Happy 90th Birthday to Mom!!! That is quite an achievement.
After writing in my post last week that I should take notes about what we do throughout the week, I decided to do just that. Hopefully that means it will take me less time than usual to write this post because I won't be spending a lot of time trying to remember what we did.
On Saturday morning, Frank and I both got haircuts. I went straight from the haircut to the stake center for stake choir practice. During the week, the choir director sent us recordings of all the songs so I listened to them and that helped me to be a lot more familiar with all the songs which helped make practice go better for me. We also had a lot more people show up for this practice, thankfully! As so often happens when I learn choir songs, I am starting to love the songs as I learn them more.
The rest of Saturday continued to be busy with a walk, Seminary lesson prep, listening to part of the BYU football game, and having the missionaries over for dinner. I tried to do lesson prep while listening to the BYU game which didn't go too well, as I should have known. And of course, the game was frustrating and a big disappointment that BYU lost. Oh well! I did finish preparing my lesson before the day was over.
On Sunday morning I had choir practice before church, as I will for most Sundays for the rest of 2025. We are practicing a song we'll be singing in a few weeks as well as starting to learn songs for Christmas. We started learning an arrangement of Star Bright, which is very pretty but also quite different from the hymn book version. I'm actually quite familiar with the hymn book version even though it's one of the new hymns released this year, so it's been a little challenging for me to learn a new arrangement, but it's coming along.
Our ward had their Primary Sacrament Meeting program on Sunday which was really fun and sweet as it always is. Two notable things that happened: one dad was helping his little girl with her part by whispering her line in her ear. They got about halfway through when she suddenly stopped cooperating and refused to say the rest of her line. After a few attempts to coax her with no luck, her dad finally finished her part for her. It was something along the lines of "Heavenly Father and Jesus want me to be obedient." The irony caused the whole congregation to laugh! The other thing was really sweet. One little boy (about 8 years old) finished giving a talk and then he said "Before I sit down, I have one more thing I want to say." (Going off script...I wondered what might be coming! 😂) Then he said something like this: "Yesterday I was waiting for my dad to pick me up to take me to piano lessons (his parents are divorced). My mom and sister and everyone were still asleep. Since I didn't have anything to do, I started thinking about Jesus and how he suffered and died for all of us..." at this point, he stopped talking and started crying. One of his aunts happened to be sitting nearby, so she got up and comforted him and then he finished saying a little more about Jesus. It was really touching to me and I know to a lot of other people too because I saw a lot of people wiping their eyes. I thought how beautiful it was that this little boy had obviously had a testimony building moment the day before, and that he wanted to share it with us.
I felt like both of my Seminary lessons this week went well. On Monday I taught about Doctrine & Covenants 130, which was different because there were three different truths to talk about (most lessons focus on one main truth). On Tuesday we talked about Caring for Our Physical Bodies (one of the life prep lessons). It was set up as a lesson with rotating stations--they learned about body image at one, sleep habits at another, exercise at another, and healthy food choices at a fourth station. Sometimes rotating stations don't go really well with this class, but with this lesson they did seem to go well and there was good discussion and everyone stayed awake and seemed to enjoy it.
The weather this week has been colder and not nearly so nice as last week although we still have had some nice days. We went on a walk on Monday but it was not very pleasant since it was colder and a bit windy too. We had the wind blowing in our faces on the return trip, which wasn't so nice. After Seminary on Monday a couple of kids in the TJ carpool didn't have a ride to school. This has happened 4 or 5 times in the last few weeks so Tammy and I decided that we needed to send out an email to the parents about it. We try to stay out of the carpool arrangements because we want the parents to be responsible for that, so up until now we have just asked the kids who have been left behind to check in with their parents about it. Since that didn't seem to be working and when they get left behind we end up taking them to school (it's that or leave them there to fend for themselves, which we don't feel good about) we decided it was time to communicate directly with the parents. I put together an email and we did get two responses from the parents. One of them apoligized profusely and said she'd been meaning to talk to us about it because she was aware that her son had been left behind a few times. She thought she had the problem solved, but realized now that it hadn't been solved but assured us that she would make sure it didn't happen again. It was really nice because she said things like "you shouldn't have had to write that email" and "I'm so sorry that you have had to drive them to school...that isn't part of the job description!!"
I spent a bit of time on Monday trying to help one of the boys in our Seminary class / ward get a ride to a place he needed to go on Tuesday. (He sometimes contacts Tammy and I to see if we can help him with a ride. His parents do not live in the States and he is pretty alone in the world so has to figure out a lot of stuff on his own.) This particular ride was to a place an hour away and he needed to stay for two hours and also needed a ride home, so it was a bigger deal and neither of us could do that. I decided to loop in some of the ward leaders to see if we could find someone in the ward who could help. In the end, he actually found his own ride with a friend so that felt like kind of a waste of time but I guess if he feels like we love him and are trying to help him, it's not a waste. He is actually moving to another part of Frederick and won't be in our ward anymore and doesn't appear to have a way to get to Seminary so unfortunately Monday was his last day to be in our class (unless something can get worked out). I'll really miss him because he is an earnest seeker of truth (just baptized in August) and he asked great questions and made great comments in class. We sent around a card for everyone to sign on Monday and from the comments the kids wrote, I can tell that they really appreciate him too. That was sweet to see that.
Tuesday was not just colder, it was also super windy, so we didn't go on a walk that day. Seth's classes were both cancelled again (for different reasons...sick teacher and car trouble for the other one) but he once again forgot to check his messages, so he didn't know they were cancelled until he got to campus. Maybe some day he will start checking messages regularly! I tried to start some Seminary lesson prep that night but only managed to read through the lessons. I was so tired by 7:00 that I could barely keep my eyes open! I was already in my pajamas when we heard the doorbell ring. I asked Frank to get it since I was in pajamas, but it turns out it was for me. The mom who had sent the really apologetic email about the Seminary carpool the previous day brought me a tin of Danish butter cookies and apologized again! I was very surprised and thought this was definitely going above and beyond! Those cookies are addictive, too...I have eaten so many cookies the last few days! Fortunately, Frank likes them too so hopefully between the two of us we will eat them all soon and then I can go back to trying to eat healthy again. 😅
On Wednesday we had a guest teacher in Seminary and that is always fun because every teacher is different and interacts with the kids in a unique way and I always learn from them and get new ideas. Although I slept well Tuesday night, I got home from Seminary and felt so tired that I had to take a nap--and slept for about an hour and a half. Frank and I went on a walk that afternoon and I got one of my Seminary lessons planned and started jotting down ideas for the second one.
Yesterday was pretty busy. Our stake Seminary supervisor had arranged to visit our class that day. Then when she arrived, she told us that she had just heard from the area CES coordinator and he was on his way to our class too! I was really glad that Tammy was teaching and not me!! She is a lot more poised than me and she did a great job, as always. They really weren't there to watch her and critique her...the idea is to get to know our class a bit and to offer support to us as teachers, and it was actually a pretty relaxed and even fun atmosphere. The stake supervisor did a devotional at the end of class and she brought candy and rice crispy treats. The CES coordinator brought donuts, so the kids were really spoiled that day. (And Tammy and I got donuts too!)
After Seminary, my day was full with regular chores, a baptism, and a play. I tried to fit some Seminary lesson prep in there too. (Started preparing Power Point slides for Monday's lesson.) The baptism was for a woman named Sherry...Frank and I attended one of the missionary lessons for her a few weeks ago. She is a really sweet lady. Her son and her son's father both attended which was really cool. The play was at one of the local high schools and I went to it because one of the girls in my Seminary class was in it. Many of the YW leaders and girls in the ward were attending also. (Tammy was there too.) It was actually two one-act plays, and they were both really fun and clever and the kids did a great job. The first one was called Oz and was an adaptation of the Wizard of Oz. The second one was called How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse. I was up later than I like to be, but it was worth losing a little sleep to enjoy the plays and to support the girl in my Seminary class.
Today we played some games to help the kids learn the DM scriptures better; that got a bit competitive and that was fun!
Because I was up later than usual last night and remembering how sleepy I got at the temple last week, I decided not to go to the temple today. I also have quite a bit of Seminary lesson prep to finish and tomorrow is going to be pretty busy so I felt like I needed some time to work on Seminary lessons today.
I just wanted to finish up by mentioning that I had a sweet experience this week with Come Follow Me...through the regular weekly study as well as Seminary lessons and listening to the Follow Him podcast. One of the big topics this week (as most of you probably already know) was plural marriage. I have never fully understood the commandment for the early saints to practice plural marriage (still don't) and I've never loved the idea (although I haven't struggled with it a lot either), but I feel like studying this topic this week really helped turn my heart even more to my ancestors--many of whom accepted the invitation to live the law of plural marriage. I have felt so grateful to them for having the great faith to obey this very difficult commandment. They definitely passed on a legacy of making sacrifices and being obedient even when it's hard, and I have had the feeling all week that I have been greatly blessed because of their faith, obedience and sacrifice. I feel like my feelings about this part of our history have shifted this week from something I felt kind of uncertain and slightly embarrassed about, to something that is beautiful to me and that I will always be grateful for and proud that it is a part of my heritage.
In the Follow Him podcast, I also really loved a quote from Spencer W. Kimball that was shared:"...have you ever seen someone who has been helpless for so long that he has divested himself of every envy and jealousy and ugliness in his whole life and who has perfected his life? No pain suffered by man or woman upon the earth will be without its compensating effects if it be suffered in resignation and if it be met with patience. Sickness sometimes is a great blessing. People become angels through sickness." As I listened to that quote, I thought of Aunt Karen, and I said out loud "I have known an angel like that." It hit me really hard in that moment, and I cried for a few minutes feeling grateful for her, too. I guess it was my week for crying with gratitude; not a bad thing! 😊I want to record this thought here while I'm thinking about it. When I thought of Aunt Karen this week, I remembered that when I was at her funeral as an 18 year old, I was startled to realize that she had been in pain so much of the time. It really wasn't obvious to me...partly because I was a self absorbed child / teenager, but mostly because she didn't complain and was even very cheerful most of the time. She hid her pain so well. I remember this made a deep impression on me and as I listened to others talk about the kind of person she was, I had a strong desire to be that kind of person myself. But I also remember realizing at that time that the trials she had suffered--poor health, lots of pain, no opportunity to marry or have children--had been a major contributing factor to her becoming the wonderful person that she was. Or maybe I should say the way that she chose to handle / endure those trials was the major contributing factor, not the trials themselves. It was definitely impressed on my soul at that time that if I wanted to become like her, I was going to have to go through hard things and accept those hard things with humility and faith. I'm so thankful that because of her, I learned that lesson when I was young. I can't say that I always have accepted trials with humility and faith, but without that moment of realization as a teenager, I'm sure I would have handled them much worse than I did. I was born with the tendency to be a complainer who wants everything to be fair and I've also been really good at self-pity! Because of Aunt Karen, I have been learning to be less that way.
Well, enough rambling about my inner thoughts. I haven't taken many nature photos this week (the colors are starting to fade) but I will finish up with one:
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