Weekly Review May 29 '26

This was my first full week without Seminary and I enjoyed some down time, but I wouldn't say I got more sleep. I keep waking up earlier than I need to, or I lie awake for hours in the middle of the night. It went like this: Saturday I woke up at 6:00 am. Sunday I woke up at 5:00 am. Monday I was awake from midnight to 3:00 am and then went back to sleep until nearly 7:00 am. Tuesday I woke up at 1:00 am and finally gave up and got up around 4:30. After exercising, showering, and eating breakfast, I took a 1 1/2 hour nap. Wednesday I woke up at 4:00 am. Thursday I woke up at 3:00 am. This morning, I was awake from 1:30 to about 3:30 and then went back to sleep until almost 7:00 am. I really hope I move out of this terrible sleep cycle at some point! In the meantime, I'm grateful that I've had the option of going back to sleep for a while on the nights that I've been awake in the night for hours. I am also grateful that I'm not feeling the weight of preparing and teaching lessons on top of the lack of sleep. It does make a difference!

Here's a rundown of what we did each day. 

Saturday May 23rd: Seth worked his last Roy's shift. It rained all day. Frank made chocolate chip banana bread (delicious!) and I practiced ukulele and cleaned the kitchen floor. I also listened to part of the Follow Him podcast and did some "digital clean up"--I went through all my bookmarks on my laptop and deleted the ones I'm not using, removed a bunch of Seminary files I don't need anymore, and deleted a bunch of photos from my phone. Frank and I went to the mall so that I could get my wedding ring cleaned and checked. Then Frank browsed at Barnes & Noble while I did some clothes shopping at Macy's. I got four shirts, but Frank didn't buy any books. 

Sunday May 24th: Before church, I read scriptures and finished listening to the Follow Him podcast. Frank came with me to church but didn't attend our ward's meetings because he needed to go to the YSA branch presidency meeting and branch council. Then he went to the YSA ward's regular meetings too. Right after church, one of the counselors in the bishopric asked me to speak this Sunday in sacrament meeting. It is our annual "Seminary sacrament meeting", so I was expecting that I would be asked to say something. He asked me to speak for 5-10 minutes, which feels like a large spread to me--a 5 minute talk and a 10 minute talk feel completely different to me! I know now that he has also asked 3 of the youth and my team teacher to speak also. With five speakers, I think 5 minutes is probably all the time I will have. I have actually kept forgetting all week that I need to prepare (I think that's a good thing...I used to stress out about it all week when I was asked to give a talk). I came across a quote yesterday morning that I think is going to be the basis for my talk, though. I will figure out the details tomorrow. 

After church, I had an appointment with my bishop so I could ask about being a temple worker and also talk about the possibility of a service mission. After everyone got home from church, I talked with Jared and we had dinner and family night lesson. 

Monday, May 25th: Frank didn't have to work because it was Memorial Day. Frank went with me get groceries that morning. Seth had to work from 2:00 to 6:00, so after lunch we did our family night activity (Mario Kart) and read scriptures before he had to go to work. I had a slight headache so I didn't feel like doing much, but I did muster up enough energy to go through all my clothes. I pulled all of my clothes out of drawers and closets and put them all on our bed--they covered the entire bed!

I went through everything and filled two trash bags full of clothes to donate, plus a few things were so old and ratty that I just threw them away. Then I put all the summer clothes in my closet and moved the winter clothes to the spare room. My closet is a lot emptier / neater and that feels good. 

We had a yummy dinner to celebrate Memorial Day. I had planned to have bratwurst (with peppers & onions), potato salad, and watermelon. Then when we were at the store, Frank decided we also needed to have baked beans and I decided we needed to have corn on the cob. So we had all those things, and it was delicious!

Tuesday May 26th: As I already mentioned, I woke up way too early and took a longish nap after exercising and showering. After I got up from my nap, I talked to my friend Sherrie who works at the temple on Tuesday evenings. I want to work that shift (Frank works then too), but it's going to be tricky because Seth often has to work on Tuesday evenings also, and the timing doesn't always work for me to be able to have the car on Tuesday evening. Sherrie said she will give me a ride to the temple on the 2nd Tuesday of the month, and another friend (MaryKay--I talked to her on Wednesday) said she will give me a ride on the 4th Tuesday of the month. So I've decided that I will work at the temple twice a month and the other weeks I will go to the temple as a patron on Friday mornings, as I have been doing. That feels good to me! My friend Sherrie also served a family search service mission, so I asked her about that and got some good information. 

Besides those things, I also got regular chores done, talked to Scott for a little while, and I got a little bit of work done on the dollhouse. I sanded some of the small parts that I painted about a month ago and I also re-painted the ceiling of the first floor using a roller. It looks a lot nicer. The dollhouse project has really stalled the last 3 or 4 weeks, so it felt good to get a little bit done on that. Hopefully next week I will make even more progress. 

Seth worked from 2:00 to 6:00 again and Frank had his regular temple shift after work, so he got home late. I was still awake when he texted me to say he was leaving the temple at 9:30, but I was completely out before he got home--didn't hear him come in at all. 

Wednesday May 27th: This day was quite busy. Seth had to be at work at 6:30 am; he worked until 10:30. That evening he went to Institute, as usual. 

On Tuesday, the RS president contacted me and asked if there was any possibility that I could pick up a couple of food orders for people in our ward the next day. The Bishop's Storehouse is about an hour and a half away...on the south side of DC...so it's a bit of an undertaking. Although I had things I wanted to do, I didn't have anything I absolutely had to do, so I told her I'd do it. I was able to talk to Amy on the phone while I was driving down and back, so that helped me enjoy the trip a lot more! I was only at the storehouse for about 30 mintues because a nice young service missionary helped me fill both of the orders. I read to him what was on the form and pushed the cart; he got everything off the shelves for me, so it went really quickly. When I got back home, I left one of the food orders there because it was getting picked up from my house a few hours later. I quickly ate some lunch and then delivered the other food order to the family who needed it. My team teacher, Tammy, met me there to help unload the order. It was raining, so it was nice to have that extra help! 

The mission lead for the family history service mission contacted me via email that day and we set up an appointment for him to help me fill out the application for that mission. I also spent some time that afternoon making a gift to give to my team teacher, Tammy. It was sort of a combination birthday / end of serving together gift:

The adapted scripture is one that Tammy pointed out to me the first year we were serving together. She was reading it, and the spirit touched her to see that it could apply to what we were doing with our Seminary class, by changing some of the words. Tammy shared her experience with me, and I have always remembered it. 

That evening I attended a virtual training meeting connected with VITA--we were learning about Low Income Tax Clinics, which is a service provided through the law schools of some of the local universities. They don't complete tax returns at these clinics; instead, they help people who have tax debt and need to set up installment agreements or make other arrangements with the IRS. They wanted us to know about this service so that when we are working with taxpayers who might benefit from this service, we can give the taxpayer information about it. The training was short but interesting.

Thursday, May 28th: Seth's 19th birthday--not sure how he has gotten so old! This day was busy with the usual chores (grocery shopping, laundry, vacuuming) plus I wrapped Seth's presents and made his cake (chocolate with vanilla frosting--that's what he always wants!). I also took Tammy's present to her (she has the same birthday as Seth) and met with the service mission team lead to fill out my application. We met via Microsoft Team Meet (similar to Zoom) and he had me share my screen with him so he could see what I was doing and walk me through the process. It wasn't really that complicated and it didn't take long--there were just a few specific pieces of information that he needed to give me to fill in. 

After Frank got home from work, Seth opened his presents. He actually only got one present from us, but Scott also sent a present that I wrapped for him. The present Seth got from us was a bigger purchase, which is why he only got one thing. He told us he really only wanted one thing and would be happy with that, and that was fine with me--made shopping really easy! I'm not even sure what exactly it's called, but it's extra storage space for his Xbox, which will allow him to add more digital games (or something like that!). Scott sent him a book which is the first in a series. Scott has been reading this series and thinks Seth will like it too, and they can talk about it together.

Later on, we took Seth out for dinner (Outback Steakhouse--his choice) and after that we had his cake:

I forgot that in between opening presents and going to dinner, Seth took a milkshake to his friend Jacob in our ward who also has the same birthday (four years yonger than Seth; Jacob was in my Seminary class this last year). When I was the Primary president, Tammy and Jacob's mom (Michelle) were my two conselors. We've always thought that it's fun that Michelle and I have sons born on the same day and that it is also Tammy's birthday!

Oh, I also forgot to mention that I was contacted by someone at the temple that afternoon to set up an appointment for me to meet with a member of the temple presidency to be set apart as a temple worker. Since Seth has a long shift on Tuesday (3:00 pm to 10:30 pm), I will have time to get to the temple and back while he is working, so I set up to do that this coming Tuesday. After getting set apart, I will shadow one of the shift coordinators for the evening. I'm looking forward to it, but also feel a little anxious. There's a lot to learn, but I'm sure I will love it after I feel more competent.

Thursday was an absolutely beautiful day, by the way. After many days of clouds and rain, the sun came out and it was in the low 70's with a breeze. Perfect! Today was the same. 

Friday May 29th: I went to the temple to do initiatories. 

Always wonderful to be in the temple!

After I got home and ate lunch, I updated the finances (as usual). I finished the regular weekly updating and then I worked for a while attaching business receipts to invoices. A big stack of those has accumulated over the years and I decided it was time to take care of that! I worked on that task until dinner was ready (Frank made dinner, bless him!) While eating dinner, we watched an episode of Once Upon a Time. I've spent the rest of the evening writing this post. 

Frank spent the evening setting up a couple of computers for a broadcast that he is helping with tomorrow. It's a broadcast of a women's conference for the United States Northeast Area. The conference is in New York City but is being broadcast to stake centers in the area, and Frank was asked to help with the tech for that. 

I've had some down time most days and I have enjoyed watching some episodes of Downton Abbey. (I'm still watching The Chosen, but I do that while I am exercising in the mornings). I have also been reading Notes from Underground. It is slow going because it's philosophy and I find myself re-reading sentences pretty often to try to understand them better. It's interesting, though, and even a bit funny at times and I am about a third of the way through the book. 

I believe that covers everything we did this week and it is getting late, so I will sign off and go to bed.

Weekly Review May 22 '26

This was another busy week. I'll try not to get too detailed so this post won't be super long!

When I wrote last week, we were in NC for Nicole's memorial service, which was held on Saturday, May 16th. That morning, Frank and I went to the store to buy a book for people to sign at the service. When I got dressed that morning, I also discovered that the dress sandals I packed to wear to the service weren't in good shape at all--one was kind of broken and didn't stay on my foot very well--so when we went to the store to get the book, I decided to also look for some shoes. I was able to find some cute black dress shoes, so I got those as well as some tights so that the new shoes wouldn't rub against my feet and cause blisters. 

We went from the store to the church to help with some more set up--mainly putting up a lot of photographs of Nicole. They called the service a "Celebration of Life" and it turned out nice. Frank and I were asked to give the prayers (me opening, he closing). Most of the service was opened up for anyone who wished to share memories or stories of Nicole. Most of the people who talked were her close friends. I didn't really have the opportunity to get to know Nicole very well (I only saw her about once a year), so it was nice to hear what her friends had to say about her--that she was always so kind and thoughtful and would do anything to help them. Some of them were really emotional, and one of them said that she was going to try to be more like Nicole from now on. I came away from that service thinking that her life may have been short, but it was definitely worthwhile. 

After the service, the branch provided food for us. They told us it was not going to be a full meal, but it really was--several kinds of sandwiches, meatballs, sausages, fruit, veggie trays, cheese, crackers, cold cuts, and desserts. There was a ton of it, too. We were really grateful for that! 

Sister Camille Johnson, the General RS president, was visiting in the Frederick area and had a special devotional for all the women 18 and up in our stake (held at our stake center), plus seven other surrounding stakes that afternoon. They asked Frank to set up a Zoom link for those who couldn't be there in person, so after eating, I was able to go to a room by myself to watch that meeting while the family continued to visit and then cleaned everything up. The devotional was awesome and I'm really grateful that I was able to watch / listen, even though I wasn't able to be there in person. 

That evening we took Frank's parents to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Then they came to our hotel room for a while to visit. His mom wanted to show us a quilt that she is working on for Scott (I wish I had taken a picture of the quilt).

We drove back home on Sunday May 17th. I wrote last week that the trip down felt shorter than normal to me. Well, that was definitely not true of the trip home! We got on the road about 8:30 am, and the first part of the trip was quite pleasant. 

About three hours into the trip, however, the traffic got bad with lots of slow downs and stop & go traffic. There was road construction and at least one accident, and the GPS directed us off of the freeway three different times to avoid major problems. In the middle of all that, when we were still about 4 hours from home, I got a migraine and got really sick to my stomach. I was completely miserable--just wanted to be home so I could curl up in bed--and it felt like we were never going to get there because we were in practically stand still traffic. I finally started to feel a little bit better after I lost my lunch, and I dozed off for a short while. Eventually we got out of the really bad traffic and we finally made it home shortly before 7:00 pm. That 8 hour trip took over 10 hours! We unpacked and went to bed (didn't even bother to eat dinner--Frank had eaten some snacks and I didn't want to eat anything yet). Both Jared and Tanner called to talk to us while we were driving home but I didn't enjoy it much because they both called while I was in the throes of feeling sick, and we didn't talk very long.

Seth had an appointment that day with his stake president--he was called to serve as the 1st Counselor in his branch EQ presidency. He's been serving as a Sunday School teacher, but he will be released from that calling now.

I was feeling better on Monday May 18th, thankfully. I was able to get up and go to Seminary, although I didn't exercise since I still had a lingering mild headache and I hadn't eaten since lunch on Sunday. I taught my last lesson and felt like it went pretty well in spite of a lot of distractions. One of the boys brought in some cinnamon rolls that his mom had made so that was one distraction (although a yummy one--I'm not complaining!). The other distraction was that we had purchased pillowcases for all the seniors and we wanted everyone to sign those (but without the seniors knowing that was what was happening). So Tammy had set up the pillowcases and fabric markers in another room, and she was pulling 2 or 3 kids out of the room at a time to sign them. That meant that there was a lot of coming and going. It was a bit challenging for me as the teacher because when I wanted to call on someone to answer a question, I wasn't always sure who had been in the room to participate in the thing we had just done. I was also trying not to call attention to the fact that people were leaving the room! 😂So it was kind of crazy, but overall I felt good about the lesson, which was based on Joshua 24:15 ("Choose you this day, whom ye will serve") Tammy told me afterwards that I did a great job handling all the distractions. And honestly, even though it was crazy, everyone was awake and there was a lot of energy in the room and I definitely prefer that to everyone falling asleep in their chairs! 

After Seminary, my day was full with regular chores, reading scriptures, reading Moloka'i, taking a short nap, and going with Seth to a doctor appointment. His appointment was with the surgeon, and they scheduled his surgery for June 15th. The last surgery was to place a seton to help drain all the infection. This surgery will actually remove the fistula, using one of two possible methods. The surgeon isn't sure which one she'll be doing until she gets in there and looks at it closely. 

Seth had his orientation for Chick-fil-A that afternoon. He also went to YSA FHE that evening. I forgot to mention that last week was his last week of classes for the semester, so he is done with school until at least the fall.

I went to bed around 8:30 on Monday evening, but unfortunately I woke up about an hour later (9:30ish) and was not able to go back to sleep until after 2:00 am. At least I wasn't teaching Seminary that day (Tuesday May 19th), so I survived on less than 3 hours of sleep. Tammy and I had a phone conversation to finish planning Wednesday's class (we didn't do that in person after Seminary because she was helping with the carpool) and then I took a 1 1/2 hour nap. 

That afternoon I had a follow up appointment with my eye doctor. They took images of the inside of my eyes and both of my eyes are okay. He confirmed that there was no retinal detachment, tears, or holes in my left eye. I got a better explanation of what is going on with my eye (I'm not going to try to repeat it here; if you want to understand it better, you can look up "posterior vitreous detachment") and I feel less anxious about it now. The doctor said this happens to a lot of people as they age and that since this happened in my left eye, it's not unlikely that it will happen with my right eye within a few years. I'm still having occasional flashes of light and faint floaters in my left eye, but that is normal for up to 3 months. If I have another sudden onset of dark floaters and / or flashing lights, then I will need to get checked again, but other than that, I don't need to worry about it. 

I didn't get a whole lot done on Tuesday besides the things I have mentioned. I was very tired (naturally) and I also still had a slight headache, so I just didn't have the energy to do much and decided it was okay to rest and let some of the chores wait until another day. Instead, I finished reading Moloka'i. It was a really good book. 

Seth didn't have to work on Tuesday but I did have him mow the lawn. It's a good thing, too, because it started raining on Wednesday May 20th and it has been raining most of the time since then. (He almost forgot to mow it and thankfully I remembered shortly before sundown on Tuesday--he was out there mowing in the dark before he finished, but our lawn mower has headlights, thankfully.) We had near record temperatures on Monday and Tuesday (in the 90s!) but a cold front came through with the rain on Wednesday and the hight temperatures the last few days have only been in the 50s. It does not feel at all like May! 

Wednesday was the last day of Seminary for the school year, and my last day, period. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that fact. I actually slept well Tuesday night--I got about 7 solid hours of sleep, which is amazing, for me. For our last class, we played a couple of games--an old testament version of Taboo (to review some of what we learned) and a DM review game. We also had breakfast (Tammy brought muffins and egg casseroles, I brought chocolate milk and fruit), and we gave gifts to the seniors and gave each of them a few minutes to share advice / testimony. 

Gift bags (we added brownie mixes and the pillowcases later):

One of the pilowcases:

We had a short devotional, which we took from the recent YA devotional given by Elder and Sister Stevenson. And I also got a few minutes to share a few parting words. On one of the days I was gone last week, Tammy told the class that I wouldn't be teaching next year and she started passing around a thank you card for them to sign, so she gave that to me. She also gave me a small gift and card from her. One of the boys in our class brought both of us some flowers, chocolates, and a thank you card. It was really nice to receive all of those things!

This is the gift Tammy gave me. I am so glad that she gave me plants that I can't kill! 😂In the card, she said that she chose these "as a reminder of the way you have helped the youth dig their roots deeper so that they can access the Living Water even when life circumstances feel hot and trying. Also, just like succulents, you have been resilient and endured tough conditions in this calling. In spite of the challenges you have turned to God consistently and have flourished. Thank you for nourishing me and all of the youth with your genuine love and testimony!"

We got so busy that we forgot to take a class photo (I did take several of the kids during the games), but Tammy and I took this selfie together after class:

After I got home from Seminary, I cleaned out my Seminary binder and bag and got regular chores done (including the ones I didn't do on Tuesday). 

That evening we went out for dinner. We used some gift cards some friends gave us a while back, so it didn't cost much which was nice. There was a lot of rain / thunderstorm that evening, but we managed to go and come when it wasn't too bad. Seth went to Institute after dinner; Frank and I went to sleep!

On Thursday May 21st I woke up at 3:30 am! Well, I wasn't too surprised by that--it's going to take my mind and body a while to "reset". I exercised and got ready for the day and then took Seth to work because I needed the car to get groceries. Conveniently, Chick-fil-A is located in the same shopping area as Walmart. This was Seth's first day working for Chick-fil-A (not counting orientation), so I made him pose for a photo (you can tell he's thrilled!):

I got groceries and did the rest of the chores before picking Seth up when his shift ended. It was pouring down rain when I went to pick him up. He didn't have any other shifts this week, but he has a lot of shifts the next two weeks and will definitely be getting more hours than he was getting at Roy Rogers. 

That afternoon, after Frank got home from work, we went to the church and met with the YSA stake president so Seth could be set apart as the 1st Counselor in the EQ presidency. The other counselor got set apart too. 

I got a few other tasks done that day including purchasing an eBook version of the book we're reading for book chat this month (Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky) and ordering a picture frame that I'm going to use to make a gift for Tammy. Frank was busy that evening doing maintenance for his clients.

That brings me to today (Friday, May 22nd). I went to the temple this morning to do an endowment session. The traffic was pretty bad both directions, so both trips took a lot longer than usual. I barely got to the temple in time to squeak into the 10:00 session, and then when I walked into the room I thought I had missed the 10:00 session and that this was the 10:30 session because the room was almost empty. (The 10:00 session is usually quite full, so I was expecting to sit on one of the back rows since I arrived so late). I asked the worker at the door if I had missed the 10:00 session, and she told me that all the sessions today were not very full. (I suppose that's probably because it's a holiday weekend.) Anyway, there were only 10 people in my session--it's been a long time since I've been in a session that small! 

I saw a couple of wedding parties at the temple today, and I couldn't help feeling sorry for the couples who planned late May weddings and who were probably expecting warm weather but got chilly and rainy instead! 

After I got home from the temple, I reviewed my Seminary class records and then locked the class (we have to do this at the end of each term). I also submitted all my Seminary receipts for the term to be reimbursed, which ended up taking a lot of time. Then I spent most of the rest of the day updating the budget. That took longer than usual because I didn't do it last week, so I had 2 weeks of receipts to go through. I did finish everything eventually, though.

Seth worked at Roy Rogers today. He works there tomorrow also--that will be his last shift there.

It's been raining pretty much all day and right now it is really coming down. It's supposed to keep raining all day tomorrow into Sunday, and we will have either rain or cloudy days (or both) until Thursday, according to the forecast. I think I am going to be very happy to see the sun when it comes out again! But rain is good too--we definitely need it, so I'm grateful we are getting some. 

That brings you up to date on all of our news. 

Weekly Review May 15 '26

There's been a whole lot going on this past week. I am writing this week's post from Brevard, North Carolina. I had no idea last week when I wrote that I would be here. We got word on Saturday afternoon that Frank's niece, Nicole, had just passed away. (Nicole is his sister Becky's oldest daughter.) She was only 29 years old, so of course this was a big shock. We don't know exactly why she died (her brother found her lying on her mattress and couldn't get her to wake up) but will probably have more answers when the autopsy report is available. Anyway, that is why we are here--Frank and I drove down for the funeral, which will be tomorrow. 

Saturday (May 9th) started fairly early for me because I woke up shortly before 5:00 am and couldn't go back to sleep. Frank took me to breakfast at the Silver Diner in honor of Mother's Day. I did a lot of Seminary stuff--finished preparing Monday's lesson and most of Tuesday's lesson as well, sent a few e-mails and texts, and sent an email to the stake Seminary supervisor to let her know about my decision to not teach next year. She did reply fairly quickly and it was a relief for me to know that someone at the stake level, at least, is aware of my decision. The email she sent me was really nice, too! I also did some reading in Moloka'i and called Mom. I knew she'd be busy on Mother's Day and that a lot of people would be calling her (since I have 7 siblings! 😄) so I decided to beat the rush and call her a day early. It was very nice to talk with her! Seth had a busy day, too--he was at work for a lot of the day, and when he got home he mowed the lawn. That evening we all (including Seth) went to a wedding reception for a girl in our stake. Her family lived in our ward for many years (and now lives in another ward in our stake) so we know them well. One of her younger brothers is in my Seminary class. Seth knows her pretty well because she went to the same charter school and was in the same middle school class with him; she also has been attending mission prep class and going to some of the YSA activities and meetings. (She actually received a mission call last fall but then she decided to get married instead, so she didn't go.) Anyway, it was a nice reception with a lot of people there and we ended up visiting with friends and stayed a lot longer than we intended. 

I woke up around 5:00 am again on Sunday May 10th. Before church I read scriptures, helped put food in the crock pot for dinner, did some reading in Moloka'i, and opened gifts. My boys got me a statue of a mother with children (Seth also got me a card) and Frank got me a mother's ring.

At church, we had a special RS meeting (including the YW), with treats provided by the Elder's Quorum. It was nice. We also had a RS / YW photo taken--the RS president asked Frank to take that. He had to get up on a ladder to get all of us in the photo. 

Frank attended our ward meetings but he also went to Branch Council and Sacrament Meeting for the YSA branch. We had FHE lesson after he and Seth got home from their meetings. I talked to all three of our older boys (although Tanner called after I had gone to sleep, so I didn't talk to him for very long).

I woke up at 2:30 am on Monday morning (May 11th) which wasn't awesome but I've had much worse nights! Seminary was frustrating because everyone was tired and didn't participate much. (It was a life prep lesson teaching a scripture study skill: making comparisons to find truths.) I ended the lesson with a good personal experience and I think they got something out of that, at least, but I felt kind of down a lot of the day. I took a short nap when I got home. Tanner called so I got to talk to him longer than the previous evening. I did regular chores and read through the Seminary lesson I will be teaching on Monday. (My last one!!) After Frank got home from work in the early afternoon, we picked up Genny (disabled daughter of one of the sisters I minister to) and watched her for about 3 1/2 hours. The sister I minister to wasn't feeling well, so we did this to give her a chance to get some rest. Genny seemed a little out of sorts, but it went okay. I sat on the couch with her and watched several episodes of "Leave it to Beaver". We also fed her dinner. After we took Genny home, we had FHE activity and treat. We got treats from Dairy Queen and we played a few rounds of Bananagrams. 

We also found out on Monday that the funeral for Nicole would be this Saturday, so we had to start planning this trip. We had a lot going on this week-end, so we were hoping that the funeral would be later, but this week-end worked out the best for Nicole's immediate family so of course that is more important. 

Seth had his follow-up interview with Chick-fil-A on Monday and they hired him, so that is good news. He has an orientation on Monday.

On Tuesday May 12th I woke up at 3:00 am, which is only 30 minutes early, so I was happy about that. My Seminary lesson went much better too, so I felt good about that. The topic was the first great commandment (loving God with all our heart, soul, and might). As part of the lesson, I asked them to make a quick list of ways God has shown His love for everyone or for them personally. Then I asked them to hand them in and we read all of them out loud. Everyone participated (even a few who usually don't), and there were some really thoughtful things written on their lists. I took a photo of all the papers when I got home. 

After class, Tammy and I did some planning--made a list of all the things we need to get done in the next week and divided it up between us. Then I came home and made another list of all the things I needed to get done over the next two days before we left for NC on Thursday morning. Then I got busy with Tuesday's list, which included: re-planning that week's meals (since we would be gone and Seth needed some things that he could make himself) and also planning next week's meals, getting someone to attend Seminary in my place on Friday, making treats for my Seminary class for Wednesday (I promised I would bring a treat for anyone who finished all of the semester's required reading by Wednesday), planning Monday's Seminary lesson, listening to the recent SA devotional done by Elder and Sister Stevenson (we're going to use some things from that devotional for our short lesson on the last day of Seminary), taking some things to the storage unit, checking to make sure no bills needed to be paid while we are gone, cleaning the bathrooms, and sending an email about getting our water meter replaced (because apparently it has stopped working). Somehow I managed to get all of that done, and I even squeezed in a short nap in the early afternoon too. Seth went to Chick-fil-A to fill out some paperwork and went to his classes; Frank was at the temple that evening so he got home late (but not as late as usual--he got to leave a little early). 

I didn't wake up until the alarm went off on Wednesday May 13th--that's always a big bonus for me! We had a guest teacher in Seminary. He did a good job. He is the father of one of the girls in our class and I thought it was interesting that she looked at her phone and talked to her friend through the entire lesson and didn't participate at all. She does that for us, too, but I thought she'd be motivated to behave differently for her dad--I guess not! Besides teaching a good lesson, he brought donuts, so the kids really liked that. 

Frank had a dentist appointment in the morning and Seth had one that afternoon. Seth didn't give himself as much time as he should have to get there (he had to leave his second class a little early) so he was late and they almost cancelled his appointment, but he got there in the nick of time, thankfully. 

I had another long list of things to do which included: laundry, dusting, grocery shopping (Frank came with me), finishing the lesson prep for Monday's Seminary lesson, writing a note in three birthday cards (for Seminary kids who have birthdays over the summer), contacting the missionaries to make arrangements for dinner (we were supposed to feed them on Saturday), sweeping & mopping the kitchen floor, preparing gifts for the four seniors in our Seminary class, preparing a game for Wednesday's Seminary class, and packing for our trip to NC. I did manage to get all of that done! 

That evening I had book chat and Seth had Institute. I didn't finish Moloka'i in time for book chat, but I did get about half way through it and I plan to finish reading it because it is quite good. Everyone at book chat (who have finished the book) had good things to say about it, so I am motivated to read the rest even though there were a few "spoilers" from the discussion at book chat. We talked later than normal, so I got home quite late. 

I woke up a little earlier than I needed to on Thursday May 14th, but it wasn't too bad. Frank had the day off because our plan was to leave for NC after I got back from Seminary. I exercised and showered. Right after I got out of the shower, I was very startled when I thought a dark brown bug of some kind was flying right in front of my face. I started swatting my hand at it and it moved, but not far. Then I realized that it wasn't actually a bug in front of my face, it was something in my left eye. I saw a dark brown jagged horizontal line move across my eye. Frank came & looked in my eye but couldn't see anything; I couldn't feel anything in my eye either. I realized then that it was actually a "floatie" in my eye, but a dark one instead of a clear one. I washed both of my eyes (I do that every morning anyway for my blepharitis) and after that the large brown floatie changed to small brown dots and then disappeared. Then I started noticing that I was seeing flashes of light from the outside corner of my left eye. I did a quick Google search and discovered that the symptoms I was experiencing could be associated with retinal detachment, which is an emergency situation that needs to be evaluated right away. We decided to call our doctor and we were able to talk to the doctor on call. She confirmed that my symptoms could indicate retinal detachment and said I should be seen that morning. She said I could either go to the ER or wait until their office opened at 8:00. We debated a bit, but ultimately decided to go to the ER since we had been planning to leave for NC around 8:00. At this point, we weren't sure we'd still be able to go, but we decided it would be better for me to be seen right away. The risk was that ER visits can sometimes (often) involve a very long wait, so we might end up taking more time than if we waited for the doctor's office to open at 8:00. We decided to risk it, though, and that did turn out to be the best decision. I texted Tammy about Seminary and she was (of course) totally understanding and said she'd ask one of the moms who is usually in the building to help with Seminary. I was sorry to miss Seminary since I have so few days left, but it couldn't be helped. 

At the ER, I was taken back to triage within a few minutes and was then taken directly to a room without waiting. I did have to wait a while for the doctor to come examine me, but it wasn't too long. He checked my vision, the pressure in my eye, and did an ultrasound of my eye. After the ultrasound, he said that my retina was not detached, which was good news, but didn't give us a super clear explanation about what else could be causing my symptoms. Just something that happens with age sometimes. He said I could get a follow up appointment with an eye doctor for later that day. When we explained that we had intended to leave for NC that morning to attend a funeral and asked if it was still possible to go, he said that he thought it would be okay for me to go and to follow up with our eye doctor after I got back from the trip. I was discharged and we were able to head back home around 8:00. When we got home, I ate breakfast and we got ready to go--we were able to leave the house around 9:00 am, so not a lot later than we originally planned.

The drive down to NC went smoothly and it felt shorter than usual to me although it took about the same amount of time that it usually does. I took a short nap early on. We made it to Brevard around 6:00 pm. We checked into our hotel and then went to visit with Frank's parents for a few minutes. Frank's dad had a doctor appointment and they had to leave soon for that, so we didn't stay long. After we picked up some dinner, we came back to the hotel to eat. Frank talked with his sister Dawn on the phone for a while; I was so tired that I kept falling asleep. 

We both slept well last night and both woke up around 5:00 am this morning (Friday May 15th). I know that is early, but for us, 5:00 am is sleeping in! We showered and headed down to the free breakfast buffet. After that we drove out to Dawn's house and spent the morning helping her with some preparations for the funeral. We helped create a program and then took Dawn with us to get copies of the program made and to buy some paper products for the snacks that will be served after the funeral. We also got some lunch and then took Dawn back home. We went back to our hotel and I took a very short nap (about 15 minutes) before I woke up because my stomach was hurting. Frank met Dawn and some of Becky's kids at the church to do some set up for tomorrow but I stayed here because of my stomach. Thankfully, I started feeling better after an hour or so and I feel fine now. When Frank got done at the church, we went to get some dinner. I have spent the time since dinner writing this post. 

I am still seeing occasional flashes of light in the corner of my eye (more noticable when I'm in a dark room) and I also occasionally see a faint dark floatie in my eye, but nothing as dark as the one yesterday morning. I've been kind of anxious about what might be going on with my eye, but I was texting Amy about it this afternoon and she had some issues with seeing flashes of light in one of her eyes a few years ago (but not the dark floatie). She said she did some research and came across a condition called posterior vitreous detachment, which has a lot of the same symptoms as a retinal detachment. I looked it up, and it does sound similar to what I experienced, and it also sounds like what the doctor was describing to me yesterday morning, so maybe that's what he meant even though he didn't give it a name. At any rate, after reading about it, I am feeling a lot less anxious about what's happening with my eye. I was able to get an appointment set up with our eye doctor for Tuesday (I called his office yesterday while we were driving down here) so I can talk with him about it then and I think having another exam will set my mind at ease even more. 

I guess I didn't specifically mention it, but Seth stayed home in Maryland. He had to work today and he works tomorrow too. Since we had signed up to feed the misisonaries tomorrow, we arranged with them to meet him at Roy Rogers when he gets off work tomorrow and he will buy them some food and they will eat together there. Frank has a whole bunch of meetings on Sunday that he is going to miss and I am going to miss a visit to our stake from Camille Johnson, the General RS president. There's a special devotional tomorrow afternoon at our stake center for all the women in our stake and 7 other nearby stakes. I am sad to miss it, but family comes first, of course. Tomorrow is going to be sad, but we will also see a lot of family members, so that will be nice.

I can't think of anything else that's been happening (that's quite enough, anyway, isn't it?!) so I will sign off until next week.

Weekly Review May 8 '26

This week was not as eventful as last week, but we still had quite a few things going on. I finished writing last week's post on Saturday morning. (May 2nd) Frank went to the church for a while to help set up some IT stuff for the RS activity. I went over in the early afternoon for a song practice before the activity started. For the activity, we decorated cookies using royal icing and learned about some of the faithful women in the Old Testament. (The song went with that part of the activity, and it went pretty well although I feel like we did better in practice than during the performance.) For the activity, everyone got a tiara to wear; that was kind of fun. The cookie decorating that we did was different than any kind of decorating I have ever done, and it was pretty cool, but I doubt I will ever do it again since it sounds like a lot of work to make the icing! The young adult sitting next to me really had a magic touch; her cookies looked amazing:

Mine turned out okay too:

We ended up getting Chipotle for dinner; I don't remember exactly why now. 

Sunday May 3rd was a busy day. Frank and Seth left the house around 9:00 am for their church meetings, which were held at the temple visitor's center. They had breakfast at 10:00, training / instruction meetings at 11:15, lunch at 12:30, and then the General Session of Stake Conference at 1:30. (They had snacks after the meeting, too--apparently YSAs are all about food! 😂)

Meanwhile, I read scriptures and worked on Seminary lessons. Then I went to our ward's sacrament meeting but left after taking the sacrament so that I could attend the YSA stake conference at 1:30. I met Frank there (Seth was sitting with friends). Frank was sustained, and after the meeting he was set apart. I was tired and had a hard time focusing during the meeting, but I was impressed with all the YSA speakers from what I did hear. Frank received a beautiful blessing when he was set apart; I wish I could remember the details, but I've already forgotten most of it. I just know he was blessed with things that I feel like he and our family need right now.

I briefly met the stake president and his counselors, as well as a couple of the other high council members. I was surprised to find out that the CES director for our area is also on the high council in the YSA stake. When they sustained Frank, he turned around and waved at us. Fun fact about the stake president that I didn't mention in last week's post: he was a guest on the Follow Him podcast last fall. The night that Frank got his call, he told me the stake president's name and showed me his picture and told me a little bit about him, and bells started ringing in my head. I said "Wait a minute...I think I know who he is! I think he was on the Follow Him podcast not too long ago." So I looked it up, and I was right. 

After Frank was set apart, we drove home. Seth rode with me and we talked to Jared while we drove home. After we got home we had dinner and family night lesson. Then Seth went to the church-wide broadcast for young adults (all the young adults who live in the Frederick area were invited to gather to watch at the house of one of the counselors in our stake presidency--the Frederick stake presidency, not the YSA stake presidency). Seth's friend Henry picked him up and they went together. (Henry has been at BYU for the last year, but he's home now, preparing to go on a mission in June. He is Tammy's son.) 

Unfortunately, this was another week with a lot of bad sleeping nights. I woke up just after midnight on Monday May 4th. Seminary went pretty well, though. I taught a lesson about facing challenges with faith instead of fear. It was based on the story from Numbers where the 12 Israelite spies returned from surveilling the land of Canaan and 10 of them came back fearful that they could never conquer the land, even though God told them that He would give it to them. For part of the lesson, I divided the class into three groups and each read about a different group of people--the 10 spies who were fearful, the 2 spies who had faith (Joshua & Caleb), and the rest of the Israelites, who believed the 10 spies. Then they were supposed to represent the group of people they read about while I interviewed them, as if I were doing a news report. It was kind of funny! Tammy took this photo while I was interviewing one student. (Of course I have my eyes closed!):

After I got home from Seminary, I took an hour nap. I got to talk to Scott briefly, too. When Frank got home from work, he went with me to get groceries. I finished preparing Wednesday's Seminary lesson and read through both lessons for next week but didn't have the energy to do much beyond that (and the regular chores). 

Frank started getting lots of emails as well as a phone call about YSA stuff. We are still figuring out what his schedule is going to be like but so far we know he will be speaking on the 3rd Sunday of each month and on the 2nd Sundays he has high council and stake council meetings (but this month those meetings are on the 3rd Sunday since the 2nd Sunday is Mother's Day). They didn't put him on the schedule for the speaking rotation until July, but we'll be gone in July so he won't speak until August. He will also be attending branch counsel for the YSA branch at least twice a month and attending their regular church meetings twice a month as well. I don't think I'm going to see Frank much on Sundays!

Seth had a job interview that afternoon via Zoom (with Chick-fil-a). They asked him to come back for an in-person interview on Thursday and now he has a follow up interview scheduled for Monday. Hopefully he will get a job there because they can give him more hours than he is getting at Roy Rogers. 

For family night activity we played Uno and Frank won every round but one. After we had our activity, Seth went to YSA FHE--they watched one of the Star Wars movies in honor of "May the 4th Be With You". 

We had a guest teacher for Seminary on Tuesday May 5th. It's always great to learn from a new teacher! I slept pretty well the night before, for once, but I still needed a nap after Seminary. After napping, I got all the regular chores done, planned one Seminary lesson for next week, and started painting the 2nd coat of the exterior of the dollhouse. 

For dinner, I made tacos in honor of Cinco de Mayo (plus it was "Taco Tuesday"!) Frank missed that since he was at his regular temple shift. 

On Wednesday May 6th I woke up at 2:00 am and my stomach was bothering me, but my Seminary lesson went okay. (It was a life prep lesson on overcoming obstacles to furthering education). I once again took a nap after Seminary (I've taken a nap every day this week--I've been so wiped out!!). One of Seth's classes was cancelled so he didn't have to leave for school as early as usual. I planned another Seminary lesson, did more painting on the exterior of the dollhouse, and talked to Tanner. I did some reading (just an old favorite book) and emailed my bishop to let him know my decision about Seminary next year. I tried to get an appointment to talk to him last week, but he was out of town all last week and this week too. I texted him on Sunday evening but didn't hear back from him, so I emailed him instead. I still have not received a response from him, so I'm not sure if he's getting my messages. Hopefully I will connect with him soon. It's been kind of unsettling to be in this state of limbo. 

Seth went to Institute that night; he went earlier than he usually does so that he could have dinner too. They always have a simple dinner for them, but usually Seth eats with us before he goes. 

I woke up about 2:30 am on Thursday May 7th and--you guessed it--took a 1 hour nap after I got home from Seminary. I got all the regular chores done, worked on Monday's Seminary lesson (Power Point slides, etc.--I'm not completely done preparing it yet), finished painting the exterior of the dollhouse while listening to the Follow Him podcast, and read some more. I started reading the book for book chat--Moloka'i by Alan Brennert. I tried to get a copy from the library, but still hadn't received one so on Wednesday I purchased one from Amazon and it arrived on Thursday. We have book chat this coming Wednesday so I'm not sure I'll be able to finish it by then, but I'm going to try. I've only read a few chapters but it is good so far. 

Frank had a zoom meeting for the YSA branch that evening (with the stake presidency and the branch president). I thought I'd be asleep before his meeting finished, but it was a quick meeting--nice!

Today (Friday May 8th) I went to the temple after Semianry. Thankfully, I slept fairly well last night (just a bit restless...I remember waking up briefly a few times). I did initiatories, so I wasn't worried about trying to stay awake. The traffic was bad going down, so I got there later than usual but it all worked out okay.

It was quite chilly this morning (and has been most mornings this week) but it warmed up and was pretty nice during the day. It's hard to believe it's May sometimes because it's been so cool in the mornings. We even had a frost warning on Tuesday morning.

After I got home from the temple, I got the budget caught up. Then I took a nap because I felt very sleepy even though I slept better last night. It's a good thing there's only a week and a half of Seminary left; I'm not sure I would survive if I had to do this much longer!

After my nap, Frank and I made dinner and then watched a couple of episodes of Once Upon a Time while we ate. I plan to spend the rest of the evening reading. 

That's all I can think of to report about this week.

Weekly Review May 1 '26

Wow, a lot has happened this past week and once again I had a lot of bad sleeping nights, so it's all a tired blur. Hopefully this post will make sense! In spite of the exhaustion I am currently feeling, my heart is full and I feel very grateful. I will talk more about that as I go along. 

After I finished last week's post (on Friday, April 24th), Frank and I left for our anniversary "get away". We drove to Baltimore and checked into our hotel, then we went over to the mall where Medieval Times is located. It wasn't time for the dinner / show to start yet, so we walked around the mall for a bit. Frank found a nice shirt at an Under Armour store that was on sale so he got that. Then we went to the dinner and show, and it was a lot of fun. 

We were on the front row of our section which was cool because we got to see all the horses and knights close up. The dinner was pretty yummy (you eat it with your hands--no utensils!) and we enjoyed the show. My only complaint is that it was hard to understand what the actors were saying a lot of the time. I got the gist of what was happening, but it wasn't always super clear what they were saying. Frank said it was hard for him to understand too, so it wasn't just my bad hearing. 

Saturday, April 25th: After a good night's rest (for once!) we had breakfast at the hotel and then got ready to go to the temple. At the temple, we did sealings. It was a really sweet way to celebrate our anniversary--to be reminded of the covenants we've made and the many beautiful blessings we've been promised.

After the sealing session, we went down to the distribution center to do a favor for Tammy. Her son had received his endowment the previous evening (we were sorry to miss attending that, but we had already planned this trip before finding out he was going) and he had decided that the garment tops he purchased were a little uncomfortably tight in the shoulders. She knew we would be at the temple that morning, so she texted me and asked if we could pick up a few tops for him in a bigger size. I wanted to get a few garments for myself as well, but they didn't have anything in my size. That seems to be happening a lot lately.

This little overnight trip was so nice! I didn't realize how badly we needed some time away until we were able to do just that.

The other important thing that happened on this trip was that I was able to make a decision about teaching Seminary next year. Frank and I talked about it a lot (actually, I did almost all the talking and he just listened). While we were on the way to the temple, I was talking about it again and I got this very clear impression (although it's going to be hard to describe). The gist of it was "you've been so focused on the reasons why you want to teach one more year and why you think you should teach one more year, that you are not focusing on what would be best for you and your family and that is the more important thing right now." We started talking about what things we would be doing if I weren't teaching--working in the temple together and a possible service mission for me, among other things--and I suddenly knew that those things are what need to happen now. I cried a bit because I'm sad about giving up teaching, but I also felt incredibly at peace about it. I don't know all the reasons why now is the time for me to make this change, but I feel like a lot of it has to do with Seth--for some reason, this is what he needs. Frank and I agreed that we are probably going to look back in a couple of years and say "Oh, that's why that needed to happen then." For now, it just feels great to feel like we are being guided to do what the Lord wants us to do. (And we already have a better idea of the "why" than we did last Saturday...but more on that later.) 

Seth was at work when we got home from our trip (and we were really happy that he got up and got to work on time without us there to help him!). We picked up a late lunch on our way home and ate when we got home. Even though we had a good night's rest, we were both feeling sleepy after lunch, so we took a nap. After dinner, I cleaned the stove and the kitchen floor. Then we went to the church so I could do some planning for Tuesday's Seminary lesson. This lesson was about the ancient tabernacle--the objects inside it and what they symbolized. I decided I wanted to set up a little model tabernacle, and I wanted to experiment a bit with different objects and get a feel for what was going to work in the room that I had. When we got to the church, the missionaries were having a Book of Mormon class (which they do every Saturday). When the class got out, we found out that an Elder who served here last year (and finished his mission in December) was visiting with his parents, so we got to talk to him and his parents for a while. It was fun to see him again. We stayed a lot longer at the church than I had planned because of the visiting, but I was still able to finish preparing Monday's Seminary lesson when we got home (mostly creating Power Point slides). 

On Sunday (April 26th), I spent the morning reading scriptures and practicing two songs--one that the choir was singing in Sacrament meeting that day and the other was the one I've been trying to learn for an upcoming RS activity. The choir song went well. After church, I had a practice for the other song--it was the first time we had practiced together as a group. I was happy to discover that my practicing at home had paid off and I actually knew the song pretty well. Everyone else seemed to know it pretty well too, so the practice went great.

After I got home, I talked to Jared for a while and worked some more on Tuesday's Seminary lesson. After Seth got home, we had dinner and family night lesson. I was really tired by the time bedtime rolled around!

I taught a Seminary lesson about self reliance & caring for others on Monday April 27th. I liked the lesson, but it was kind of a flop because the youth all seemed to be really tired. That just happens sometimes. I took a 1 hour nap when I got home and spent the rest of the day doing chores, reading (I finished The First State of Being), and finishing preparations for Tuesday's Seminary lesson. Frank and Seth went with me to the church to help me set up the model tabernacle. We set it up in the Primary room, and I think it turned out looking pretty cool! I had objects to represent each of the items in the tabernacle. I had to get pretty creative with some of them and they weren't incredibly accurate, but I also had pictures of each thing that were a lot more accurate representations so they could get a better idea of what the objects probably looked like. There were also scriptures to read about each thing, to help them understand what they might symbolize.

This was the Laver (I added water to the bowl in the morning):

Table of shewbread (I opened the package of pita bread in the morning and had 6 pita on each plate):

Altar of Incense (That's a Glade room freshener on the table; I couldn't have any real incense in the church, of course! I would have prefered to use an essential oil diffuser, but I don't have one of those. At least the room freshener made it smell nice!):

Veil (I have a shot that shows the whole thing later):

Ark of the Covenant (This one was hard to duplicate, but I found this gold disposable tablecloth at the store, so at least it looked like gold. I wish I had a couple of angel Christmas tree toppers--if I had, I would have put them on there.):

Here's the whole room. The table in front is the altar of sacrifice. It wasn't completely ready in this photo because Tammy was bringing some things in the morning to put on it. You can see the whole veil in this photo. I wanted it to be colorful because it's supposed to be blue, scarlet, and purple. I had been feeling frustrated that I didn't have any red, blue, or purple blankets or sheets but then on Sunday night (in the middle of the night when I wasn't sleeping well) I had this flash of inspiration to look for disposable party tablecloths in those colors. I didn't find any purple ones, but I did find blue and red ones and they were perfect! We hung the tablecloths on two rolling chalk / white boards and left a small gap in the middle (with a dowel across the top to hold up the tablecloths) so you could actually part the veil in the middle and walk into the "holy of holies" behind it:

I put this picture of the "gate" on the Primary room door. On the inside of the door, I hung another red tablecloth. I would have done one red and one blue, but I didn't have enough table cloths:

This is the Candlestick (Menorah). I had to get really creative with this one because I didn't even have a candlestick, let alone a Menorah. Even if I had, I couldn't light candles in the church. I really wanted to have something that lit up in some way, though. I kept looking at the two little Easter trees I purchased this year and I knew that the branches were really flexible and they light up using batteries, not flames, so I decided to see if I could manipulate the branches into a Menorah shape. It's not great, but I think it gives you the idea!:

I was really pleased with how the lesson turned out the next morning (Tuesday April 28th). I had a handout with all the objects written on it and the youth were supposed to go around and read the scriptures and write down their thoughts on what each object might symbolize. Most of them spent a lot of time quietly walking around and reading and writing on their papers. It was very calm and reverent.

When we went back to the RS room, they shared what they had written and there was a lot of good insights. Then we talked about some of the symbols in the temples today and what they teach us about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. 

Here is a photo I took after class, before we took everything down (you can see the completed "altar of sacrifice"), plus one that Tammy took of me during the lesson:

After Seminary, I talked to Tammy about my decision for Seminary next year and we were both sad but she was also very understanding and supportive. 

When I got home, I took a nap again (not sleeping well). I felt like I was sluggish and not very productive, but somehow still managed to get all the regular chores done. Seth worked that morning but his class was cancelled so when he got home from work he went with me to the storage unit to put away the Easter decorations. We also got a couple of large empty bins to take back home because I have convinced him that he needs to go through his room and put away some things that he isn't currently using (but doesn't want to give up). It will probably take him all summer to get it done (he hasn't done anything on this project yet) but hopefully he'll do it eventually.

Frank had a very slow commute to work that morning because a tractor trailer had overturned (swerved to try to avoid hitting a deer) and was blocking all the lanes on I-270 South. All the traffic had to be diverted off of the freeway to get around it. He left home around 4:00 am but didn't get to work until about 5:45.

Besides chores and the storage unit trip, I also read both of my Seminary lessons for next week and I had time to listen to a special episode of the Follow Him podcast that was talking about the ancient tabernacle (would have enjoyed listening to that before the lesson I taught on the same topic, but I didn't have time). There was this cool moment near the end of the podcast when the guest said this: "...it’s a portable tabernacle. How did they know when to move? When the cloud moved, they moved. And I wanna say this to anybody listening. Sometimes the cloud moves in your life and you move. And it might be hard for you, but whenever you move with the cloud, it’ll be sweet. Wherever you go where the cloud is, it’s sweet. And it might be hard, you might be giving up friends, you might be giving up some former thing, you might be giving up a house, you might be giving up something. But if you move with the cloud, it’s always going to be sweet because you’re where the Lord wants you to be. Sometimes if you’re like, I don’t know why I need to do this or I don’t why I need to do this or I have to go here. Cloud might be moving. Cloud might be moving. That’s teaching us as well, God directing his people to accomplish his purposes." When I heard that, I thought "That's exactly what is happening to me. My cloud is moving!!" 

Frank had his regular temple shift that night. I couldn't fall asleep so I was still awake when he got home. He told me when he got home that one of the other workers on the shift with him, who is currently serving as the stake president of the YSA stake that Seth is in, asked him "What are you doing tomorrow night?" When Frank told him he didn't have anything specific planned, he said "I'll probably call you." That left us both wondering what that might be about! In past weeks he has asked Frank questions about how many kids he has at home and what callings he's had, so we wondered if he might have a calling in mind for Frank.

We were supposed to have a guest teacher for Seminary on Wednesday April 29th, but our guest teacher had a death in the family and was out of town for the funeral. She let Tammy know the previous Friday night, and Tammy (bless her!) decided that it would make more sense for her to teach that lesson since it was Part 1 of Leviticus and Tammy was teaching the Part 2 of Leviticus lesson. She did ask me if I could help with part of Friday's lesson and I was able to find some ideas for that one that helped make that one easier for her, but she did all the teaching. Anyway, she taught a great lesson on Wednesday but it was a rough day because a lot of the kids were tired and not making much effort to participate. There were also 3 or 4 girls who were missing for a lot of the class--some of them like to go into the bathroom to finish doing their hair and makeup, but when more than one of them does that, they end up talking to each other and I think they lose track of the time. I ended up marking three of them absent that day because they didn't make it to class until less than 10 minutes before it ended. Just not our best Seminary day! 

When I got home from Seminary I took a 2 hour nap since I had been up so late the night before. I wasn't very productive at all that day, but I did manage to plan both of next week's Seminary lessons. After a few really hot days last week, the temperatures dropped again and it's been quite cool all week. Wednesday it was rainy too, so it felt particularly chilly. 

Frank received a text message from his temple worker friend that morning asking if Frank could meet with him that evening at our ward building, so Frank met with him and he called him to be a high counselor in the YSA stake (the Washington DC North YSA stake). He is assigned specifically to the branch that Seth attends and will need to go to their branch meetings at least twice a month (plus also attend branch counsel regularly). He will also be speaking once a month at one of the units (there are 8 units in the stake) and he will be working with the EQ presidents to help train them. Their stake conference is this weekend, so he will be sustained then and set apart after the meeting. We are still wrapping our minds around what this is going to be like for our family--big changes!! However, I am really excited for Frank to have this opportunity to serve, learn, and grow in this way and I know he will do a lot of good. I also feel that this change is going to benefit Seth in ways that I can't specify--I just feel like it's going to be a big blessing for him. 

Frank's meeting wasn't until 8:00 pm (which is my bedtime) but once again I had trouble falling asleep, so I was still awake when Frank got home with the news about his calling. Then of course, we talked about it for a while and there was a lot to think about, so I didn't end up falling asleep until around 10:30. Unfortunately, I woke up around 12:30 and didn't go back to sleep. I was very glad that I didn't have to teach that morning (Thursday, April 30th). The lesson was great, but a lot of kids were missing that morning. I decided to do grocery shopping and other chores later and instead went home to try to take a short nap. As I was leaving the parking lot feeling super exhausted, I had a feeling a great gratitude for all the growth I've experienced these past 3 years but also huge gratitude that I will not be getting up super early for another year! 

The reason I only took a short nap was because I had an event to attend at 8:30--a VITA breakfast to celebrate the end of the tax season. It wasn't just for the volunteers; there were a lot of United Way people there as well as a lot of local government leaders (Frederick County commissioner, Maryland state delegates, the mayor of Frederick). There were 36 volunteers this year but I was suprised that only 8 of us made it to the breakfast. There was plenty of good food and they shared information about the impact of the program this year (how many tax returns completed, the total refund dollars received, etc.) and we got a lot of "thank yous" for our volunteer work but there was more talking than necessary, in my opinion. 😉At the end, we all got certificates of appreciation from both the county and the city, and they took a photo of the volunteers with all the politicians:

Overall, I enjoyed it, but I was tired and ready for another nap when I got home. 

When Frank got home from work, he went with me to put gas in my car, get a car wash, and buy groceries. I really appreciated his help! When we got home, I finished all the other chores that needed to be done and I was able to finish preparing Monday's Seminary lesson before bedtime.

I did finally have a pretty good night that night--I remember waking up 3 different times, but only long enough to see what time it was before immediately falling back asleep. For Seminary that morning (Friday, May 1st), we had an "Assess Your Learning" lesson. Tammy divided the class into 3 teams and they did some activities / games to demonstrate things they've learned this semester. (I found the ideas for the activities and games). It was a pretty fun day. Also, one of the ward bishoprics provided breakfast for us. 

I went to the temple that morning but instead of the usual 10:00 session, I moved my appointment to the 11:00 session. I knew from experience that even if I slept well the night before (which I did), I would still have a lot of trouble staying awake (because of all the previous bad nights) unless I had a nap first. Moving my appointment back an hour allowed me to come home and take a nap before leaving for the temple. That did help a lot--I really didn't get sleepy during the session.

On the way to the temple and back, I listened to next week's Follow Him podcast, which I really enjoyed. 

After I got home, I updated finances and we ate dinner. I also got to talk with Scott for a while. (He just got released from the bishopric in his ward.) I started on this post last night but was too tired to finish so I am finishing it on Saturday morning. I had a haircut first thing this morning and I also practiced the song for the RS activity because that is happening this afternoon. I'll tell more about that next week.

So, it's been a challenging week in many ways, but it has also been so good! "The cloud has moved" for our entire family this week, but I have had such a strong feeling that we are seeing God's hand in our lives and that He is aware of us and putting us where we need to be and that it is all happening because He loves us and these changes are going to be a huge blessing for us.