It's not really the 6th--it's the 8th--and you almost didn't get a post from me this week because I've been totally swamped. But thanks to the weather, my really-busy-run-from-one-meeting-to-the-next-Sunday didn't happen. We came out of Sacrament meeting to a couple of inches of snow on the ground and it was still coming down hard. It was supposed to get worse (and it did) and the county declared a snow emergency, so the rest of our meetings were cancelled and everyone got sent home and I suddenly had a nice long afternoon in front of me.
This photo was taken about an hour after we got home, around 11:30:
The snow was coming down really hard:
This photo was taken about 2 hours later:
We were supposed to get 1-3 inches of snow...I think they underestimated, don't you? The snow stopped around 2:00 and now we are getting some sleet, although not a lot yet. We could get up to 1/2 inch of ice before all is said and done. I'm pretty sure there won't be school tomorrow!
I took these photos about an hour ago:
I thought our neighbor's lights looked pretty in the snow.
Frank put the ruler out there. We got about 8 1/2 inches of snow.
So anyway, I can't say I lay around relaxing all afternoon. I had a lot of emails to send about various RS related stuff, I wrote to Scott, and I read my scriptures. I can think of several other things that I could do too (like address Christmas cards or figure out where we're going to put the Christmas tree) but I've run out of afternoon. We will probably have family night soon and later we plan to watch the 1st Presidency Christmas Devotional. It's great that we can do that from the comfort of our home!
One of the families in our ward invited the youth to come over to their house this afternoon to watch a Christmas movie, which pretty much defeated the whole idea behind cancelling church meetings, in my opinion, but whatever! Our guys would not have been allowed to go except Frank was itching to get out in the snow again so I told him he might as well take them over. Later, he went for a long drive all over and then picked them up on his way home. Crazy guy! I just don't get his desire to be out in such miserable weather on dangerous roads.
So you probably figured out that we made it back home from North Carolina. The trip home was pretty uneventful. The weather was better and we even let Tanner drive for a while. Last Sunday the youth in our ward did a Christmas musical fireside. Frank had a bad sinus headache so he stayed home but I took Seth with me to see it. The youth did a great job. There were a few short talks / testimonies and they did lots of musical numbers...some all the youth together and some in smaller groups. Tanner and Jared both sang songs with some smaller groups and Jared conducted a couple of the songs that the youth did all together. There were a lot of people there, including some nonmembers that the youth and other ward members invited. The guys invited some of their friends, too, but I don't think any of them were able to come.
The rest of the week has been pretty ridiculously busy, with lots of RS stuff going on, all the usual household chores, and trying to squeeze in some Christmas preparations. I got out a few decorations on Sunday but as I mentioned above, we still need to figure out the Christmas tree. I got a little bit of shopping done but haven't done much yet and I'm trying to get the Christmas cards going too. Frank's been super busy with his business and spent all day yesterday at a client's place. Tanner and Jared are helping with another play so they've been gone a lot too...they had late rehearsals a lot of nights. It's been Seth and I alone at home quite a bit!
For RS I had my monthly meeting with the bishop Tuesday night but the thing that has been taking up the most time is preparations for our ward Christmas dinner, which is this coming Saturday. The RS is in charge of organizing all the food, and why I didn't think when we were first assigned the food to call a committee and let them handle it, is beyond me! By the time I thought of that bright idea, it was too late. So coordinating all of that has kept me incredibly busy and rather stressed. Yesterday one of my counselors and I went out and bought the food that the ward is providing, including 10 turkeys, and delivered all the turkeys to the people who are cooking them. That ended up taking about 5 hours, when all was said and done. In the middle of all of that, I had to get Tanner and Jared over to the school for the play performance and get some food over to the Elders...they were supposed to come to our house for dinner but since Frank wasn't home yet and the guys had to be at the school, I couldn't have them at the house. It all worked out, but I was pretty tired and frazzled by the time I got home last night. Then I sat down and planned out what I needed to do this week, and that was discouraging too. Having some unexpected time today has helped a bit and hopefully I'll manage to get everything done this week that needs to be done.
It is hard to believe it, but three days ago we had a high of 67 degrees! Wow, it was nice...I tried to soak it in while it lasted. Frank took advantage of the warmer temperatures and stopped on his way home from work at the Circle of Hope and painted the outdoor table and chairs for Tanner's Eagle project. So glad to have that part finally done! A few pictures so you can see the end results:
Tanner is waiting now to hear back from the lady at Circle of Hope to find out if there is anything else she wants him to do. If not, then he can get going on all the fun paperwork.
Good news about the Prius...they aren't going to "total" it. It's been getting fixed all week, and hopefully we'll get it back tomorrow. It certainly wasn't cheap to fix it, but thankfully the insurance paid for all but the deductible. I know, I know...our premium will go up and we'll end up paying for it in the end but it doesn't hurt as much when you pay it gradually instead of all at once.
On Friday our stake had their annual Temple Jubilee and so in spite of all the craziness, I went to the temple. I left after dropping Seth off at school and didn't get back until it was time to pick him up, but I'm so glad I took the time to go. I invited sisters to come with me and in the end three were able to come. It was nice to have those sisters with me and there were tons of other familiar faces in our very full session, including the stake president and one of his counselors. One of the sisters that came with me received her own endowment a few months ago and although she's done initiatories since then, this was the first time she'd done an endowment session as a proxy. She was sitting next to me and we were only a few minutes into the movie when she reached over and squeezed my hand. I whispered "are you all right?" and she whispered back "yes, I'm just really happy right now!" That made me really happy too.
One more RS story from this week before I finish up. I stopped in to see a sister in a nursing home on Wednesday and while I was there she asked me to help her put up a few Christmas decorations. Then she asked me if I would help her get to the restroom...I've done this at church several times, so I know what to do. After I got her settled in there, she asked me to bring her Book of Mormon to her. When I did that she asked me if I would come in, sit down, and read it to her and then explain what we were reading! (Yep, she's pretty comfortable with me.) So that's what I did...and we had this great conversation about how we feel the Savior near us and she told me how wonderful she felt when she was baptized. It was actually really sweet, but the whole time in the back of my mind I was thinking how bizarre it was that we were reading scriptures and having this conversation in the restroom! The crazy things we do--when I was called as RS president, I never imagined I'd do something like that!
I just took the dog out and had a good laugh watching him flounder through the snow that is about as high as he is. Plus, he's the same color as the snow so he blends right in. I wish there were a way to capture on camera how beautiful the snow and the sky are at night!
Seth is waiting for me to read him some stories, so that's it for this week.
1 comment:
That is an awful amount of snow... yikes!
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