Dear Children,
I am feeling much more relieved this morning. Aaron and Katie slept in
Tomorrow Katie starts a full day of training with all the interns at KSDK TV in
We are all excited also for Nate’s first day at Zappos today. That will be a wonderful place for him where he can use both his smarts and creativity. He is going to do well there. It is not in his plans to stay at Zappos forever but it will be a great place to learn more about his career and make good impressions and connections. Morty said that Nate got a haircut so I hope that he found someone that could give him a good style.
I lost my sticky-note in Albertson’s on Saturday that had all my notes that I had been taking for the family news this week so I can’t quote any numbers from Bill. But, this week Bill excitedly shared news about the growth of his company. I think he said that they were up over 100% from the previous year! They are hiring another staff member for their office. It is nice that Bill can concentrate on his best part of the business instead of doing it all.
I don’t want to forget to let you all know that Meeja is saving “Box Tops for Education”. They are mostly on General Mills cereal and
Meeja Bitter
What I do remember from the week’s activity, without my sticky-note, is the movie that Grandma Maldonado and I went to see, Marley and Me. That is a MUST see for everyone. It was a great show, with a very good message plus, if you need a good cry, it will do the trick! But don’t let that stop you from going; it is really worth seeing. I wish I could gather you up and take you all!
We also had four missionaries come over for dinner this week; two of them are new to the area. It takes a lot of thinking to have them for dinner right now as, between the four of them; there are quite a few of food allergies. I would have never guessed that there is wheat flour in cream of chicken soup! I went ahead and made funeral potatoes but made one of the Elders a baked potato. For their message they showed us some of the updates on the mormon.org website. I haven’t looked at it for over a year probably. It is a very interesting website and a great tool.
Otherwise, things are much quieter here this week. Dad and I are eating too much of the left-behind cookie dough so we are also trying to exercise more. It has been suggested that we also start something new together in our lives this year. With our Christmas gifts this year, Dad is trying to learn the navigation system and I am trying to learn to use the iPod. Then, we will teach each other!
We didn’t have our normal Family Home Evening to set New Year’s goals this year with all the comings and goings over the holidays. On Christmas Eve Bill did encourage us to set a goal for the year as a gift to the Savior. Grandma Maldonado sent me a letter from an old family friend, Barbara LaPray Mason. I liked that their family has always chosen goals in the following areas: Spiritual, Educational or Intellectual, Cultural, Social, Service, Physical and Financial. She recognized from a talk given by Joe J. Christensen that their tradition was supported by the following scriptures. She said, “In the Sermon on the Mount, the Savior said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect.” He later asked his disciples, “What manner of men ought ye to be?” He then answered his own question, “Even as I am.” There is only one verse of scripture that tells about the growth and development of the Savior between the age of 12 and the commencement of his formal ministry. “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” The Savior increased or developed in the following areas: 1. Intellectually (in wisdom and stature) 2. Physically (in stature) 3. Socially (in favor with man) 4. Spiritually (in favor with God).”
Bishop Pierson, in the singles ward, spoke yesterday about goal setting and gave another warning about the economic downturn, not expecting a fast recovery but possibly harder times ahead. He said that it was absolutely critical to pay their tithing and gain the protection and blessings promised. He challenged them to start paying their tithing now so they didn’t come to the end of the year and fall short.
I was called to substitute in Beaverton First Ward’s Sunbeam class this week. That was fun; I enlisted Dad’s help since it was only their second week out of Nursery and I thought I might have some criers. As intense as it is to teach Primary some days, that is where I feel most competent and comfortable (not yet in the YSA ward). Where else in church can you ask a child about the picture she drew of Heavenly Father and she go into explicit detail about the swirls drawn on her paper being the “poop” and “wet” going down the toilet!!!
We had a great report from Angie Moore after our Christmas visit with the grandchildren and Kyre. She said that Kyre was very happy at the Lane Family Christmas party on Christmas Eve. She said that she hadn’t seen Kyre that happy for over a year. In our visit yesterday, Scott was very happy to hear Kyre was happier. He said he received a letter from her just days before Christmas that really “knocked the wind out of his sail.” He tried to call her for the first time on Christmas day but Kyre was at Aunt Lynn’s home. She suggested to Dad that Scott try and call on Valentine’s Day. That thrilled to hear that Kyre might want a call and that could be doable since Valentine’s Day is on a Saturday so he could get to the phone.
Scott says that he is the happiest while flipping through pictures. He says it helps him live in the moment of the time the picture was taken. He especially liked the crying picture of the grandchildren at the photo shoot and the picture of Kyre opening her gift from Meeja and Sunhee. He loves studying each face in the picture. He said something quite interesting that I think is very important to all of us. He said that he loves getting letters from Sister McManus because she writes about her daily normal routine. He loves to read that because nothing is normal about prison life and he forgets what normal life is like. It is sort of a cultural shock for him to read about normal everyday life. Simple letters mean so much to Scott.
Jace Green was called to the Portugal Porto Mission and leaves April 1. Now that is a date that he will remember! Ann Chandler is out of town so we invited Tim to dinner last evening. We had an enjoyable visit. David is finishing up his duty with the military and will be an anesthesiologist in
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