Christopher's 1st Dance

 One of the perks of Jake being bishop is we can attend various youth activities we choose, although we go to most all of them.  Christopher had his first dance this past Saturday evening.  It was so cute to watch him prepare. he had looked up online dance moves and asking a girl to dance.  He also showered right before and kept breath mints with him in his pocket. He danced most of the night and every slow song.  His first slow song was with another who was new to dances, it was funny to watch them try to get in position, so Jake and I went over and showed them.  Not only did I get to see my boys but I as able to dance several times with my sweetheart too.  

On the other side of the country, in Utah, Rebekah and Adam went to visit his family and were able to see Aubree at an Aggies game.  Her leg is still sore but she attempted to remove her stitches herself but ended up back at urgent care because wound began to bleed. She did not heed my advice two weeks ago to make an appointment with an ortho doctor but has now made one. She was also supposed to initially return to urgent care two weeks after stitched in for them to look at. I just want her to take care of herself.

Salem the fat cat

Argh, those are my words.  We have four cats (that I thought would be dead by now) and I had the chance to make it 3 this week.  Will and I noticed some drops of blood Thursday evening in the office as we were cleaning some.  Later that evening, I realized it was coming from Salem and about 9:30pm after Jake was home from bishoping and calls, I told him I thought something was wrong with Salem.  Jake began to look up things online and called a vet. He was encouraged to bring him in. The initial ER visit and treatment were estimated to be $2700-$3500 max but we received a call the following morning stating he needed surgery, which would be an additional $3500-$4500 to remove the bladder stones causing the obstruction. Now, please know we already thought $2700-$3500 was too high for a cat but we know the love Aubree has for that cat, so we paid....needless to say we did the same for the surgery. In the past, I would say people were crazy to do those things and to just put them to sleep but we were in the situation....and it was not about the cat per say but our daughter's feelings, so we saved the cat. I have mixed feelings about it but here we are.  We did decide in the future, we will put the animal down if it arises again. That is a lot of money!

Dad’s finger

 Tuesday evening dad called to let us know he got his finger caught between a compressor grate and his tractor mast. He went to an urgent care and they sent him to the emergency room. Mom was out of town, so I headed down to meet him at the ER. He was so busy being friendly he had missed the two times they called his name. When we were finally called back, they had him soak his hand in a solution, took a few pictures, and called hand doctor. The decision was made to to put 2 stitches in, wrap it, and see hand doctor the next day. I decided to spend the night and take him to doctor next day. 

We went to lunch and doctor the next day. He (doctor) was amazed it was still alive because could not see where blood flow come be coming from. They decided to see if it would live by removing stitches and wrapping it. The body is a miraculous thing. I was concerned about dad trying to clean and wrap it alone so suggested maybe his sister coming the next day to help. He was persist he didn’t need help and told me something to the effect “you do you and I’ll do me”. I chuckle thinking about it. 

Time hiccups lead to blessings

Jake excels at being a bishop.  He tries to make visits regularly, especially on Sunday evenings, and helps those in need whenever he can. He could easily delegate having the sacrament administered by others but he does some of them himself still. 

  We are working hard to help our boys learn, no only the importance of work but more importantly serving others.  At times, I feel that we have not taught that enough to our boys.  We had the opportunity to assist a family moving in to the ward this week. The original scheduled time was 10:00am and Jake was concerned that very few people would be able to assist as it was a Monday and people worked.  Then the arrival time kept getting pushed back. It was moved to 3:00pm and then 5:00pm, which seemed better that maybe more could come.  However it was then moved to 7:00pm which is late to unload a truck at dark.  This was a family that gave the impression when they reached out that they were not active but that information was not shared. The ward members exceeded expectations with over 40 showing up to help the 26ft truck loaded for a family of 6 was unloaded within 35 minutes.  Cookies were brought and the beginnings of friendships made. What a great opportunity for my boys to see people work together and learn firsthand that many hands make light work.  What a testament of faith that the Lord moves in mysterious ways and what seemed to be an inconvenience on times brought out dozens to support and lift. The new family could feel nothing by love and welcome.