 and that made it a success. I don’t know if we will do Relay again however as not many people seemed to want to come and assist us. Since it’s supposed to be a branch activity there is no point in trying to do it if they don’t wish to. I will still be involved in Relay one way or another, but we shall see what the next few months of discussion bring.

The next day, the 22^nd was Branch Conference. I enjoyed it, but I was so tired that I don’t really remember much of what was said. I was doing well just to be at Church in my opinion so I hope the things I listened to will be brought to my remembrance as I need them in the future.

That week I concentrated on getting my schoolwork done. I had done few to no assignments in either of my classes which fortunately for me didn’t matter because the instructor doesn’t care when they are turned in as long as it’s before the class ends. I wrote around 11 lesson plans that week and was supposed to do 12, but I couldn’t figure out what to do for the last one. I will work on doing that on Monay.

Beginning on the 29^th was Marshall Band camp. I am on the committee to make that happen so I spent a great deal of time at the school all week long. I will be replacing a couple whose son graduates next June so I was busy trying to learn what they do so that I can do it next year. At first I thought I was going to be able to do it myself, but I realized that I’m going to need at least some help from Andrew. Poor guy always gets drug into whatever I volunteer for.

Today we had a youth temple trip to Detroit. It was hard to get out of bed. I thought I would try to get some sleep on the way over and back, but ended up driving while Andrew drove someone else’s car. Gratefully I didn’t end up being drowsy until the very end when we were dropping off the other car. I always enjoy going to the temple and today was no exception. We took a nap when we got home and that was nice as well.

I bought several cuts of fabric over a month ago that I have yet to be able to do anything with. I’m hoping that this month I’ll get the chance to do some sewing. I wanted to make some new shirts. One of the fabrics I might turn into a skirt though-it just keeps telling me that’s what I should do with it. I’m surprised that fabric can talk-but this one is really doing just that. I keep trying to tell it that I want it to be a shirt, but it tells me that I should make it a skirt and it will be cuter. I think I’m going to give in. It’s a very pretty stripe and I don’t mind having it as a skirt or as a shirt. I think it might be saying something about my level of exhaustion to know that I’m losing a battle against some fabric. Hahaha

I guess that’s about it. I’m glad that I’m nearly done with my schoolwork for the summer. I have only a few classes left and that too is nice. I will also enjoy a few weeks of not having class to attend before I start back into the fall semester the end of September. I’m also glad that all the really big things for summer are over. I will be very busy in the fall semester as I am taking 22 credit hours. Good grief, sometimes I wonder what I’m thinking. I just want to finish school so much and move onto doing something with my degree.

Andrew is very busy with his job. He is in the beginning stages of joining me at Baker, sort of. He is going to be doing his degree online instead of on-campus. I don’t remember what he picked for a degree anymore, but I’m glad to see him moving forward. Hopefully he will not have too many classes to take once his degrees transfer over.

Megan has enjoyed a busy summer and all that came with it. We register her for high school on the 20^th. I can’t believe she is in high school. Soon she will be eligible to learn to drive. Another sign of her growing up all too fast. She is such a joy for both Andrew and I but we are sad to know that our time at home with her is swiftly coming to a close. She is a wonderful daughter and so thoughtful of all around her. We love her very much and are proud of all she does that is good and right.

I better go for now. I hope you are able to enjoy summer a great deal.

July 2012

Hello Everyone,
June was a whirlwind for me. I can see that July probably will be as well. Perhaps it was the busyness of May, I don’t know. I had three final presentations due on the 4^th/5^th for school. That might also have been part of it. I did finish my classes and did well again, all A’s. I am always relieved when I get my report card and that’s what it shows. I work really hard to do that and it’s good to see that it was worth the effort.

I gave a lesson on the Addiction Recovery Program on June 3^rd during the Priesthood and Relief Society combined meeting. Dave and Deb Snowberger  helped me. I think it went well. I now serve as the group leader for the Marshall group. I have yet to be called officially, because I have to turn in Church-Service Missionary paperwork for my call to be extended, but I’m functioning in that capacity already. I’m so grateful for the program and the way it has really helped me to see some addictions and problems in my own life, but more importantly it has helped me to better understand how to use the Atonement more effectively in my own life. I can’t really imagine where I would be today without it. I talked about some of the many misconceptions that people have about the program-one of which is that it should only take 12 weeks to complete the program since there are 12 steps, but anyone with an addiction or other serious problems knows that it takes a long time to overcome something so huge and in some ways we are never free as long as we are still living. Satan works so hard on us and really knows how to get to each of us.

June 6^th was Megan’s last day of school. She also did very well in her grade report. Most importantly though I saw a major improvement in her effort the 2^nd half of school. I wanted to see that very badly because I knew she wasn’t doing her best before.

On the 16^th the entire mutual took a 34-mile bike ride from Kalamazoo to South Haven. It’s a state park trail. They had lots of fun. I rode only four miles, as I was a support vehicle driver, but I enjoyed myself overall. I had hoped to get more of my book read, but I didn’t and that was all right. When we got finished it started raining and by the time we got to the beach and settled in to some degree it really started to come down. We even had hail for a few minutes. We had planned to bbq some hot dogs and have chips and such for dinner, but the grill hadn’t been put away properly and the piece to connect the propane tank was missing. We ended up getting Little Ceasar’s pizza. Not my favorite, but we were all hungry and it was cheap. Finally the rain stopped about the time we got the pizza so after the youth ate we let them play on the beach for awhile before heading home.

 I spent a great deal of time in June working on Girls’ camp stuff. I did the crafts there this year and when I wasn’t busy there I was helping in the kitchen. I love going to camp, but it sure does wear me out. We ended up painting bricks mostly. They were meant to be princesses to go along with the theme. It was lots of fun and I enjoyed the people the most because I enjoy being around the Young Women and other sisters from the Stake.

For the bike ride and camp we had two vehicle incidents. On the way to the bike ride the car just in front of us discovered their engine overheating and pulled over, so we did too. Turned out that they had a hole in the line for the radiator and they actually had nothing in the radiator. We hadn’t gone far, so we turned around and went back to the Church and switched out vehicles with another van. It put us about an hour behind schedule though so that was a longer day than we had thought it would be. We were grateful that it happened however because as we moved forward to get where we could turn around we realized that there was a rollover about where we would have been had we not pulled over when we did. We were so thankful for prayer let me tell you. On the way to Girls’ Camp my car wouldn’t start initially because the motor for my air shocks killed my battery. After we got it jump started we were doing well for about a half hour when all of sudden I couldn’t see the van behind me anymore. I slowed way down and then pulled over. After waiting for quite some time and still not seeing the van, I decided to call. Luckily I had the cell number of the other driver. I wasn’t entirely sure I had before then. It turned out that as she was driving down the road her rear left tire literally rolled off the van and she had pulled over just in time-she was literally sitting on her rear axle. We were delayed 2.5 hours that time, but again all were safe and it worked out in the end. We were so thankful that the Lord was watching over us. Amazingly nobody was hurt, the van was able to be repaired pretty easily (there was no major damage at all) and we were able to get new transportation figured out fairly quickly and be on our way again. It was a crazy beginning to camp though!

While I was at Girls’ camp the scouts were at scout camp. Andrew took them up on Sunday and then came home and then went back up on Friday and stayed the night before coming home on Saturday with the boys. At around 2am they had a storm come through and some of the boys and Andrew got quite wet. Andrew hadn’t put up his rain fly thinking he wouldn’t need it. That same storm swept east and took out power all along the way, it has yet to be completely fixed.

I have decided to reread “The Work and the Glory” series by Gerald N. Lund. I loved the series the first time and since I own it I thought I would reread it this summer. I had hoped to finish before Youth Conference, which begins in about a week. I just finished the 4^th of nine volumes yesterday however so I seriously doubt that I’ll be able to finish the other five in a week. I should explain that better. I began reading the first part of June and have finished four books now, but not nearly enough to meet my goal. That’s really not that big of a deal to me though. I had started rereading to better remember those things that happened in early Church history, but specifically Nauvoo. We are going there for Youth Conference. I won’t finish that part before we go to Youth Conference, but that’s all right because either way I will better appreciate the sacrifice of the Saints.

Andrew is loving his new position at work. He is almost excited to go to work each day. It has been a huge blessing in our lives. He just found out from a new HR person from corporate that after he has been functioning in this position for about a year and they (the company) like his performance they will pay his tuition for schooling for as much schooling as he wants to obtain. This is fantastic news for us in several ways. One of which is that tuition will be paid for. The 2^nd is that he is attending a program where books are included as part of tuition which means they are really paying for all of it. It’s so fantastic to see the blessings of the Lord in that area of our lives. We only hope that they will give up and make him permanent instead of temporary soon. They already told him that as long
as they have work he will be there, and that they aren’t about to run out of work because
there is plenty enough for two people, but we’d like it to more official than that.

On the 21^st or 22^nd I took Krissy in to get her nails trimmed. We have been grinding them at home, but she doesn’t want us to and was getting quite cranky about it. We weren’t able to finish, so I took her in. I got to see my good friend while there and later that day she called and asked if we’d like a couple of bunnies for free. I talked with Andrew and then Megan and of course Megan wanted them and promised to take care of them. I called back and said we’d take them. We picked them up on the 23^rd and then Megan and I left for camp two days later. Megan wasn’t sure she wanted them by the time we came home from camp, she had a hard time adjusting to the fact that they weren’t quite what she expected. I wouldn’t let her back out of a commitment so easily though so she still has the rabbits. Their names are Johnny and Allie.

We thought we had sold some old chickens to another small business, but she never showed up to take the chickens. So now we still need to get rid of some chickens and will sell them whole to whomever wants them. We are hoping several people will want them. I don’t have room for 15 chickens in my freezer I will tell you that. I am glad that some have stopped laying and will be gone though because the longer we have the chickens the less I enjoy the eggs. We just have too many for my taste. I could be happy with two at this point. Two eggs a day was plenty back before we had chickens. I didn’t use two every day, but it averaged out to about that number.

The last piece of news is that we got a 2^nd car in June. We looked around quite a bit and found an Infinite I30 which is a nicer version of the Nissan Altima. It took quite a bit of work to finally get it, but now we have it and are glad for it. Having two cars makes things so much easier. We are hoping to have it paid off early fall this year. Andrew discovered it needs several major repairs, which we didn’t know before we bought it. He will be able to do most of the work himself, but while we go to Youth Conference he has to take it in for some welding that needs to be done. Since he doesn’t have a welder, we will take it to somewhere that does. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but the engine mounts are all gone I think and so they will be lifting the engine back where it belongs and installing a bar to keep it there. It will be worth it in the end if we can get the car to last at least three years which I think we’ll be able to do pretty easily.

Well I think that’s it for this month.

May's going-ons

Hello Everyone,
 May got off to a busy start.  On the 3rd and 4th I helped with a Relay for Life fundraiser dinner. I’m the co-captain for our Branch’s team. Marta Young is the other. She cooked an authentic Mexican dinner (she’s Mexican) and I helped along with a few others. On the 3rd we took most of what we needed down to the VFW hall where we had the dinner. The 4th was a crazy day. It started off at 4:30am when the alarm went off. I took Andrew to work and then came home and got ready for the day. I got a few things done before Marta called to say that she was headed over. I grabbed more stuff that I had forgotten and left. After we started working we realized we were missing some stuff so we had someone go to get it. A little later we realized we were missing more stuff so I went home to grab it. On my way back I realized I needed to leave to get to my luncheon on time (I will tell you about that later) so I dropped the stuff off, changed, and went to my luncheon. Afterwards I bought ice (that was planned) and took it back. Before I could do much (I’d been there about 15 minutes) Andrew called to say he was ready to be picked up. So I left again. He dropped me back off and headed home to clean up, get more stuff, and come back again. As you can tell by now we managed to forget quite a few things. Since this is an annual event I spent some time that night after it was over recording all the things we needed (I hope) so that next year will run smoother. We thought we had plenty of help to serve, but we ended up enlisting the missionaries and were still short on people. It worked out, but we were very tired when it was over. We raised over $600 though and that made us feel a lot better about it. Marta and I talked it over and so did Andrew and I and I’m sure Marta and her husband Marc talked as well. There will definitely be some changes for the better for next year!
 The luncheon I went to that day was for those students at Baker College who had earned the distinction of being on the President’s List. This is not an easy task as it requires a 4.0 GPA. The luncheon is only held once a year so it’s a pretty big deal. That’s why I left to attend it. Every time a student earns a 4.0 they get a pin. I got three presented to me which is a full set.  I’m very proud of myself for doing this because it hasn’t been easy. Andrew and Megan have also pitched in with things to do at home to help out and I appreciate that so much. I’m getting better at handling things on my own, but it has taken a while to get there.
 We did Mormon commercials for the joint activity at the beginning of the month. That was so fun. The youth all had a great time too. We had commercials for Word of Wisdom cereal, Priesthood Power-aide, Modesty locator, Dear John writing service and more. We videotaped them, but it was on someone else’s camera. I want to try and get a copy because as we went along the commercials got funnier and more creative. I would highly recommend this activity for a Ward party or a family reunion as well because people can really be SOO creative when given the opportunity.
 On the 5th I helped with a baby shower. It was small, but everyone had a good time. As soon as that was over I came home and got Andrew and we left for Stake Conference. Andrew went to the Priesthood Leadership session and I went to buy stuff for girls camp as I’m doing the crafts this year. On the 3rd I picked up 100 paver bricks and then unloaded them in our garage to keep until the end of June. They were on sale for nearly ½ off so I took advantage of the situation. I went to Hobby Lobby and got some scrapbook paper, paints, and brushes. The girls will each get a brick that they can paint and turn into a princess. Our theme is “Daughters of a King” so this works well. It’s really kind of exciting to be going to camp. There are two others from the Branch going. Ruth Montross who will help in the kitchen and Alice Peterson who will be a level leader. I’m hoping that we have enough car space to get everyone and everything down to camp and back again in addition to all the girls that need to go. I’m not sure what we’ll do with both Andrew and I needing the van, but we’ll figure something out I’m sure. We always have been able to. We tried letting him ride his bike once, but that was not a good idea because it takes too much energy to ride when he has to work so hard while he’s there. I may just need him to drop me off. I’ll be fine getting back since I’ll have no bricks, but getting there is  likely going to be an issue.
 On the 6th we had a first for our Stake Conference. We went to our own building and had a web broadcast. It was a technology nightmare because our internet was down. Thankfully we had someone show up with a Verizon wireless internet portal and we used that. AT&T is the company we use at the building and it’s such mess the stake is thinking of switching to someone else. We also have no phone quite often over there so we have lots of issues sometimes. Overall the webcast worked out nicely, but the signal dropped a few times and the video and audio feed were also off at times so the speaker was mouthing something different than what we were hearing. That is so weird to see/hear.
 On the 11th and 12th  and again on the 18th and 19th the YW had a yard sale to raise money for girls camp. It went really well. The weather cooperated nicely for us and we made over $600, which mostly paid for camp. The 11th was a busy day because that evening after the yard sale ended (at 5pm) we had a Branch talent show, from 6-8pm with a potluck dinner. We had a great time. As a family we did an old act that I remember from my childhood, the Zambini brothers. We were the Zambini family though. We dressed alike and wore afro wigs and did seven really silly tricks. We pretended I was going to dive through a hula hoop, but at the last second I grabbed it and let it fall around me to the ground. Then Megan pretended she was going to jump onto a chair high in the air, but only touched it with her hand. Then we pretended Andrew was going to do a tight-rope walk but it was too high, so we had to lower the rope. When it was on the ground, he came and stood on top of it. We had a few others, but I won’t bore you with it all, just wanted to give you an idea of what we did. It was lots of fun and we got some good laughs which was the whole point. That same night Andrew took the scouts and went down to sell concessions at the Franke Center for the Arts during the intermission of “The Diary of Anne Frank”. They had to go back on Saturday and do it again for the same play. It was a fundraiser for them. They didn’t do as well as we did, but it worked out well anyway. 
 Mother’s Day was quiet around here and that’s exactly what I wanted. I got a nap and some new sheets for bed (which I was in desperate need of) and that was good. Andrew applied for a job about this same time, well actually a new position with the same company, Tenneco. It was for a computer IT specialist. He has a degree in computer networking (AA) and lots of experience doing what they wanted him to do. He is working towards a degree in electrical engineering and this position went hand-in-hand with that degree, so we were pretty confident he would get it. The best part of it would be that he would be happier in his work. He would also go to day shift again (hallelujah) and get a raise. All of that being good news, we were excited to learn the beginning of June that he got the position. It’s technically a temporary position, but the person he will be working for said that’s just a formality because the company didn’t want to hire someone permanently. We are certainly hoping that it’s permanent, or at least until Andrew can move onto something that pays even better.
 My birthday came and went with little fanfare, which is the way I like it. I had school the night before and the night of, but when Andrew got up the night before (that made it the day of my birthday for him) he decided to make me a birthday dinner-and when I got home I found cupcakes on the table “spelling” out my age-37. It was really cute and I appreciated him thinking of me. I got some cards here and there and a few gifts as well. I wanted to get a new dress and although I found one I wanted, it wasn’t in my size so I didn’t buy it.
 Over Memorial Day weekend we went to Kirtland, Ohio to visit Church history sites. We had planned to do all the Church history stuff in one day, but we didn’t realize how long each thing would take. When we were in Nauvoo we went to everything and it didn’t seem to take as long. We had a wonderful time there. Our favorite place (for all of us) was the John Johnson farm, which is actually in Hiram, Ohio. We also toured the temple, but the Spirit wasn’t present and so we didn’t enjoy it as much as we had hoped to. We were all tired when we got back though. Megan had wanted to go swimming, but when we got to the lake she found it quite mossy and decided against it. We went to an Amish country store and had a really good time there. They had the most unique cookie cutters I have ever seen. They also had delicious ice cream and fudge. Outside they had a place for tying up the horses and buggies for the local Amish people. It was pretty cool. We even saw a pony (think Shetland) pulling a man, two young men, and a cart. We were impressed that the little pony could do that. On the way back to the campground we stopped to get a few things and while I was in the store I found the dress I had hoped to find here in my size. I was so excited I bought it and wore it to Church the following day. So although I had to wait, I still got it. I was glad because my dresses are starting to be pretty old in general. One is 14 years old, but still in good repair. They range from 14 to just over a year when I made one with Megan’s “help” for Easter, but most of them are older. I just got rid of one dress and then I stained and ruined another, so I was excited to get a new dress and it was only $20.
 Andrew’s bees arrived during the beginning of the month and he is already enjoying them tremendously. While we were in Ohio we found some soaps, lotion, and candles etc. that were made out of bee wax. So when we got back he got excited and bought some molds and things to make our own. We hope to also sell some of them at the local farmer’s market. Our landlord was talking to Andrew about all the things we are doing over here and he was telling Andrew how impressed he was with it all. I’m not sure how I feel about it, but hopefully in the end it will be what we want, which is to be self-sufficient with no debts and at least a year’s worth of supplies.
 The Young Men and Young Women did a bike ride on the 30th around town to practice for a big bike ride on June 16th. We will be taking them to Kalamazoo where they will get on a bike trail and then bike 34 miles to South Haven. We’ll stop several times along the way including an hour for lunch. When we get to the beach we will let them swim and play as they like for awhile and then have hot dogs for dinner and then take them all home again. It sounds like it will be a lot of fun. I’m going to drive a support vehicle. I’m not in good enough shape to go that far, though I wish I was.
 School was hard for me to finish this term, I was just worn out from doing school work and didn’t have the usual feeling of wanting to do everything perfectly. I am pretty much an over-achiever at school so this was pretty surprising for me. I did get everything done though and I was excited when it proved to be enough for straight A’s once again. I really take great pride in my school work, which I feel is well-deserved, and was grateful that although I probably could have done slightly better for some of my final work it was good enough to see me through. I am taking classes this summer and I hope that I don’t lose that momentum again. I just really want to be out of school so very much. By the time I’m done I’ll have gone to school for seven years straight to earn a Bachelor’s degree. That’s pretty crazy to me. I’m about to the point that I want to just take the easy route and be a paraprofessional, which is someone who works with at least one teacher to aide them in whatever they need. I just can’t seem to make myself go that route though since I’ve dreamed of having my own classroom for so long.
 I helped with a baby shower for Briana and the missed a wedding and good-bye party as well. Briana is both one of the sisters I visit and my companion to visit another sister. She was in Young Women’s when I first got here and then graduated. She holds a special place in my heart and I wish I could see her more often. She is wonderful. Another sister I visit got married over Memorial Day weekend while I was out of town with my family. It was a fast wedding, they had planned to marry in July but decided to do it Memorial Day weekend only a week before. We also had two couples announce they were moving, one to Utah and one to Texas, both to better jobs. There was a good-bye party for them over Memorial Day weekend that we missed as well. We shall miss these couples, one of the men was Andrew’s home teaching companion and the other sister was my co-captain for Relay for Life. We are glad they are moving onto something better, but we’ll miss them a great deal.
 Well I guess that’s finally it. That was a really long update, but as you can tell, May was a very busy month for me. June promises to be as busy or more with girls’ camp, Relay for Life coming in July, classes beginning again, lots of Church activities, Megan home from school, being a member of the support team for the high school marching band (this is new) and so forth. I keep hoping that life will slow down just a little, but as my mom and my sisters have pointed out time after time I apparently like my life being so crazy because if I didn’t, I would find a way to slow it down. I don’t really agree, but I have to admit it’s probably the truth because other people seem to manage to find a way to do so. I don’t want to be bored, but I would like to be less busy.

May 2012

Hello All,

Sorry this is coming out late this month. I have had a busier-than-usual month so far. April got off to a great start with General Conference, which I always enjoy so very much. On the 4^th the YM and YW went to Ketchum Park and cleaned up the south side from the branches and so forth that were all over. I couldn’t believe how much there was to clean up! They worked really hard at it. It was a beautiful day for it, but the wind knocked everyone’s cups around if they didn’t keep some water in them. Overall it went really well though and I think we’ll be repeating that idea sometime in the future.

The 8^th was Easter. We spent Friday and Saturday assembling and painting beehive boxes. I had no idea how much work those are to build! By the time we finished on Saturday we had no energy to do the traditional egg hunt and such. We just got out the candy and passed it out and didn’t even bother with baskets. Pretty sad, but we were really exhausted. Too much hammering, too much painting and then Megan and I got sunburns on top of that, so we wimped out on Easter. The talks at Church were really good though and I was grateful to come home and nap that day. I love a good Sunday nap.

School started again for me on the 2^nd. I have three classes again. One of them requires me to observe a preschooler for about 10 hours. It has been interesting to do that. I enjoy being in the classroom and got the idea that perhaps I could change my schooling around ever so slightly. I talked to my dean and he confirmed my thoughts. I’m going to switch my focus, not my major to getting my ZA endorsement. This means that I will be certified to work with young children, prior to kindergarten. I can then get a job and teach preschool while I continue to work on my bachelor’s so I can teach regular school. This is very exciting to me. My endorsement will take less time to complete by far, so now I’m trying to get with the dean and find out what I need to take to make that happen. I’m really not sure, but I know I have at least nine more classes that I’ll have to take, which is an entire year’s worth. Still, it would be nice to work a little and go to school. At least then I’ll feel like I’m getting somewhere after all this time I’ve been in college. Another class I have this term is about using technology in education. This class has really shown me some fun things that I didn’t know existed on the Internet. We have made cartoons, done research, made digital storybooks and much more. I thought I was pretty smart with technology, but this class has really proven that theory to be rather incorrect. My third class has been just plain fun. We read stories to each other one night and soon we will spend class doing a felt board story. I haven’t used felt much

over the years, but this assignment (we have to make our own pieces) has been really fun. Now I’m excited about it and want to make more stories. The teacher showed us a box full of pieces that she got 30 years ago and she has used them every year and they are still in good shape. Now I want to make a bunch of pieces for myself and use them too. I wonder how crazy the young women will think I am if I were to do it for one of my lessons. That would be pretty funny I think. Sometimes I think they wish they could act younger than they usually get to. I might just give that some more thought and do it someday.

                The rest of April is a blur. I remember being very busy, but I don’t remember why. I’m sure it was school work and things with the Church, but I don’t know what they were.

                Andrew got some good and bad news about the middle of April. He was offered a permanent position at the place he’s been working as a temp. That’s the good news. Another piece of good news is that his salary went up. It’s still not enough, but it’s better than before. The bad news is that he is now on 3^rd shift. This means that a regular shift for him starts at 10pm and he gets off at 6am. If he has to work overtime, it’s before the shift starts and then he has to stay the full shift no matter what. There are lots of good things though. He is working when it’s cooler, he is going to start getting paid for days off (he wasn’t before, he just claimed unemployment because you can do that as a temp worker), he gets vacation time, and he will get insurance at some point. Additionally he can now apply to do anything in the company whenever a different job becomes available. We are hoping that will happen soon because his immediate supervisor is an idiot. Sadly the idiot’s supervisor (I don’t know here name) knows it but can do nothing about it because her supervisor (again, don’t know the name) is the idiot’s good friend. So you can see that there’s a big problem there. This guy yells at his team all the time when he is there, but doesn’t bother working half the shift because he’s busy being friends. He also insists on doing things a certain way even though that way is harder and takes longer. Luckily they can ignore that when he is away, but when he is there they have to conform or the idiot will write them up. It’s crazy. We are hoping he will find something else, but until then we just put our collective head down and keep working.

Andrew finished his classes on May 7^th. He is now off for the summer. Summer is nicer when neither of us are in school. I might take one class this summer, but will only have to go to the school five times for it. This would be such a nice thing. The other half of the class is purely online. The only problem is that we will have to come up with the money ourselves, student financial aid won’t pay for only one class. We’ll see what happens. It’s one of the classes I need to get my endorsement, so I’m anxious to take it, plus I know the instructor and it would be a VERY easy class to take. I would have little to no homework and almost a guaranteed A in the class.

Megan was excited when the end of April came around because she finally got to get a new phone. Hers hasn’t been working well for several months now and so she was glad when her phone arrived and has been enjoying playing with it.

We switched our internet carrier and we now have a Voice-Over-IP  home phone instead of being with AT&T where we seemed to get bad service all the time. I’m in hopes that our new company will be much better. So far things have been good. That’s more than I can say for the beginning of our time with AT&T.

We have been watching some very interesting shows on Netflix. Andrew and I watched several biographies and we all enjoy watching documentaries. We just finished a series called “America, the Story of Us” and that was pretty cool. I had no idea about some of the things and other things I was surprised they mentioned.

We are planning a surprise trip for Megan over Memorial Day weekend. We figured out by chance that Kirtland, Ohio is about as far from us as the Detroit Temple, so we are going to go and spend the weekend there. We plan to camp which will be nice. We will have to figure out what to do with Krissy and the chickens. We can camp with Krissy, but I don’t think we can take her to do things in Kirtland. The chickens are staying here no matter what though!

Andrew continues to work with the YM and I work with the YW. We enjoy it, but it takes a lot of time. We are glad to be with them though and love our callings. We are blessed to live in a nice house and are thankful for the many blessing that are ours. We hope that you all have the things you need, even if they are not want you want. I know we certainly don’t always want what we need.

April 2012

Everyone,

Another month is already over. I don’t know where they all go so quickly. It seems that the older I get the more I need a good set of brakes to slow life down a bit. If I could slow it way down that would be even better.

March was busy of course. It started off on a great note however. We went out to dinner with two other couples and had a great time, except when my almost-full cup of ice water spilled on Andrew. I don’t know what happened. One second I was holding it and the next it was all over his pants. Poor guy. Despite that, we had a great time. We don’t go out very often and this was the first time in a really long time that we had gone out with friends like that.

We had our first Relay for Life team captain meeting. Marta Young and I will be co-captains again. Last week we went and secured the VFW hall for our Fiesta for a Cure dinner, which will be on May 4^th. We’re hoping to get more people to come out since it will be much closer this year to town. I’m excited for that and dreading it a little bit as it will take my entire day from me, but I enjoy being in the kitchen and think that overall it will be wonderful. We are hoping to raise a good chunk of money from it. We had a member of the Branch offer to pay for the rental of the building, so that will allow us to make even more towards the Relay effort. I love Relay and am so glad I get to do this year after year. I know most people in the Branch are glad they don’t have to, so I guess that works out well. Last year was pretty successful, so we plan to do the same thing this year at Relay-Elephant Ears. Since I had never heard about them before I moved here, I will tell you what they are. They are a large round piece of fried sweet bread dough and then you can top them with butter, cinnamon and sugar which is common here, or powdered sugar which is less common or with fruit. So in other words, they are basically a scone, but flat. We have to fry them as they get ordered and then of course serve them nice and hot. I think we sold about 400 of them last year, though I don’t remember for sure. It’s  a big effort to do Relay and I’m always grateful for the help I get.

I finished my classes-straight A’s. I was really worried about my math class, but was so glad to find that I made it. That was a much better turnout than I had expected at the beginning of class, I had hoped to just pass it after the first few weeks which were extremely hard. I will finish my math classes in the fall and begin the first of two science classes in the fall, the other will be in the spring. I feel like I’m getting nowhere very quickly in regards to my classes. I see the list of what I still have to take and add up how long it will take for me to do it and get discouraged very quickly. At least the last year will be student teaching, which will help things be much better but it’s still a long way off.

On the 10^th Andrew and I took the youth, along with President Peterson, to Grand Rapids for a dance. It was rather interesting and the youth I spoke with didn’t seem to like it as well as the ones we do with just our stake. The idea was good, but the carry out wasn’t. They kept interrupting the dance to do different things and it was disturbing for the youth.

The 11^th is my least favorite day of the year-Daylight Savings Time began. I
always feel cheated when it begins and I hate it the entire time we have it because it
makes a three hour difference between here and AZ. It makes it so much harder for
some reason for me to call. I can’t explain it other than that. It was mixed with good though as that’s also my father-in-law’s birthday so we called to talk to him for awhile.

On the 18^th we had New Beginnings with the YW and their parents and also some guests, the girls each chose a sister in the Branch that they felt exemplified the value they
 had been assigned to talk about. It went really well. They weren’t allowed to choose
their mom or a member of the YW Presidency. I think it really made the sisters feel
special to know that the girls were thinking of them. I wish they had spent more time talking about their sister, but that’s all right I guess. I was pleased with the outcome.

On the 21^st, Megan and some of the other YW did indexing. Some for the first time and some have done it before. It was exciting for the girls to be part of that effort though.

On the 24^th Andrew and I went to the temple. We don’t get to go often here, so this was a major treat for Andrew and I. We also got to go for free because the couple we rode with paid for our trip. That was even better since we are still very tight with money. They took us out to this Mediterranean restaurant, I don’t remember the name but they had some amazing bread and garlic spread to start out the meal with and then I had this huge salad with charbroiled chicken and Italian dressing. It was fabulous. I didn’t get hungry the rest of the day! Megan and I also had the General Young Women’s broadcast. This is the unofficial beginning of General Conference and I’ve enjoyed attending with Megan for the past few years now. The poor girls can’t get rid of me. When she was just about to enter Primary I was in there and stayed there until just before she graduated, I think the last 18 months or so and now I’m in YW with her. I don’t think she minds, but I do feel a little bad for her. I think she likes it overall however.

On the 25^th we had a youth fireside that we watched a video for. It was really good to hear some of the speaker’s thoughts on Church and the three hours we spend there. I especially liked his thoughts about the sacrament.

This past weekend was General Conference and I enjoyed all four general sessions. Andrew went to Priesthood session and told me a little about Elder Bednar and what he spoke on. After he told me, everything I knew about Elder Bednar really clicked. I loved it. I really enjoyed President Uchtdorf’s talk about stopping our petty behaviors and those things that keep us away from those we love, like not forgiving them. Sadly this weekend I also found out that one of the couples we really enjoy spending time with is planning to divorce. I hope that changes and that they can learn to live with each other and, better yet, get back to being in love again. I’m not naïve enough to think that will just happen though, it will take a great deal of work and effort on both of their parts. Divorce has become far too common and far too easy.

Last Friday I found some material that was only $1.50/yard and plan to make myself a new blouse and a new skirt. I need to make them still, but I got the material at least. I’m not sure when that will happen-the sewing I mean. Sometime during March (I don’t remember when for sure) I put my quilt together and then Andrew helped me tie it quickly. It turned out really well and I’m enjoying it a great deal already. I also attended the Emergency Preparedness
group, which was nice because I won’t be able to attend again for a couple of months
at least if I remember right. I keep having school and such to where I can’t go. I’m glad Andrew is able to though.

I was enjoying the temps in the 70’s, but then it got too hot and now it has really cooled way back down. I hope all our trees make it all right because I would hate to lose any of them. We won’t get fruit anyway, so I’m not worried about the buds this year, but I do want them all to live. Well I think that’s about it for the month. I hope yours was a wonderful month.

Andrew just came home from work and brought me some flowers. He is such an awesome husband! I just thought I would share that.