It's been a bit of a crazy day with a lot of interruptions and I haven't gotten much done but let's see if I can put some thoughts into coherent words and let you know how our week went. Most of it has been pretty normal. I wrote on Saturday last week; I got my other Seminary lesson for this week prepared and also got regular chores (like sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor) done.
I went to choir practice Sunday morning and I always enjoy that. It was a bit foggy that morning but quite pretty:
Seth had ward youth council after church so I went back to pick him up from that later. Jared came over that evening for dinner; Jessie wasn't feeling well so she didn't come and we missed seeing her. We played a game of Dominion since Frank had not had the chance to play it yet (he wasn't feeling well when Seth and I played it with Jared & Jessie last time). Seth won the game this time; I was a close second. He probably would have beat me by a lot more points but Jared kept telling him that he thought I was winning because Jared didn't want Seth to end the game. 😂 That kept the game going longer and gave me a chance to almost catch up (obviously, Jared was trying to catch up too and he did get a lot closer but not as close as I did).
On Monday my Seminary lesson was about the Millennium and I think it went pretty well. For Tuesday's lesson I did a doctrinal mastery review that we had to skip a few weeks ago. That also went pretty well. I had a couple of different activities they could do that would help them better understand the doctrine of the doctrinal mastery scriptures. Most of them chose to create a visual representation of one of the doctrinal mastery scriptures (a collage, meme, etc.) I was recently contemplating recycling the last couple of years of Liahona magazines that had accumulated in my house; so glad that I hadn't actually gotten around to doing that yet! I took them to class and there were so many great pictures in them for the kids to use. They did a good job, and I enjoyed seeing them busy, awake, and working together:
This one represents Mosiah 2:17 "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God"
Honestly, I can't remember much about what I did those days besides Seminary. I got all the regular chores done, started working on next week's Seminary lessons (read the scripture blocks and read through the lessons in the manual; I also listened to a couple of podcasts), and on Monday we had family night. (For activity we played Uno and Frank won every round except one! We had cream cheese that needed to be used so I made a cheesecake for treat and it was yummy!)
We had a guest teacher Wednesday morning as we often do...we asked a member of the stake high council to teach. He lived in our ward several years back, so we know him pretty well and he has Seminary age kids. He did a great job and it is always good for the kids to hear testimony from other adults besides just us. I always learn new teaching skills by watching other teachers teach, also.
I worked my sixth VITA shift and happily it was not as hectic as the last two weeks were. There were two other volunteers besides me and of course the director was there too so we had four people who could complete returns and four appointments per hour...that works much better than two people who can complete returns and four appointments per hour; go figure! We also had a couple of no shows so that made it even less busy (but not so slow that we had nothing to do; I just got a few minutes here and there to breath!) I still completed 4 tax returns and reviewed at least two, so I felt like I accomplished a lot. I only have four VITA shifts left since I will be out of town one week. Hard to believe! This tax season has gone by fast.
I picked up Seth from school that day because it was raining and on that same trip I went to the library to drop off two books and pick up another one. I finished reading Remarkably Bright Creatures and it needed to go back because someone else put it on hold. (I did enjoy it!) I picked up the next book for book chat (The Unsinkable Greta James) but I haven't started reading it yet because I was already reading another book (the last of the 8 books that I checked out in January as possible suggestions for book chat) called Atlas of the Heart. It is a nonfiction book about emotions. I like it in some ways but not in others, although overall I feel like I've learned some things and it's been worth reading. I do need to start reading the book chat book soon, though.
Frank took Seth to and from his YM activity that night as he usually does. I appreciate that so much because it allows me to get to bed! Seth reports that they played some "Minute to Win It" games, and he had a good time.
Yesterday I didn't get much accomplished beyond the regular chores, and I'm not sure why. I mean, there was quite a bit to do with grocery shopping, laundry, etc. The guy from our pest control service came by too and that took a bit of my time. I started working on one of my Seminary lessons but didn't get to it until shortly before Seth got home from school and once he gets home it's hard for me to get much done because I'm checking on his homework situation and Frank is leaving work around then and he usually calls me and then I need to start making dinner. After dinner I got the finances caught up and then I tried working on my Seminary lesson again but then Tanner called us and we had to help him with some things and then Scott called too and by that time it was time for bed so I never got much done.
Today I went to the temple. I wasn't planning to, originally...I was going to skip going this week and go next week...but on Wednesday I was looking at next week's schedule and realized that next week is going to be quite busy so I decided to go this week instead. Since I was making my appointment later than usual, I wasn't able to get an appointment at my usual time (10:00) but I did get an appointment for 11:00. I did initiatories this time and it was beautiful. I'm grateful that I ended up going today because I was feeling quite worried and upset about some of the things happening with Tanner and it was really helpful for me to go to the temple and feel some peace. I cried most of the way there, but felt a lot better afterwards and didn't cry on the way home. It was also a blessing to have an 11:00 appointment instead of a 10:00 appointment because that extra hour in the morning after Seminary allowed me to take an hour nap (I didn't sleep really well last night) so I was rested and didn't have trouble staying awake for the drive there and back. Tender mercies! We've had a lot of rain this past week and we have also had some warm days (yesterday was particularly nice) so more things are blooming and it is starting to look like spring. I saw a few pink blooming trees for the first time this week and at the temple they have planted pansies.
After I got home from the temple I ate lunch and started working on my lesson again but soon was interrupted by text messages and phone calls and then Seth arrived home from school. Jared came with him; he came to do some laundry and after Seth finished his homework Jared took Seth out driving for over an hour which is awesome! He even convinced Seth to try driving on the road for the first time (instead of just in a parking lot) and he also took Seth to Chick-fil-a to get a treat and while they were there they picked up a job application for him to fill out. So Jared gets big points from me today for helping out with so many things!
We got Chinese food for dinner because Frank wanted it and I wasn't feeling up to coping with cooking anyway. I still have two Seminary lessons to prepare but it's getting late (8:00 pm...that's late, for us!) so they will probably have to wait until tomorrow. I will say that I've been thinking about them all week so hopefully they will come together without a whole lot of trouble.
We got an email yesterday morning from the stake executive secretary inviting us to a special meeting on Sunday, March 17th for the whole stake that will take the place of our regular Sunday meeting block. The purpose of the meeting is "to announce changes to ward boundaries throughout the stake and to sustain a number of new local leaders." Who knows how these changes will affect us? It's not completely unwelcome or unexpected news...there are two wards in the stake that are huge and the rest of them are small and struggling so it's definitely a needed change, and one that we've been anticipating for quite a while. Our ward is one of the small struggling wards so it is likely that we will get an addition to our ward, which will be great. However, it is also possible that as they rearrange boundaries all over the stake they may also take away small portions of our ward boundaries, and if so...we live in a section of our ward that is vulnerable to being moved to another ward. So we are kind of anxious about that, but not overly so. We love our ward, but know that we would learn to love a new ward if we end up in one. I also can't help remembering that the last time there were ward boundary changes, I was worried we may end up in another ward and we didn't. However, our RS president did end up in another ward and I was called to be her replacement, so then I kind of wished that I had been moved into another ward! 😆 I feel pretty safe from that outcome this time with my current calling but I guess you never know. I do wonder if the boundary changes will also impact Seminary classes although I doubt they would change any Seminary classes until next fall. I would be really sad to lose some of the kids in our class and I would be especially sad to lose my team teacher because she is awesome and has made teaching Seminary about a million times easier than it would have been!
That's everything I have to report this week.
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