Another week in Paterson...

I woke up and read Luke's email.  I was full of relief after reading that he had a much better week.  He recognized the Lord's hand in many ways this week which helped him feel love and peace.  He studied the Book of Mormon more intentionally this week and for sure felt the blessing of it's truthfulness.  He and his comp had the opportunity to teach seminary.  Even though only two kids showed up, they still had a great experience.  They had several opportunities to teach this week and ended the week with an amazing stake conference where his mission president and his wife spoke.  He is really enjoying his mission and I could not be more grateful.  I am so proud of him and I love him so much.

Weekend in our favorite place

As soon as Tag was back from his field trip, and Joey was home from work, we took off to our favorite place.  We took down a trailer with a refrigerator which took a bit to get, but we made it to SG around 10:30pm.  We chatted with Carson and Kylee who have been living in our basement for a bit, and then we went to bed to rest for a fun Saturday.  Cory and Holly happened to be going to SG the same weekend which was so fun.  Holly invited Harlee and I to go to a high fitness class with her and her sister.  Minus the lack of ability to hold my urine, it was super fun.  We went home to get ready to for lunch at Porkbelly's with Cory and Holly.  It was so fun to visit with them.  I have missed them!  After lunch, we took Tag to go shopping with Grandma and Grandpa for his birthday before we went to the Parade of Homes.  There were so many amazing homes this year which makes me want to redo everything.  We went to several homes and then Joey and I went to Costco.  We got some pizza for dinner and then went to a few more homes.  After the homes, Har and I went to visit with Tammy.  Love her!  Sunday was a great day!  We went to quite a few homes before going to Pielogy for lunch.  We then went to a few more homes and then back to our house to prepare for a family bbq.  We had grandma and grandpa over and Carson and Kylee came up for it too.  It was so nice to visit with everyone.  After dinner, we played games as a family.  We played spoons and Jackbox.  It was so fun.  We got up and cleaned on Monday morning.  We were able to leave at 10am.  We packed so much into a few days and it was the best.  I love spending time in SG surrounded by my favorite people.  

JA Biztown

Tag has been so excited about this day!  In fact he woke up at 6am to make sure he was ready to meet at the Frontrunner at 7:40 am.  So cute.  Several weeks ago, he brought home a permission slip and a slip for me to sign if I wanted to volunteer.  He so kindly told me that parents can go on this field trip but I did not need to.  Love the honesty!  Thankfully I have friends that went that sent me some amazing pictures.  His job for the field trip was stock manager for US Synthetic.  He had the best time.  He dressed up- he actually wished he had a suit, worked hard, and made the best memories.  I am so grateful for all of these experiences that he gets to enjoy.

Friends

Today Tawyna Hyde sent me a picture and asked if that was Luke.  It was a soccer team picture.  Turns out Luke and Tyson were on the same soccer team when they were 4. It was so fun to see.  We thought that they had met in elementary school but they have been friends for even longer.  It was also fun to see that Mac was also on his team.  Such a small world.  I am so grateful for the amazing friends that Luke has and for the shared experiences all of these missionaries are having.  Friends make the biggest difference.  So grateful Luke has such amazing ones.

Huge Snow Storm equals online learning

 

We are trying to survive the craziest snow storm.  We have gotten over 17 inches of snow in the last 24 hours.  So so crazy!  Then you add the snow drifts on top of it and it has been impossible to leave our house- especially since the plows have yet to make it to our neighborhood.  The kids are not complaining and I am loving that Joey is working from home today.   I am just hoping that everything can go back to normal tomorrow and for sure by Friday so we can go to SG.  As for today, we will cozy up in our warm house.

Night out for the Pres

It was so nice to have the day off for President's Day.  I took Har this morning to get her hair done.  It turned out super cute.  We decided to take the kids out to Chili's for dinner.  It was fun to have some family time.  We ended the night with a call from our favorite missionary.  Kind of the perfect day.

Elder Childs crushed another week in Paterson

It was so good to hear from Luke.  I have been worried about him since he was getting a new companion this week.  His new companion is Elder Pollei from SG Utah.  Elder Pollei is supposed to be the trainer but Luke is the one leading the area.  Well, Elder Pollei has been with two sucky comps according to him and he is less than motivated to work.  So Luke is not only leading but is the trainer also.  Not only has he had this new stress but he had a difficult lesson with Izzy and he was feeling super down.  This is a part of his email from this week:

I was very beat up spiritually so I took time to listen to a talk. I listened to "An High Priest of Good Things to Come" by Elder Holland. One part that stood out to me was, "To any who may be struggling to see that light and find that hope, I say: Hold on. Keep trying. God loves you. Things will improve. Christ comes to you in His 'more excellent ministry' with a future of 'better promises.' He is your 'high priest of good things to come.'” This stood out to me because even as I might have felt a bit beat today, my Savior Jesus Christ knows and understands where I am. This is His work. I really started to understand that today and I hope I can continue to grow and strive to be better than the day before.

I love that Luke is turning to the words of Heavenly Father's servants for comfort.  I pray that this will be a better week for him.  I am so proud of Luke and all of the growth that he is experiencing.

Celebrating a no school day

Since today is a teacher work day and the kids do not have school, Sister Jones and I decided to take the kids to Airborne.  The website said that Airborne opened at 9am but when we got there we found out it was 10 am.  So we went to McDonalds to pass the time.  All four of them had fun in the play zone and enjoyed a little breakfast.  We headed over to Airborne right before 10 with the rest of Utah county.  The kids still managed to have fun and Erika and I enjoyed some time to chat.  So grateful for our friendship. 

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Day of Love!  It was a great day!  The kids woke up to new sweatshirts and treats.  Joey and I got each other sweatshirts, treats, and sweet cards.  The only missing piece was Luke.  Harlee was with me when I bought some of the treats and she said it was sad that we bought one less.  Luke got his Valentine box delivered on Monday.  I am so grateful for my six Valentines.  They fill my life with so much love.  I am so blessed.

This week in Paterson...

It was amazing to chat with Luke today.  I am so proud of all the work that he is doing.  He had another good week.  He had a wonderful lesson with Izzy.  He was telling me about her.  She is a single mom with two kids.  Her son is four and Luke is pretty sure he is on the spectrum.  She also has a two year old and she is crazy.  But Izzy is loving the gospel lessons.  I guess the reason she initially reached out to the missionaries is because she had a problem with alcohol and was looking to make a change.  They taught her about the word of wisdom this week and she is going to work on coffee.  In other good news, Bunny set a baptism date of March 13!  Luke is so excited.  He gets a new companion this week.  I am excited to see how they get along.  His name is Dal and he is from St. George.  He also got his first haircut.  He hates is per usual but he really looks so handsome.  He also got to go see the Paterson Falls with some of his missionary friends.  So fun that he is getting to see new places and amazing things.  I am so proud of Elder Childs.  He is working so hard and his testimony is so enviable.  What a great example he is to all of us.

Super Bowl Sunday

Today was the Super Bowl!  It was the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles.  The only one of us that really had an opinion was Nash and he really wanted the Chiefs to win.  Thankfully they did!  It was a pretty high scoring game with the final score being 38-35.  We enjoyed the game while feasting on Papa Murphy's pizza and tons of junk.  Rhianna was the half time show and it was kind of a snooze fest.  Good thing we all got through it together.  Love this family time and missed my boy who did not watch the Super Bowl this year.  

Tag's Report

Tag had to write a report that we were able to access at parent teacher conference through a QR code.  The report is titled "The Untouched World of Grass".  He did an amazing job and I love his clever thoughts.   I am so proud of how well he is doing in school.  We all smiled a bit when we read this report.